Leslie Garvin will begin work as the Compact’s ED on Jan. 1.
ELON, NC – Leslie Garvin has been selected as the new Executive Director of North Carolina Campus Compact. The Compact’s long-time Associate Director, Garvin filled the role of Interim Executive Director since June. After a comprehensive and highly competitive national search, Garvin emerged as the top choice for the permanent position.
Dr. Nido Qubein, President of High Point University and Chair of the Compact’s Executive Board, announced Garvin’s selection, effective January 1.
“I am confident Leslie will provide outstanding leadership to the Compact,” said Qubein. “Her background in community leadership will be an asset in developing professional, civically engaged students across the state.”
Since joining the Compact as Associate Director in 2005, Garvin has played a key role in starting or expanding the network’s community service and professional development programming. She served as Program Director on three AmeriCorps grants that engaged hundreds of college students in community service; and she managed a 3-year grant to support MLK Day of Service activities on 180 campuses across the Southeast. She acts as lead coordinator for the Compact’s three major civic engagement conferences and bi-annual network meetings, which together attract nearly 700 participants each year. Garvin will be the Compact’s third executive director, succeeding Dr. Lisa Keyne, who left the post in May 2014, and Mr. John Barnhill, who founded the organization in 2002.
Prior to joining North Carolina Campus Compact, Garvin worked in the community development field in St. Louis, Missouri. She served as Director of Projects and Volunteer Administration at Faith Beyond Walls (now Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis) from 2002 through 2005, and as Community Programs Manager and Trainer for the Coro Leadership Center from 2000 through 2002. Garvin is also a proud alumna of the AmeriCorps program, having served in St. Louis with an AmeriCorps pilot project, Summer of Safety, in 1994.
From 1994 through 1998, Garvin managed Songtalk Publishing Company in Washington, D.C., where she worked with Sweet Honey in the Rock, the Grammy Award-winning female vocal ensemble, and with Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, a founding member of the SNCC Freedom Singers.
Her current community involvement includes serving on the Leadership Team of The Queens Foundation, the Education Panel Review Team for the United Way of Greater High Point, as the Puppet Ministry Coordinator and Coach at Deep River Church of Christ, and as the Higher Education Representative for the NC Service-Learning Coalition Board.
She holds two degrees from Washington University in St. Louis: a Bachelor of Arts with College Honors, with majors in Political Science and African American Studies, and a Masters of Social Work, with a concentration in Social and Economic Development.