Shirley Sagawa is a Co-Founder of Sagawa/Jospin. Ms. Sagawa has served as a presidential appointee in both the first Bush and Clinton Administrations. As Deputy Chief of Staff to First Lady Hillary Clinton, she advised the First Lady on domestic policy. As Special Assistant to President Clinton for Domestic Policy, Ms. Sagawa was instrumental to the creation of City Year for National Service. After Senate-confirmation as City Year’s first managing director, she was an architect of AmeriCorps. Most recently, she led City Year for National and Community Service transition for President Obama.
Ms. Sagawa was the founding executive director of the Learning First Alliance, a partnership of national education associations. She has served as the Chief Counsel for Youth Policy for the Senate Labor Committee, where Ms. Sagawa drafted the Learn and Serve America legislation, and as senior counsel to the National Women’s Law Center, responsible for military family and women’s policy. She is the author of two books, The Charismatic Organization: Eight Ways to Grow a Nonprofit that Builds Buzz, Delights Donors, and Energizes Employees and Common Interest, Common Good: Creating Value through Business and Social Sector Partnerships.
Ms. Sagawa serves as a Trustee at City Year, Inc. Her forthcoming book, The American Way to Change: How National Service and Volunteers are Transforming the Nation, will be published by Jossey-Bass this spring. Ms. Sagawa is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, holds an MSc Degree from the London School of Economics, and graduated magna cum laude from Smith College.