Title
Executive Director
Company
The Volunteer Center
Bio
John Power is the Executive Director of The Volunteer Center, a private, nonprofit service organization established in 1946 to provide a centralized source for volunteer resources in the San Francisco Bay Area. The agency supports nearly 1,000 nonprofits through training, technical assistance, and more than 12,000 volunteers annually. It offers advice, networking and community engagement opportunities to more than 100 corporations and tens of thousands of their employees. John joined The Volunteer Center in 1999 as Director of Corporate Services, where he advised Fortune 500 companies in developing and implementing innovative, effective employee volunteer programs as an important element of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. He assumed all program development responsibility for The Volunteer Center and began revitalizing services in line with strategic priorities when he was named Managing Director of Programs and Communications in October 2000. The agency’s Board of Directors appointed him Deputy Director in 2001 and Executive Director in 2002. Under John’s leadership The Volunteer Center has emerged as an innovator in building nonprofit volunteer capacity, in elevating corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility as business imperatives, and in nonprofit board building through executive placement and The Board Match which has introduced more than 14,000 corporate professionals to over 1,500 nonprofits in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, New York City, Washington, DC and Los Angeles since 2005. Prior to joining The Volunteer Center, John distinguished himself in the public service and political arenas, serving as Deputy District Director for San Jose Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren from 1995 to 1998. He was a chief policy advisor on a wide range of issues including health and human services, immigration, environmental issues and civil justice. He was also the congresswoman’s senior liaison between federal government agencies, national advocacy groups, community-based organizations, the private sector and other local constituencies. Previously, as a member of Lofgren’s inner circle of campaign advisors, alternately responsible for finance and field operations, John was instrumental in her upset victory in the 16th district congressional primary in 1994. He had supported Lofgren on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for five years as Legislative Assistant and primary policy analyst in the areas of public health, housing and homelessness, the environment and urban planning. In that role, he was wholly responsible for analyzing annual budgets of county health agencies, the public hospital system, the Environmental Resources Agency, and general government operations. As a recognized leader in nonprofit management, organizational capacity building and volunteerism, John appears frequently on television and radio and in the print media. He is past Chairman of the Board of Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin. He has been named to numerous local, state and national advisory boards, including the City & County of San Francisco Mayor’s Disaster Council, the Readiness Advisory Group of the State of California Emergency Services Council, and the Reimagining Service Subcommittee of the Federal Advisory Council to The Presidio Trust. John received his B.A. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MBA from Santa Clara University. A lifelong resident of the Bay Area, John lives in Kentfield, California, with his partner of 23 years.