John Kelly
Executive Director, Serve Colorado
As a national social sector leader with over 25 years of experience, John Kelly has been involved in every aspect of crafting social change strategies, he's developed public-private partnerships, designed innovative grantmaking strategies, promoted service and volunteerism, and engaged diverse communities with the goal of making meaningful and measurable impact. He has worked at the community-level, as well as in the White House and on the leadership team of a billion-dollar federal agency.
John Kelly has served as Serve Colorado’s Executive Director since Summer 2020. Under his leadership, Serve Colorado has doubled the number of AmeriCorps programs and members serving in Colorado. In 2022, John received America’s Service Commission’s Outstanding Commission Executive Director Award.
Prior to joining Serve Colorado, John worked on the founding team of Generous, a civic-tech start-up dedicated to democratizing philanthropy by providing nonprofits and social causes with advanced tools and resources. Prior to Generous, he served for 8 years in the Obama Administration and focused on service, social innovation, faith-based community work starting at the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC) where he engaged faith-based and nonprofit organizations on mentoring, anti-hunger efforts, interfaith service, and leadership development.
John followed his tenure at DPC, by becoming the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that leads service, volunteerism, and social innovation for the country. At CNCS, John built a team and implemented a strategy to secure over $194 million in external funds that supported over 11,000 AmeriCorps service opportunities.
Additionally, John served as the first ever Catholic outreach liaison at the Democratic National Committee and was Catholic Vote Director for the 2008 Obama campaign in Pennsylvania. He also directed the Emerson National Hunger Fellows program at the Congressional Hunger Center, and was a Social Justice and Campus Ministry Director at a parish in Miami, Florida.