Paula Gavin

In a career that spans 50 years of leadership and executive management, Paula L. Gavin possesses a unique combination of business, nonprofit, and government experience, focused on strategic planning and youth, community, and leadership development.

From 2014 to 2018, Ms. Gavin served as the New York City Chief Service Officer, responsible for NYC Service. NYC Service – a division of the Office of the Mayor – promotes volunteerism, engages New Yorkers in service, builds volunteer capacity, and mobilizes the power of volunteers and national service members to address the city’s greatest needs.

Prior to that, she served as the Executive Director of the Fund for Public Advocacy, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Office of the Public Advocate.

From 2007 to 2012, she was President of National Urban Fellows, a leadership development and diversity organization. During her tenure, National Urban Fellows created America’s Leaders of Change and the Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative, a collaborative network of 125 national and regional organizations working to inspire excellence and diversity in public service leadership.

From 2004 to 2007, Ms. Gavin served as the founding Executive Director of the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, a nonprofit organization launched to promote the development and quality of charter public schools.

As President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater New York from 1990 to 2004, Ms. Gavin directed the city’s largest youth-serving nonprofit agency and the nation’s largest YMCA. During her tenure, she doubled revenues to $100 million, and annual fundraising grew five-fold, raising over $150 million in private and public grants. She also focused the YMCA mission on education, recreation, and health programs with an emphasis on youth.

Ms. Gavin has also held multiple executive positions in operations, marketing, sales, and human resources with AT&T; her 20-year career with AT&T culminated as Vice President of Network Operations, where she supervised business planning, finance, and personnel and training for AT&T’s operational unit of 60,000 employees.

A graduate of the University of Delaware, Ms. Gavin has been an adjunct professor at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, The New School, and Columbia University.

She has served as a volunteer for the YMCA d’ Haiti and the YMCA of Bogota, Colombia, as well as multiple New York City civic and nonprofit organizations.

In July 2018, Ms. Gavin was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to serve on the 2019 City Council Charter Revision Commission. She also supports multiple government and nonprofit organizations as a strategic coach.