Keynote Speaker Bios

Carol Spahn was sworn into office as the 21st Director of the Peace Corps on December 21, 2022. 

Director Spahn brings more than 25 years of public and private sector experience and has worked in countries around the world on issues ranging from small business development and infectious disease prevention to women's empowerment. 

She most recently served as the Peace Corps' Chief Executive Officer and, prior to that, as Acting Director. Previously, Director Spahn was also the Peace Corps’ Chief of Operations in the Africa Region and the Country Director of Peace Corps/Malawi. 

Director Spahn’s Peace Corps roots extend back to when she was a Volunteer from 1994 to 1996 in Romania, where she served as a small business advisor. 

Before returning to the Peace Corps as Country Director, Director Spahn was Senior Vice President of Operations at Women for Women International, an organization serving marginalized and socially excluded women in conflict affected countries. Prior to that, Director Spahn served as Executive Director of Accordia Global Health Foundation, a nonprofit focused on creating sustainable centers of excellence in health in Africa. She served as Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer of Small Enterprise Assistance Funds, a nonprofit private equity fund manager that invests in small- and medium-sized companies in developing countries. She has also held positions at leading private sector institutions, including GE Capital and KPMG Peat Marwick. 

Director Spahn holds a bachelor's degree from the Catholic University of America and a master’s degree in International Development from the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs. 

General Joseph L. Votel is a retired U.S. Army Four-Star officer and the former Commander of the U.S. Central Command – responsible for U.S. and coalition military operations in the Middle East, Levant and Central and South Asia. During his 39 years in the military, he commanded special operations and conventional military forces at every level. His career included combat in Panama, Afghanistan and Iraq. Notably, he led a 79-member coalition that successfully liberated Iraq and Syria from the Islamic State Caliphate. He preceded his assignment at CENTCOM with service as the Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and the Joint Special Operations Command. 

Following his retirement from military service, General Votel served as the President & CEO of Business Executives for National Security (BENS). He is member of the Board of Trustees of Noblis Corporation and a Strategic Advisor for Sierra Nevada Corporation. Votel is a Board Director with Minnesota Wire, DC Capital Partners, Helix Decision Science and a member of the Government Advisory Board for Insight Partners.  He a non-resident Distinguished Fellow at the Middle East Institute and the Distinguished Chair of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

General Votel is a member the Executive Boards at Freedom House and the UPenn Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL). He is a current member of the Defense Business Board and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Votel was recognized with the Distinguished Military Leadership Award from the Atlantic Council, the U.S. – Arab Defense Leadership Award from the National Council on U.S. - Arab Relations, the Patriot Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, the SGT James T. Regan Lifetime Achievement Award from the “Lead the Way” Foundation and the Freedom Award from the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

Votel is a 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy and earned master’s degrees from the U.S. Army Command and Staff College and the Army War College. He is married to Michele; and they have two grown sons, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. The Votels reside in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.

Colonel Eduardo Suarez entered Active Duty in January 1989 where he completed basic training and Infantry Advanced Individual Training at Fort Moore, Georgia. In April 1989, he was assigned to the United States Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Moore where he distinguished himself earning medals in national and international pistol competition. In September 1993 Colonel Suarez completed his active-duty service and moved to Minnesota where he enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard. In 1996 he graduated with distinction from the University of Minnesota’s ROTC program and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Armor officer corps.

He has served in various positions from company to brigade and commanded at the company and battalion level. LTC Suarez has deployed three times including Bosnia Herzegovina in 2003-2004, Iraq from 2005-2007, and Kuwait 2011-2012. In his previous assignment Colonel Suarez served as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion during the civil unrest in 2020 and 2021, COVID response where he focused on creating trust and understanding between the MN National Guard and underrepresented communities. He currently serves as the Director of Communications where he oversees the Diversity & Inclusion program, Government Relations, Public Affairs and Community Engagement.

Colonel Suarez is a Superior graduate of the US Army War College. Some of his military awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Iraq Campaign Medal.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota, and Masters degrees from Central Michigan University and the US Army War College. He is a 2022-23 Humphrey Policy Fellow and recently selected to the board of directors on the St. Paul based, Citizen’s League. He also serves as President of Shoot for the Troops – a non-profit that provides funding to organizations that support service members, veterans, and their families.

Colonel Suarez has been married for over 34 years to Jennifer and they have two children, Antonio currently serving in the MN National Guard and Maria who attends the University of Minnesota.

Ken Goodson serves as National Director for AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), a role he assumed in April of 2022. Mr. Goodson brings over 25 years of supervisory leadership experience and extensive history working in multi- cultural settings to bring about sustainable, positive change. Mr. Goodson’s career has focused on program start-up, strategic redesign, community development, grant making, and innovation to generate greater mission delivery, efficiency, and effectiveness. He has worked at the grassroots and global level.

Mr. Goodson has been with AmeriCorps for a decade. He began his career with AmeriCorps’ in 2012 as Region Director for AmeriCorps NCCC’s Southwest Region. Over the seven years he served as Region Director, NCCC’s Southwest Region greatly expanded its nine-state project base, moving into communities previously not served by AmeriCorps. Mr. Goodson oversaw the stand-up, launch, and subsequent phase out of NCCC FEMA Corps operations based at the Southwest Region. He led efforts in strategic partnership building to align the Southwest Region’s project placements to state priorities identified in collaboration with State Service Commissions, community partners, elected officials and the private sector. This resulted in partnerships leveraging multiple AmeriCorps service streams between AmeriCorps and the state of Texas to address long term disaster recovery, bolster rural education with the Lt. Governor of Colorado, and advance affordable housing priorities with Habitat for Humanity and the State of Colorado.

Following his tenure as Southwest Region Director, Mr. Goodson served two and a half years as the Regional Administrator for the AmeriCorps’ Mountain Region. In this capacity he led the start-up of the new regional office and oversaw a $134 million portfolio supporting over 330 partners and grantees across seven Rocky Mountain states. He was responsible for tone and priority setting while supporting the mobilization of financial and human resources from AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA and AmeriCorps Seniors to engage over 31,000 individuals in national service work. During his tenure as Regional Administrator, Mr. Goodson led the development of the nation's largest COVID recovery program engaging national service participants from AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps Seniors together with the State of Colorado and a private foundation. The public/private partnership engaged each stream of AmeriCorps service and mobilized over 900 individuals to serve with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and was recognized as the National Service Program of the Year by America’s Service Commissions in 2020. Mr. Goodson later leveraged the model created to envision and construct an economic mobility program between AmeriCorps and the State of Colorado.

In October of 2021 Mr. Goodson returned to AmeriCorps NCCC to serve as Director of Planning, Performance and Partnerships. In this capacity he served as the principal advisor to the NCCC program on all matters pertaining to partnership development, performance, and strategic planning. He provided leadership and supervision to Headquarters teams responsible for Health Services, Marketing, Recruitment, Selection, and Data Management. During this time, he led the development of AmeriCorps NCCC’s Summer of Service program, an innovative approach for engaging more Americans in national service, while providing targeted programmatic focus to environmental stewardship and climate change. Additionally, he conceived and coordinated a cross-agency effort to deliver AmeriCorps’ first national, Spanish language information sessions, advancing the agency’s goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Mr. Goodson began his community service career as a Peace Corps Volunteer before going on to serve as a staff member for Peace Corps in six countries over 15 years. He served as a Volunteer and technical trainer in Bolivia, before completing tours as Deputy Director in Belize and Peru. He then served two tours as Country Director, beginning in Mongolia before moving to Romania. After 13 years abroad, he returned to the United States to serve as the Senior Advisor to the Director at Peace Corps Headquarters, becoming part of a five-person team responsible for developing a congressionally mandated comprehensive assessment to capture key lessons learned during Peace Corps’ first 50 years of operations, and outlining Peace Corps’ strategy for the coming decade. He worked extensively on Capitol Hill and with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to secure support for an effort which resulted in Peace Corps' largest increase in funding in the agency's history. Mr. Goodson then oversaw the implementation of Peace Corps’ new strategy and reform plan, continuing to be engaged for two to three weeks annually during his first six years on staff with AmeriCorps. Elements of the strategy he conceptualized, built, and led for the Peace Corps were codified into law by Congress.

Mr. Goodson graduated from Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and earned a master’s in executive leadership from Champlain College. He is fluent in Spanish and does damage in Quechua, Mongolian, and Romanian. Originally from North Carolina, Mr. Goodson is the father of two and married to a public health professional also from North Carolina. He has climbed all 58 of Colorado’s peaks over 14,000 feet, as well as numerous Andean peaks over 20,000 feet. He previously raced bicycles competitively, losing frequently.

He is an ordained minister who officiates weddings between AmeriCorps alums.