President, Voices for National Service
AnnMaura Connolly is the President of Voices for National Service, a coalition committed to expanding opportunities for Americans of all ages to serve and volunteer, and the Chief External Engagement, Policy & International Officer & Executive Vice President of City Year, Inc., an AmeriCorps program dedicated to helping urban schools and students succeed.
Since serving in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps after graduating from Holy Cross, Connolly has been a leading voice for the idea that a year of service should be a common expectation and experience of every American, and has built a career around growing citizen service as a strategy for solving critical issues and developing the next generation of leaders in the U.S. and abroad.
In the early dates of the modern national service movement, Connolly worked with the fledgling national service field to inform the initial design of AmeriCorps, and joined the Clinton administration in the newly created Corporation for National and Community Service as Deputy Director, Independent Sector, where she served as liaison to the foundation and national nonprofit community and served on the planning team for the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future. In 2003, Connolly co-founded Voices for National Service, where she leads the effort to expand and strengthen the federal investment in national service. In 2009, she played a key role in the development and passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which was signed into law in 2009. In 2021, she co-led the effort to secure an historic $1 billion investment in AmeriCorps in the American Rescue Plan.
Connolly serves as a member of City Year’s Management Executive Committee, directing the organization’s public policy, public affairs, communications, marketing and international work. She led the creation of the organization’s two international affiliates in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
In 2015, Connolly was named to the inaugural class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars Program, a joint initiative of the George H. W. Bush, William Jefferson Clinton, George W. Bush and Lyndon Baines Johnson presidential libraries. In 2016, the College of the Holy Cross honored her with a Sanctae Crucis Award, the highest non-degree accolade bestowed on alumni, in recognition of professional distinction in the service of justice. In 2017, Connolly published her first book, In the Service of Others: America At Its Best, a collection of compelling stories from those who have served in national service programs across the country, in their own words. She serves on the Boards of Directors of 9/11 Day of Service, City Year South Africa and City Year UK, as well as on the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Clinton School of Public Service.