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Dr. R. Joy Azikiwe-Oyeyemi is the Chief Human Resources Officer at City Year. With over 15 years of experience in strategic HR leadership, Joy has championed workforce planning, organizational redesign, and inclusive culture building in both nonprofit and higher education sectors. She brings a deep belief in the power of people strategy to drive mission impact and has built a career helping organizations align talent with purpose. A dedicated educator as well, Joy teaches human resources and organizational behavior as an adjunct professor and is passionate about developing the next generation of leaders.

Jim Balfanz, a recognized leader and innovator in the field of education, is Chief Executive Officer and proud alum of City Year, a youth-powered organization with a dual mission: expanding educational opportunity for all 91���� and developing the next generation of leaders through national service. City Year’s AmeriCorps members serve as student success coaches in 29 U.S. cities along with affiliates in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Rebecca Berne serves as Chief of Staff and SVP at City Year, where she partners with the CEO and management team on a broad range of initiatives and projects in areas including board engagement, organizational goal setting, internal communications, and development. Before joining City Year in 2010, Rebecca was Program Associate and Communications Coordinator at Carnegie Corporation of New York and a consultant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Jared Billings serves as a market president at City Year. In this role, he oversees City Year sites in 10 cities: Baton Rouge, Buffalo, Columbia, Jacksonville, Little Rock, Manchester, New Orleans, Orlando, Providence and Sacramento.

Jared most recently served as the executive director of City Year Orlando. In this role, Jared maintained strategic relationships with Orange County Public Schools, City Year Orlando’s board, corporate and philanthropic partners and the wider community.  

George is the Chief Financial Officer for City Year. He is a hands-on executive with a record of delivering results in entrepreneurial, high-growth nonprofit organizations. As a consultant, George has focused on defining strategy, creating buy-in, and leading execution and implementation from the frontlines to the executive team.

AnnMaura Connolly is the Chief External Engagement, Policy and International Officer and EVP of City Year Inc., a national youth service corps dedicated to helping urban schools and 91���� succeed, and the President of Voices for National Service, a coalition committed to expanding opportunities for Americans of all ages to serve and volunteer. Since serving in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps after graduating from Holy Cross, AnnMaura has been a leading voice for the idea that a year of service should be a common expectation and common experience of every young person, and has built a career around growing citizen service as a strategy for solving critical issues and developing the next generation of leaders in the U.S. and abroad.

Daniel Foley, EdD, serves as Senior Vice President of Enterprise Planning for City Year, Inc. Dan began his career with City Year as an AmeriCorps Student Success Coach supporting middle school 91���� in the Bronx, New York. Over the last 15+ years Dan has led City Year in various capacities at City Year’s New York, Los Angeles, and Jacksonville locations. As a leader of City Year, Inc.’s strategy and planning function, Dan and his team facilitate enterprise-wide strategic planning and management initiatives in addition to supporting annual performance management practices related to goal setting, progress monitoring, budgeting, and strategy implementation.

Ed brings to the General Counsel role over twenty years of experience as a trusted legal advisor, having previously practiced as a litigator in Boston. A native of Chicago, Illinois, since joining City Year in 2019 Ed has demonstrated excellence and integrity in navigating complex legal matters that shape our work and impact.

Mithra joined City Year in 1993 as part of the start-up team for City Year Providence, Rhode Island, the organization's first expansion location. After serving with City Year for four years, she attended New York University’s Stern School of Business, where she majored in finance and founded the school’s first service organization.

Kanna first joined the City Year family as a Boston corps member in 1995, and then continued on staff in the communications department and as the Director of CYZYGY, City Year’s National Convention, in 1997. Kanna then joined the Boston Redevelopment Authority, as Special Assistant to the Director, working on the planning and economic development agenda for the city in the late 90s. After public service, Kanna moved to the Midwest to attend business school, and subsequently entered the private sector at Goldman Sachs in Chicago as an equity derivatives salesman in 2001. Kanna moved with Goldman to London in 2004, helped build their international and emerging market equity derivatives franchises, and then moved to Barclays in 2011 to build those same businesses again.

Stephen began his service in 1990 as a corps member and soon emerged a leader. In 1991, he became the very first alum to serve as Program Manager where he was responsible for the service and leadership development of 10 young people.

Stephen was also the first alumni executive director of City Year Boston. In addition to a number of leadership positions within the City Year organization, Stephen has helped found several City Year sites including Providence, San Jose and Philadelphia and supported the launch of City Year’s 15th site, City Year South Africa in Johannesburg.

Stephanie Wu leads the design, execution, and evaluation of City Year’s Whole School, Whole Child® services, which are delivered by 2,000+ City Year AmeriCorps members in more hundreds of under-resourced schools in 29 cities nationwide. She oversaw the program research and development initiative that fueled the organization's strategic shift toward addressing the nation's urban education challenge.