Wayne Meisel is the President of The Corella & Bertram F. Bonner Foundation, a national philanthropic organization based in Princeton, New Jersey.  The Bonner Foundation provides service-based scholarships to more than 2,500 students and grants to faith-based communities in their fight against hunger. The National Society for Fundraising Executives selected The Bonner Foundation as its Foundation of the Year.

Mr. Meisel was raised in Princeton, New Jersey and attended the Lawrenceville School at which he served as school president.  Mr. Meisel graduated cum laude with a B.A. in government from Harvard University.  He was a John Harvard Scholar for the highest academic achievement and was awarded a John Finley Traveling Fellow.

Upon graduating from college, Mr. Meisel worked at Harvard where he created H.A.N.D. (House and Neighborhood Development), a campus-wide service initiative linking the residential colleges at Harvard with the neighborhoods of Cambridge.  This opportunity led him to embark on a walk from Maine to Washington, stopping at colleges and universities to champion the cause of student volunteerism.  From this experience Mr. Meisel gained the vision and impetus to establish a national student organization dedicated to building a student movement based on community service and social justice.  As founder of the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL), Mr. Meisel created a platform for students and graduates to lead, sustain, and challenge their peers to serve others and initiate positive change.  Currently COOL works with 700 colleges and universities nationwide and with numerous international student groups.

Working with COOL, Mr. Meisel produced a paradigm for youth-run/youth-led organizations.  His efforts brought about coalitions between and among individuals, campuses, local communities and all levels of government that today are actively engaged in program conduct and policy implementation.  As Director, he conceived and developed National Youth Service Day, an annual event designed to recognize and support young people in their efforts to serve their communities.  COOL was awarded the President’s Volunteer Action Award by President Reagan as the leading service organization in the country engaged in mobilizing volunteers.

Mr. Meisel was appointed by President George H. Bush to serve on the Commission for National and Community Service (later renamed the Corporation for National Service).  In this role, he served as a principle architect and a leading advocate for both the vision and the legislation behind the current national service policy.  During his tenure, Mr. Meisel proposed both the original concept and name of AmeriCorps.

Mr Meisel has received The Jefferson Award by the American Institute for Public Service.  Founded in 1972 to act as a “Nobel Prize for public service in the United States,” The Jefferson Award is given annually to the individual thirty-five years or younger performing “the Greatest Public Service.”  In 1994 Time magazine recognized Mr. Meisel as one of the top fifty leaders in the world under the age of forty.  He has also received the highest honors bestowed to individuals by such organizations as The United Way of America, The Lyndhurst Foundation, and Common Cause.

Mr. Meisel has served on the National Board of Directors of the Independent Sector and COOL.  He was also a founding board member of the President’s Commission on National and Community Service and Teach for America.

Mr. Meisel has authored several  books—Building a Movement:  Students in Community Service and On Your Mark, Get Set, Go:  From Student Ideas to Campus Action and Civic Enagement at the Center.  Additionally he has co-edited several  books including—Common Good: Common Ground; Light One Candle and From Community Service to Political Action.