News

Charles Imohiosen joins AGF’s staff from its Board of Directors (BOD) amidst BOD and Advisory Board growth

The Andrew Goodman Foundation (AGF) welcomes Charles Imohiosen as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Imohiosen is a Harvard-trained lawyer, entrepreneur, executive and community leader who has extensive management, strategy, and operations experience in the private and public sectors, including working on countless political campaigns and serving on the boards of directors of various nonprofits. The cousin of Andrew Goodman, AGF’s namesake, Imohiosen previously served on AGF’s Board of Directors for over 15 years.

Imohiosen joins AGF at a time when youth voting rights are under attack across the country. Record-breaking youth voter turnout in the 2020 election has been met with an alarming number of new anti-voter bills. In 2021 alone, 425 restrictive voting bills have been introduced in 49 states. Amid this barrage of anti-voter bills, AGF is exploring innovative approaches to our programming while continuing to honor the Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner legacy. 

Imohiosen will guide AGF as it moves toward serving the campuses and regions that most need support as the voting rights of youth and people of color are under attack. Having previously held leadership roles in startup companies, an enterprise software company, and a corporate law firm’s technology-driven practice group, Imohiosen’s strategy for AGF will include a data-driven focus on youth digital engagement and civic entrepreneurship. Imohiosen also brings to the role a deep and abiding commitment to social impact and decades of voting rights experience, including helping to build a national voter protection organization, leading regional voter protection efforts for a national political campaign, and serving as the co-lead for the voting rights working group of a major law firm. 

“Although I never had the opportunity to meet Andy, I was fortunate to have been able to develop a strong bond with Andy’s mother, Carolyn Goodman, and Andy’s brother, David Goodman. I am honored to lead the foundation that Carolyn established in 1966 in honor of Andy’s legacy and that David and his wife Sylvia worked tirelessly to expand since 2007. For 55 years, The Andrew Goodman Foundation has stood against racial discrimination and for equitable voting rights for all Americans. As the foundation moves into its next phase, I pledge to keep the Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner legacy alive while also embracing the change necessary to meet the current moment,” says Imohiosen.     

AGF welcomes to its Board of Directors Andrew Tomback, a partner in the Global Commercial Litigation Group at the law firm of McLaughlin & Stern. Austin Boral has also joined AGF’s Board of Directors following his three-year tenure as Co-Chair of AGF’s Associate Board. 

In addition, five esteemed new members are joining AGF’s Advisory Board: David Goodman; Congresswoman Veronica Escobar; Dr. Janet Dewart Bell; Marvin Krislov, Esq.; and Keith Walton, Esq. 

David Goodman is the brother of Andrew Goodman and the former Chairman of AGF’s Board of Directors. Rep. Veronica Escobar serves as the U.S. Representative of Texas’ 16th congressional district in El Paso. Dr. Janet Dewart Bell is a lifelong social justice advocate, Civil Rights Movement veteran, and communications expert with a doctorate in Leadership and Change. Marvin Krislov is the President of Pace University, an Andrew Goodman Campus, where he has taught courses on election law and public policy, and previously was President of Oberlin College. Keith Walton has experience and expertise in government, law, higher education, and investing and is a Managing Director at private equity firm Lafayette Square.