| |
NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
Washington, DC, United States, 2012/10/09 - Mary Ellen Ardouny, a long-time champion for youth, has been named President and CEO of The Corps Network, the national association of Service and Conservation Corps - CorpsNetwork.org.
|
| |
Ardouny came to The Corps Network in March of 2008 as Director of Government Relations. She was promoted to Vice President of External Affairs in 2011 and then Interim CEO in May of 2012. During her tenure, Service and Conservation Corps have become better known programs to lawmakers and policymakers throughout the federal government. Legislation that would expand and bolster youth programs including Service and Conservation Corps has been routinely introduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Under Ardouny’s leadership, in 2010 more than $63 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects were granted to Service and Conservation Corps throughout the country by 15 federal agencies. These projects provided youth with jobs and service opportunities while connecting them to public lands including national parks and forests. More recently, Ardouny has served as a member of the federal advisory committee tasked with providing recommendations to federal land management agencies on how to implement a 21st Century Conservation Service Corps.
Prior to joining The Corps Network (corpsnetwork.org), Ardouny spent 10 years on Capitol Hill, including two years on the staff of the House Committee on Education and Labor where she worked on postsecondary education, training, and life-long learning programs and policy. She also worked for Representatives Matthew G. Martinez and Nydia Velazquez.
Ardouny has also served as Vice President of Government Relations at the Education Finance Council, the national trade association for nonprofit and state based student loan providers. Previous to that she spent two years as the Assistant to the President of the University of Montana.
“When I joined The Corps Network almost five years ago, I knew it was the right place for me. Where else could I work to promote all of the issues that are important to me at the same time – education, workforce development, youth development, service and environmental stewardship,” says Ardouny.
When asked about her vision for the future of the organization, Ardouny says,“The Corps Network and it members have a long and esteemed history, beginning with the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. In the past three decades, our modern Corps have provided more than 750,000 young people with opportunities to improve their communities and transform their lives. Carrying forward the work of the many leaders in this movement, I hope to expand the presence of Corps where they are as well as in new communities. We should create a place in history for the modern movement similar to the original CCC.”
Joel Holtrop, Chair of The Corps Network’s Board of Directors and retired Deputy Chief, US Forest Service, National Forest System remarked that “we cannot express how excited we are to have someone who is as passionate and tireless as Mary Ellen to lead The Corps Network. We know there are many great things to come.”
“We are ecstatic to have Mary Ellen serve as the national voice of the Corps movement. Her passion for Corps, knowledge of how Washington works, strong leadership and just plain ‘smarts’ will provide huge benefits for the Corps,” said Harry Bruell, a Board Member for The Corps Network and Chair of The Corps Network’s advisory Corps Council.
Ardouny currently resides in Virginia with her husband and two sons.
|
lnovey[.]corpsnetwork.org 
