Young Invincibles’ Executive Director Aaron Smith to Transition to New YI Advisors Consulting Arm

Young Invincibles Will Begin Single-Candidate Process to Replace Smith

[WASHINGTON]— Young Invincibles announced that Co-Founder Aaron Smith will be transitioning from his role as Executive Director of Young Invincibles to help launch YI Advisors.  YI Advisors is a new non-profit consulting arm of Young Invincibles that will use their unique expertise on youth engagement, the latest data, research and analysis, and new technology, to help mission-aligned organizations better reach this generation.  YI Advisors will help substantially expand clients’ capacity to engage young adults. Smith will serve as Senior Strategic Advisor of Young Invincibles and President of the new YI Advisors, effective April 15th upon appointment of successor.

“I am excited to start this important next phase in the growth and development of Young Invincibles,” said Smith. “YI Advisors will substantially expand the capacity of Young Invincibles to support and advocate for the interests of young adults nationwide.  We are diversifying our funding model and enabling YI to move more quickly and effectively to achieve our missions of college affordability, health care access, and greater job opportunities for adults under age 35.  I will look forward to continuing to closely support Young Invincibles and the new Executive Director in my new position at Young Invincibles and with the development of YI Advisors.”

Matt Singer, Chair of Young Invincibles’ Board of Directors, said, “Aaron has been a fantastic leader at Young Invincibles, helping to grow this organization from a law school cafeteria to an influential player on the national stage. As we get closer to YI’s five year anniversary, we are excited about Aaron’s next big step as President of YI Advisors, where he will bring his vision, drive and expertise to further advance the interests of young adults and support Young Invincibles.”  Young Invincibles was founded in 2009, and in September of 2014, the organization will mark its 5-year anniversary.

In his new position as Senior Strategic Advisor at Young Invincibles, Smith will continue to provide strategic and development support to the leadership team at Young Invincibles though in a reduced capacity. Smith co-founded Young Invincibles in 2009, while earning his J.D. at Georgetown Law Center.  He has led the organization as Executive Director since 2010, and successfully grew Young Invincibles from a small collaborative project in the Georgetown Law cafeteria into a leading national youth organization with a staff of 42 and offices in Washington, D.C, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, and New York.  Smith has testified before Congress, regularly represents the Millennial Generation in meetings with President Obama, and frequently appears in national and local newspaper, television and radio outlets.

Smith is joined in leading YI Advisors by Tobin Van Ostern who will serve as Vice President of YI Advisors while continuing in his role as Advisor for Strategic Partnerships at YI.  Van Ostern previously led President Obama’s 2008 campaign student engagement effort, and was Deputy Director of Generation Progress at the Center for American Progress.

The Young Invincibles Board of Directors also announced that it would commence a single-candidate process to review Deputy Director and founding staff member Jen Mishory’s candidacy to replace Smith as Executive Director of Young Invincibles. The single-candidate search to replace Smith is expected to last until April 15, at which point the new Executive Director will be announced and the full transition will become effective. Find more information on YI Advisors, please visit www.YIAdvisors.com.

###

Young Invincibles is a national organization committed to amplifying the voices of young adults, ages 18 to 34, and expanding economic opportunity for our generation. Young Invincibles ensures that young adults are represented in today’s most pressing societal debates through cutting-edge policy research and analysis, and innovative campaigns designed to educate, inform and mobilize our generation to change the status quo.