May 27, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
Robert Velasco II, chief operating officer at the Corporation for National and Community Service, has been named the agency’s acting chief executive, filling a spot created by the surprise resignation of Patrick Corvington.
Mr. Corvington announced the appointment, made by the White House, in a message to colleagues today, his last day on the job. Mr. Corvington, a former senior associate at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, who was chief executive for just 15 months, said last month he planned to resign to “pursue an opportunity in the nonprofit community.”
However, his message today did not say what he plans to do next.
Mr. Velasco joined the national-service agency as chief operating officer in September 2010 and has also been its chief of program operations since February. He had previously worked for 15 years in other federal-agency jobs, including multiple positions at the Department of Health and Human Services.
A corporation spokesman said Mr. Corvington was not available for an interview but would be available to discuss his plans in June.
His resignation has been the subject of much speculation, with some people wondering if he was a casualty of the 2011 Congressional budget negotiations. The House voted to kill the national-service agency—which operates AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and other volunteer programs. The final accord did not go that far, but it stripped about $74-million from 2010 spending levels. One program, Learn and Serve America, a community-service program for students, was completely eliminated.
Mr. Corvington was upbeat in his farewell message. “It has been a great honor to work with all of you to advance the cause of national service, and I look forward to continuing that work,” he wrote.
