The Andrew Goodman Foundation Elects New Officers To Its Board Of Directors
MEDIA CONTACT
Margaret Sasser Knehans
margaret.sasser@andrewgoodman.org
(334) 451-5114
Amy Chiou, Michael W. Malafronte, Corey Weiss, and Robert Masters will serve as Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary, Treasurer, and Chair Emeritus, respectively
The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s (AGF) Board of Directors elected new officers as part of an annual meeting in February. Amy Chiou, Esq. will serve as Chair, while Robert Masters, Esq. will now serve as Chair Emeritus after two years at the helm of AGF’s Board of Directors. Michael W. Malafronte will assume the roles of Vice Chair and Secretary, and Corey Weiss will continue as Treasurer.
A member of AGF’s Board of Directors since August 2022, Amy will lead the organization forward as it activates and mobilizes youth voters ahead of this year’s statewide elections in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia and next year’s presidential primaries and general election. AGF will continue to provide expert resources and training to its network of Andrew Goodman Ambassadors, who register, inform, turn out, and break down barriers for young voters at colleges and universities across the nation at this critical time for democracy.
“I am excited to serve as the incoming Chair of The Andrew Goodman Foundation and look forward to working alongside our incredible young leaders to increase access to voting and social justice. We know that when young people use their voices and votes to advocate for change, they have and continue to transform our country for the better,” says Amy Chiou, Chair of The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Board of Directors.
This year alone, 32 states have pre-filed or introduced 150 anti-voter bills, and 10 states have pre-filed or introduced 27 election interference bills. Despite this record-breaking wave of voter suppression, young voters are breaking records of their own. Fueled by their passion about today’s pressing issues, 27% of youth (ages 18-29) cast a ballot in 2022, making it the midterm election with the second-highest youth voter turnout in almost three decades. Young voters, who will account for 44% of the eligible electorate in 2024, have the power to make change by creating a more diverse and representative democracy. AGF’s injection of support enables young people to make their voices heard in spite of ongoing threats to silence them.
About the Officers of The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Board of Directors
A manager in Deloitte’s Government and Public Sector practice, Amy Chiou brings over 15 years of communications and community engagement experience to AGF. She works with state and local governments, political candidates and campaigns, advocacy organizations, and nonprofits to develop messaging, branding, stakeholder mapping, and other strategic communications. Previously, Amy was a speechwriter on the Biden-Harris campaign and served as the Director of Public Engagement and Speechwriter for the U.S. General Services Administration.
Michael W. Malafronte, who also joined AGF’s Board of Directors in August 2022, is an investor who led the entrepreneurial effort to start International Value Advisers, LLC (IVA), a money management firm. Prior to IVA, Michael was a securities analyst and portfolio manager. He currently serves on the board of Adtalem Global Education Inc. (NYSE: ATGE).
A member of AGF’s Board of Directors for nine years, Corey Weiss founded Applied Technologies Consulting, a business consultancy that serves clients of technology driven enterprises. Previously, he worked for a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. Weiss currently serves as a Board member, advisor, and fiduciary to a variety of organizations including the Karan-Weiss Foundation and the Green Meadow Waldorf School.
Robert Masters, who has served on AGF’s Board of Directors since October 2017 and as Chair for the past two years, was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Acadia Realty Trust, a fully-integrated equity real estate investment trust. Masters attended Queens College during the same period as Andrew Goodman and traveled together with Andrew from New York City to Oxford, Ohio in June 1964. There, they participated in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s Freedom Summer training to prepare for their volunteer work in Mississippi registering Black Americans to vote. Masters remains on AGF’s Board of Directors as Chair Emeritus and will continue to guide and inspire the organization through the legacy of Freedom Summer.
About The Andrew Goodman Foundation
The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s mission is to make young voices and votes a powerful force in democracy by training the next generation of leaders, engaging young voters, and challenging restrictive voter suppression laws. The organization is named after Andrew Goodman, a Freedom Summer volunteer and champion of equality and voting rights who was murdered, alongside James Earl Chaney and Michael Schwerner, by the KKK in 1964 while registering Black Americans to vote in Mississippi. To learn more, visit www.andrewgoodman.org.
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