Navy Veteran Hopes to Build Political Support for National Service

New job: Ken Harbaugh, 38, is executive director of ServiceNation, a coalition of more than 270 groups that promotes volunteerism and national service. The organization merged last month with ServeNext, a grass-roots advocacy group with a similar cause.

Previous roles: Mr. Harbaugh, a former U.S. Navy pilot, worked as a human-rights consultant in Afghanistan and co-founded the Mission Continues, a nonprofit that helps wounded and disabled veterans rebuild a sense of purpose through community service. He also served as a business consultant at McKinsey & Company.

His goals: Mr. Harbaugh says he wants to help broaden the “political and philosophical appeal” of AmeriCorps and other national-service programs, whose budgets are under attack from Congressional Republicans. He hopes to win over the right by showing how national service is “a patriotic duty.”

A fundraising strategy: Mr. Harbaugh wants to explore ways to expand the number of federal agencies that pay for national-service programs. For example, perhaps the Department of Homeland Security could pay for a first-responders program, he says.

Salary: He declined to reveal it.

Education: He graduated from Duke University and Yale Law School.

What he’s reading: Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War, by Karl Marlantes.