John Valverde is president and CEO of YouthBuild Global. He joined YouthBuild in 2017 after decades of work as an advocate for creating access to opportunity and removing barriers for formerly incarcerated and marginalized people.

John began working with imprisoned individuals in 1992 to ensure access to HIV/AIDS counseling, high school equivalency instruction, alternatives to violence programs, and college education. In 1998, he co-founded Hudson Link for Higher Education, the first privately funded accredited college program in New York’s prisons.

As a leader of lived experience who was incarcerated at the age of 21, John is a true reflection of the importance of second chances, and real first chances, and an example for the young people of YouthBuild.

John is a Marano Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Sector Skills Academy; a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow; co-chair of the National Service, Civic Engagement and Volunteering pillar of More Perfect; a member of the New York State Council on Community Re-entry and Reintegration; and an elected member of the Council on Criminal Justice. John has been recognized numerous times, including being named a 2022 Power 50: Movement Maker by the Boston Business Journal (BBJ) and a Top 150 Most Influential Bostonians by Boston magazine in 2024. He holds a Master of Professional Studies in Urban Ministry from the New York Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science from Mercy University.