Board of Directors

The Board of Directors sets policies and direction for AmeriCorps and is responsible for all actions taken by the Chief Executive Officer with respect to standards, policies, procedures, programs, and initiatives necessary to carry out the mission of AmeriCorps.

Board Membership

Board Chair

Catherine McLaughlin

Catherine McLaughlin was nominated to the AmeriCorps Board of Directors by President Biden in April 2021; confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2021; and officially started in January 2022.

McLaughlin serves as the founding executive director of the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware. The institute, established in 2017, brings students together with accomplished, respected practitioners from a broad diversity of backgrounds and a wide range of policy fields to equip aspiring public servants to elevate civil discourse and take on pressing policy challenges facing our nation.

Prior to joining the Biden Institute, McLaughlin served as the Executive Director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics for 22 years where she oversaw all programming including the JFK Jr Forum, the resident and visiting fellows program and national conferences for new-elected mayors and members of Congress. McLaughlin has created a national consortium of similar institutions that bring together students from across the country annually to identify ways to engage college and university students in the political process. She also co-founded the institutes’ Biannual Youth Survey on Politics and Public Service. She previously served as Tour Manager for the Boston-based band New Kids on the Block and as director of the Office of Alumni Affairs and coordinator in the Press and Public Liaison Offices at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. 

McLaughlin earned her B.A. from Saint Anselm College, where she currently serves as a member of the board of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

Fagan Harris 

Fagan Harris was nominated to join AmeriCorps Board of Directors by President Biden in July 2021, confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2021; and officially started in January 2022. 

Harris is a social entrepreneur, writer and researcher who has dedicated his career to advancing impact career opportunities for underestimated communities. 

As the co-founder and CEO of Baltimore Corps, Harris has led his team to re-imagine recruiting, hiring, and career advancement for underestimated communities. In 2020, Baltimore Corps played a leading role in the Baltimore Health Corps, a $12 million initiative that enlisted hundreds of city residents in Baltimore's pandemic response as full-time public health professionals. The Health Corps earned national attention as a model for centering racial equity in large-scale workforce development. In 2021, Baltimore Corps launched citycorps.us, which will deploy the organization's model in cities across the United States.

Harris currently serves as the assistant American secretary for the Rhodes Trust, where he helps oversee the scholarship's annual recruitment and selection process. He is a trustee at the Johns Hopkins Hospital at Bayview and the Enoch Pratt Free Library. He serves as the national board president of Lead for America. Harris is also a board member at several Baltimore-based social enterprises including B-360, Infinite Focus, and H.O.P.E (Helping Oppressed People Excel). Harris chairs an impact consultancy that guides leading institutions to integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance into their core practices and operations. He started his career at College Track where he helped build its College Success strategy and program. In 2011, Fagan staffed the White House Council for Community Solutions in the Obama Administration. 

Harris was named a fellow at Ashoka and Echoing Green for his work in social entrepreneurship. In 2020, he was awarded the Dial Fellowship by the Emerson Collective. Harris is a proud graduate of Maryland Public Schools. He is an honors graduate of Stanford University where he was the recipient of its top undergraduate honor. He earned a master's in philosophy from the University of Oxford where he was a Rhodes scholar.

Flor Romero

Flor Romero was nominated to the AmeriCorps Board of Directors by President Biden in September 2021; confirmed by the U.S. Senate in May 2022; and officially started in May 2022. 

Flor Romero is a social worker who has dedicated her career to historically marginalized communities in the Los Angeles area and is the daughter of first-generation Salvadoran immigrants.

Romero serves as the associate director of career pathway connections at the LA Promise Fund. She leads programs dedicated to student success by strengthening career pathways across SLATE-Z, a federally designated Promise Zone with the mission to revitalize South Los Angeles. Through this initiative, she oversees programming including student internships, dual enrollment with a local community college, career development workshops, and more. Romero is passionate about working with youth and is proud to uplift underserved communities.

Romero also spearheaded a successful reading program across the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school district in the nation, working closely with schools in Los Angeles County and increasing literacy rates for over 2,000 students. Romero has also worked in marketing to guide clients on authentic and inclusive storytelling for their marketing strategies.

Romero began her career with the AmeriCorps’ Jumpstart program, a national early education organization working toward the day every child in America enters kindergarten prepared to succeed. She went on to lead community-focused projects, working with stakeholders and leaders on foster care and adoption, mental health, educational advancement and other initiatives.

Romero earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of California Los Angelos and a Master of Social Work with a focus in social change and innovation from the University of Southern California.

Alvin Warren

Alvin Warren was nominated to the AmeriCorps Board of Directors by President Biden in January 2022; confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March 2022; and officially started in March 2022.

Warren is a member of Santa Clara Pueblo where he lives with his wife Pamela, an Isleta Pueblo tribal member, and their children. He’s vice president of Career Pathways and Advocacy for the LANL Foundation in Espanola, N.M. In this role he’s responsible for expanding students’ access to academic and technical opportunities by supporting the growth of college and career readiness in districts, schools, communities and Native American Pueblos, Tribes and Nations. He leads the foundation’s work with secondary schools, universities, colleges, industry leaders and government representatives to develop and support a seamless educational continuum. Warren is a former cabinet secretary of Indian Affairs for the State of New Mexico, lieutenant governor of Santa Clara, program officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, national Tribal Lands Program director for The Trust for Public Lands and land claims / water rights coordinator for Santa Clara.

During his career, Warren has helped tribes across the United States regain and protect traditional lands; ensured that over $120 million in state dollars flowed to tribes to build essential infrastructure; enacted state legislation establishing a framework for collaborative state-tribal governmental relations; developed and sustained tribal immersion and dual language schools and positively transform public narratives about indigenous peoples. Warren is the president of the Kha’p’o Community School Board; co-chair of the New Mexico Broadband Collective, an advisory committee member for the Native American Relief Fund; and on the board of directors for the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples. He’s a longtime farmer who’s actively involved in the cultural life of his tribal community. 

Warren earned a B.A. in history from Dartmouth College and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Board Bylaws

Board Bylaws

Board Committees

The Board of Directors sets policies and the direction for AmeriCorps and consists of the following standing committees.

• The Executive Committee considers issues on behalf of the full Board as needed between meetings.  Read the Charter for the Executive Committee.
• The Program, Budget, and Evaluation Committee ensures that AmeriCorps programs are being managed in a way that maximizes fulfillment of their mission, including reviews of the annual budget submission to the Office of Management and Budget, the Strategic Plan, and research on or evaluations of AmeriCorps programs.  Read the Charter for the Program, Budget, and Evaluation Committee.
• The Oversight, Governance, and Audit Committee monitors AmeriCorps management and financial stewardship and informs and advises the full Board on matters within the Committee’s purview.  Read the Charter for the Oversight, Governance, and Audit Committee.
• The External Relations Committee improves overall support for services, builds the partnerships needed (public, private, and independent sectors) to accomplish AmeriCorps' mission, tell the story of our programs’ impact, and develop the resources necessary to carry out the mission.  Read the Charter for the External Relations Committee.

Board Notices

Sunshine Act Meeting

Friday, May 13, 2022, 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Learn more

Board Meeting Minutes

• Fiscal Year 2019 August 2019, March 2019
• Fiscal Year 2018 September 2018
• Fiscal Year 2017 September 2017, May 2017, February 2017, October 2016
• Fiscal Year 2016 June 2016, April 2016, December 2015
• Fiscal Year 2014 September 2014, July 2014, March 2014, December 2013

Board Resolutions