The AmeriCorps CEO position has been vacant of a Senate-confirmed occupant since January 20, 2025, when Michael D. Smith departed on Inauguration Day. The Trump administration has not put forward a nominee as of mid-2025, and the agency has been running under interim leadership, with Chief Operating Officer Jill Graham among those handling day-to-day functions during a period of significant restructuring. The role itself is a presidential appointment requiring Senate confirmation, and it carries broad authority over grantmaking, staffing, and the strategic direction of the federal agency responsible for national service and volunteering.
The Last Confirmed CEO
Michael D. Smith led AmeriCorps from January 2022 until January 20, 2025. President Biden nominated him in June 2021, and the Senate confirmed him that December. Before AmeriCorps, Smith was Executive Director of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance and Director of Youth Opportunity Programs at the Obama Foundation. Earlier in his career he served as a Special Assistant to the President during the Obama Administration and directed the Social Innovation Fund.
Smith’s departure on Inauguration Day followed the pattern typical for the position. The CEO serves at the pleasure of the President, and incoming administrations generally replace the officeholder or leave the seat open while agency staff manage operations.
How the CEO Is Appointed
Federal law requires the AmeriCorps CEO to be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 12651c – Chief Executive Officer After the President selects a nominee, the name goes to the Senate, where it is typically referred to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. That committee holds a hearing, questions the nominee on qualifications and plans, and votes on whether to advance the nomination. A favorable committee vote sends the nomination to the Senate floor, where a simple majority confirms.
The statute does not set a fixed term. In practice, that means the CEO stays until the President replaces them or a new administration arrives.
What the CEO Does
The CEO’s powers come from the National and Community Service Act of 1990, principally 42 U.S.C. ยง12651c, which authorizes the CEO to prescribe the rules and regulations necessary to carry out the national service laws.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 12651c – Chief Executive Officer That authority is broad, and it shapes how billions in federal service dollars reach communities.
In operational terms, the job covers:
- Grantmaking. AmeriCorps distributes grants to state service commissions, nonprofits, and other organizations, and the CEO oversees how those grants are awarded, monitored, and evaluated.
- Strategic direction. The Board of Directors sets broad policy, but the CEO turns policy into operational plans and daily decisions.
- Personnel. The CEO has authority over agency staff, though the Office of Inspector General operates independently.
- Reporting. The CEO answers to both the President and Congress for the agency’s performance.
- Responding to emerging needs. The CEO can direct resources toward new challenges, as with the creation of Public Health AmeriCorps during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CEO can also establish, reorganize, or discontinue organizational units within the agency. That discretionary power has drawn scrutiny during the 2025 restructuring.
Pay and Term
The CEO is compensated at Executive Schedule Level III plus 3 percent under the statute.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 12651c – Chief Executive Officer The 2026 base rate for Executive Schedule Level III is $209,600, which puts the statutory figure at approximately $215,888.2U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Salary Table No. 2026-EX A provision in the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2026 froze pay rates for certain senior political appointees through at least late January 2026, so the actual payable rate may differ.
There is no fixed term written into the law. The CEO holds the office until the President moves on from them.
The CEO and the Board of Directors
AmeriCorps is governed by both a CEO and a Board of Directors, and the roles are distinct. The Board sets overall policy direction; the CEO handles operations. The Board consists of 15 voting members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, plus several ex officio nonvoting members including the Secretaries of Education, Health and Human Services, Labor, and Defense.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 12651a – Board of Directors The CEO also sits on the Board as a nonvoting member. Board vacancies have been common across administrations, and the Board has sometimes lacked a quorum.
Why the Vacancy Matters Right Now
The absence of a confirmed CEO coincides with the biggest disruption in the agency’s history. In early 2025, the Trump administration cancelled nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps grants and fired most agency staff. Roughly 32,000 service members and senior volunteers were forced to stop work in areas including disaster recovery, education, and public health. About 85 percent of remaining agency staff were placed on administrative leave with termination dates.
Two lawsuits followed: one from community organizations whose grants were cancelled, another from more than two dozen Democratic-led states. A federal judge in Maryland ruled that the agency had violated the Administrative Procedure Act in cancelling the grants and ordered funding restored. By late August 2025, the agency had released $185 million in previously withheld funds in response, and COO Jill Graham confirmed that all fiscal year 2025 funds appropriated by Congress had been allocated.
The Congressional Research Service has noted the breadth of the CEO’s discretionary authority, which sits at the center of the legal fight over whether the administration’s actions exceeded that authority or fell within it.4Congressional Research Service. Large-Scale Staff Reductions to AmeriCorps – Potential Impacts and the Chief Executive Officers Discretionary Authority Whether the President will nominate a new CEO, and what direction that person would take, is unresolved heading into 2026.