| Steve Culbertson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Steven Alexander Culbertson September 23, 1957 Bitburg Air Force Base, Germany |
| Education | Hamilton College, A.B. in both English and French |
| Occupation | Nonprofit administration |
| Parents | Alexander Brown Culbertson and Susanne Porter Stevens |
Steven Culbertson (born in Bitburg, Germany is President and Chief Executive Officer of Youth Service America (May 16, 1996—present).
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Born of American parents on Bitburg Air Force Base in Bitburg, Germany, Culbertson grew up in Camp Springs, Maryland and Amherst, Massachusetts. He graduated from Amherst Regional High School in 1975 where he played soccer and squash, ran track, and was president of the Student Council. He attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and received B.A. degrees in English and French in 1979. He began his career as Director of Communications for the Chi Psi Educational Trust in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Culbertson has been Vice President for Development and College Relations at Connecticut College and Vice President for Marketing at Sumner Rahr & Company in Chicago, specializing in philanthropic support, communications, and strategic planning for nonprofits. Prior to YSA, he worked with the Environmental Defense Fund to organize the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment.
Culbertson has been an active volunteer in organizations including Rotary International, the Boy Scouts of America, the Episcopal Church, and the Lawrence Hall School. He is a Trustee for America's Promise, and serves on the boards of the National Service-Learning Partnership, America’s Fund for Communities, and Youth Service America.
In October 1996, Culbertson led the launch of SERVEnet, providing the largest database of volunteer opportunities in America and myriad resources for volunteers and nonprofit organizations. He launched YSA.org, Youth Service America’s website soon thereafter. In 2000, he developed Global Youth Service Day, an international expansion of National Youth Service Day, YSA's signature program in the United States. GYSD now takes place in more than 100 countries, and is the largest service event in the world. In 2008, he led the launch of the Semester of Service, a strategy to encourage in-depth, service-learning projects connected to the academic curriculum and taking place between Martin Luther King Day in January and Global Youth Service Day in April.
For two years in a row, the Nonprofit Times named Culbertson to its list of "The 50 most powerful and influential leaders" in the sector, saying, "Culbertson has helped to position volunteering and young people as an issue and a national priority."