Anne Aaron is an accomplished consultant on strategy, programming, and communications for nonprofit organizations, with more than two decades of experience leading innovative, high-profile programs and strategic initiatives for higher education and cultural institutions.
Currently a consultant to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, Anne brings thought leadership to major institutional priorities and guides strategy for new and existing programs, including an original executive education course on the leadership lessons of President Kennedy’s major speeches. She serves as a sounding board to the Foundation’s Executive Director, and contributes to strategic planning and other organizational imperatives.
For more than twelve years, Anne led the Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award, one of the nation’s foremost honors for American elected officials. The award recognizes public officials whose actions demonstrate the qualities of politically courageous leadership in the spirit of Profiles in Courage, President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer prize-winning book. She also oversaw the award’s companion essay contest for high school students, which annually fields more than 2,000 submissions from all 50 states. In addition, Anne was the founding director of the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Awards, which celebrate the contributions of young public servants to American life.
Earlier in her career, Anne served in several roles for Harvard’s Institute of Politics, where she led programs on a wide range of public issues. Among them, she stewarded the creation of the Harvard Public Opinion Project, a groundbreaking program that seeks to understand and illuminate the political attitudes and public priorities of young Americans.
Alongside her work for the Kennedy Library Foundation, Anne currently serves as a pro bono consultant to DC-area nonprofits, leading volunteer teams of professionals in funding strategy, board development, and strategic planning engagements on behalf of educational and cultural organizations in the nation’s capital.
Anne holds a B.A. from Duke University and a master’s in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School.