Mary Yonkman

At The Mission Continues, Mary is responsible for strategic engagement and thought leadership, including establishing and maintaining executive-level partnerships and engendering cooperation between The Mission Continues and a range of public, private and nonprofit entities.

Mary formerly served as Chief of Staff and Policy Advisor for Civic Enterprises, where she worked on issues ranging from education to civic engagement, national parks and malaria. Mary is co-author of "All Volunteer Force," the first-ever report on the civic lives of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The report examines the tremendous civic potential of our nation's newest generation of veterans and recommends paths forward to ensure that they are engaged in their communities, and it was launched in November 2009 with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Mary was a Governor's Fellow for Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia. While at UVA, she founded the national nonprofit Pancakes For Parkinson's, which benefits the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. She was a Girls Nation senator in 2001 and returned as a counselor in 2003. Mary is married to an active duty Navy helicopter pilot, and they are currently stationed in Norfolk, Va.