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Full Circle Fund members and grantee partners were tapped by leaders in Washington DC to lend their expertise on a national scale during the recent presidential campaign, and now, in the subsequent Obama Administration. Our 2008 Member of the Year Greg Nelson, formerly Vice Chair of the Environment/Energy Circle is now working full time at the White House as the Associate Director for Energy, Environment, and Technology in the Office of Public Engagement. Founding member of the Environment/Energy Circle Sanjay Wagle is now the Renewable Energy Grants Advisor at the US Department of Energy, helping oversee the $32.7 billion in Recovery Act funding.

Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center (our first Environment/Energy grant partner) and two-time speaker at our Forum event is now the Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Additionally, Alec Ross, past speaker at our Forum event and co-founder of Full Circle Fund grantee One Economy is now Senior Adviser on Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The advancement of these individuals to key roles in the Obama Administration not only gives greater voice to the issues Full Circle Fund has been working to address, it also reinforces that our model of cultivating the next generation of leaders is working.

“It’s a pivotal time for our country,” says Full Circle Fund Founder and Board President Josh Becker, “Given the challenges of the economic crisis, it’s time for Full Circle Fund members to pitch in and help the country move forward on a greater scale.” He continued, “To have folks on the caliber of Sanjay, Van, Greg, and Alec, as well as others who have been involved with Full Circle Fund for years now move into government is a huge positive step.”

Other members and partners such as Mike Anders, Deb Levine, and Josh Becker have also been called upon to lend their advice and expertise. Since Full Circle Fund is dedicated to developing and cultivating the next generation of community leaders, it is a testament to the caliber of our members and partners that so many have been called upon to set the tone on the national landscape.

>> Read more about their work:

Greg Nelson, who was formerly the Vice Chair of the Environment/Energy Circle was selected as the Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Liaison for the
Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team in November 2008, and since February has been working at the White House as the Associate Director for Energy, Environment, and Technology in the Office of Public Engagement. Greg will be speaking at our upcoming Joint Impact Circle Meeting, Social Innovation: A White House Perspective with former Google.org Head of Global Development Initiatives, Sonal Shah. Sonal is the new White House Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.

Sanjay Wagle, Full Circle Fund member since 2007 and a founding member of our Environment/Energy Circle, began a critical role at the US Department of Energy in April working for Matt Rogers, Senior Special Advisor to the Secretary of Green Stimulus. As the Renewable Energy Grants Advisor, Sanjay is helping oversee the $32.7 billion in Recovery Act funding for energy, focusing on renewable energy, and ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy).

Van Jones is now the Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Van is a Co-Founder and former President of the Ella Baker Center, the first Environment/Energy Circle grantee for Full Circle Fund. Van spoke at our Full Impact Forum in 2004, and helped us launch our Environment/Energy Circle at our Forum with Vice President Al Gore in 2007. Van’s new job is to help shape the administration’s energy and climate policy, so that climate solutions produce jobs and justice for all Americans.

In early 2007 Full Circle Fund Board Member Mike Anders was invited to join the Obama National Finance Committee, a small group of specially selected individuals. Mike’s role entailed acting as a spokesperson and representative for the campaign. The focus was on cultivating new donors to support the campaign, while regularly acting as a liaison between the field and campaign headquarters sharing feedback from the private sector and influencing policy decisions. Mike has made a number of trips to DC since the new administration took office, and perhaps most notably, has reportedly had a beer with Vice President Joe Biden.

Josh Becker was a Co-Founder and National Co-Chair of Clean Tech For Obama. CleanTech for Obama was composed of cleantech and green business professionals from around the country who, acting solely as volunteers, organized to spearhead fundraising and outreach nationwide and identify examples from the cleantech and green business community that highlight the positive economic impact and job creation potential of the New Energy Economy. After the election, those who had been running that effort were asked to prepare reports and recommendations for the Obama Administration’s Transition Team on the Green Stimulus and on Department of Energy-related recommendations. Josh is also a founding member of the Clean Economy Network.

Alec Ross, formerly of Full Circle Fund Grantee One Economy, shared inspiring stories from One Economy Corporation’s successes at our Full Circle Fund 2004 Forum. Alec helped create technology policy during the Obama Campaign and is now the Senior Adviser on Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Alec is now responsible for using technology to help reach diplomatic goals such as health care, poverty, human rights and ethnic conflicts and help us create a new 21st century statecraft. Similar to how Full Circle Fund has made using technology as a vehicle for change a strategic priority instead of viewing it as a standalone issue area, the Obama administration is championing the role of technology in advancing both domestic and global agendas.

Deb Levine, Executive Director of Full Circle Fund’s nonprofit Technology Circle partner ISIS was invited to attend a meeting at the White House with President Obama and Vice President Biden in January. It was the announcement of the middle class task force, and Deb was selected because of her role as a female small business owner of a non-profit employing 10 staff and contractors. Other people there represented work-life balance, green jobs, and the labor unions. Deb is also involved with the White House Council on Women and Girls, chaired by Valerie Jarrett with Tina Tchen as the Executive Director. The mission of the Council is to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families.

Posted in Barack Obama, Sanjay Wagle, Van Jones, Mike Anders, Sonal Shah, Alec Ross, Deb Levine, Al Gore, SexInfo, grantees, One Economy, Josh Becker, Greg Nelson, Ella Baker Center, member leaders