Staff

Bill Milliken,  founder and Vice Chair of Communities In Schools  is one of the nation's foremost pioneers in the movement to give young people the help they need to graduate from high school and go on to rewarding lives. 

Mr. Milliken's experiences as an urban youth leader in Harlem and the Lower East Side of New York in the 60's  led him to search for a comprehensive approach to helping young people. In the 1970's with lessons learned from the streets, he a small team developed a model program that repositioned existing community resources into schools.  

Founded as a national organization in 1977, Communities In Schools today serves over 2 million young people.

Mr. Milliken has served three U.S. presidents and has received numerous honors for his commitment to young people.  Mr. Milliken serves on the boards of Leadership Foundations of America, PathNorth, and Communities In Schools of Northern Virginia. He is the author of four books: So Long, Sweet Jesus; Tough Love; The Last Dropout: Stop the Epidemic!; and From the Rearview Mirror: Reflecting on Connecting the Dots. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2007 from Bard College.

Sarah Vogt  left an early career in Marketing to pursue her passion for helping children and families living in poverty. 

 While serving  White House Liaison for Education in the Bush 41 White House,, Sarah met  Bill Milliken,  founder and President of Communities In Schools (CIS).  

 Sarah joined CIS as Director of National Public Affairs and later established state offices for CIS in Michigan and Arizona.  In 2001, Sarah and her family moved to Hong Kong where Sarah founded stix & stone hong kong, a jewelry manufacturing  company and import company with a line of jewelry sold at Bergdorf Goodman in NY.  Later,  in Manila Sarah served as Executive Director of the Manila office of International Care Ministries, an organization supplying food, education, micro financing, health care and job training to over 60,000 of the poorest people living in the Philippines.  

Sarah is a graduate with Honors from the University of Virginia, and has earned Leadership and Negotiation Credentialing from Oxford University and MIT. She is a certified Meditation Teacher.

Sarah currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls. 

Originally from Maryland  Amber is passionate about making a positive impact on childhood education. Her passion is partly due to her lifelong association with Communities In Schools. Growing up with an aunt who was one of the original employees at the national office of Communities In Schools in Washington, D.C., Amber volunteered at Communities In Schools events throughout her middle and high school years. 

Amber has extensive experience in office management and customer service. Earlier in her career serving in the health care sector, Amber  served as office manager and liaison effectively facilitating communication between patients, families, healthcare providers, insurers, and regulatory bodies.

As the Senior Executive Assistant to Bill Milliken and Sarah Vogt, Amber plays an important role in maintaining the efficiency of the LeaderComm Offices. Her expertise extends to developing and managing databases and office systems, and she is highly skilled in project management. 

As an adult with two small children, Ambers desire to make a difference in K-12 education goes beyond her work at LeaderComm. She regularly volunteers at an elementary school, working with Pre-K students to create lesson plans and educational activities.