John Bridgeland is Founder & CEO of More Perfect, a bipartisan alliance of 44 Presidential Centers (from Washington’s Mount Vernon through the Obama Foundation), National Archives Foundation, and 100 organizations to protect and renew American democracy by advancing 5 foundational Democracy Goals and initiatives in connection with the 250th anniversary of the birth of the nation, including In Pursuit, in which leading American public figures and scholars share lessons from each U.S. President and several First Ladies to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.
Bridgeland was also Founder & CEO of the COVID Collaborative, which partnered with the Ad Council on a $330 million vaccination education campaign; and is Co-Chairman of Welcome.US to enable 2 million Americans across 26,000 zip codes to support the resettlement of Afghan, Ukrainian and other refugees. He is Founding CEO & Vice Chairman of Malaria No More, launched at the White House Summit on Malaria he co-led. Since 2001, more than 14 million lives have been saved from malaria.
He has been a leader for 20 years on the high school dropout challenge, with his report The Silent Epidemic generating a TIME cover story and two Oprah Shows, co-development of a civic marshal plan to address it, and co-leadership of the Grad Nation campaign for 20 years. His work was the subject of the lead cover story in the August 2024 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Graduation rates climbed from 71 percent in 2000 to 86.5 percent in 2020, translating into more than 5 million more students graduating rather than dropping out. He is also author of the book, Heart of the Nation: Volunteering and America’s Civic Spirit, which was reissued in paperback on the 15th anniversary of 9/11 with a foreword by General Stanley McChrystal.
In 2010, President Obama appointed Bridgeland to the White House Council for Community Solutions. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Bridgeland to serve as Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and then as Assistant to the President and first Director of the Freedom Corps, where he grew national service opportunities to historic levels after 9/11. He co-chaired the White House Task Force for Disadvantaged Youth, co-led the Cabinet-level review of Climate Change, and co-chaired the White House Task Force on the Revitalization of New York City after 9/11.
Bridgeland graduated with honors in government from Harvard University, where he played on the Varsity Tennis Team, and received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He has delivered commencement addresses at the College of William and Mary, John Hopkins University, and half a dozen other colleges. Bridgeland is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He lives with his wife, Maureen, in McLean, Virginia, and has three children, Caily, Fallon, and Regis.
