Carol Wheeler

Carol Wheeler was a founding member of SAWIP and is its immediate past Board chair. She was also the founder and first Board chair of the Washington-Ireland Program for Service and Leadership (the organization on which SAWIP is modeled) and founder and coordinator of the Washington, DC chapter of Project Children (which has worked with thousands of young people from areas in Northern Ireland most affected by the Troubles, providing opportunities for reconciliation and personal growth).

Her professional career has included work with women candidates as the executive director of the Women’s Campaign Fund, management of a Capitol Hill office, a White House assignment as liaison for women’s organizations, and lobbying for both the National Association of Broadcasters and public television. She has played leadership roles in a range of DC-based community organizations and has a special interest in improving educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth. She was recently appointed by President Obama to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities and is a member of the national board of The Arc, the U.S.'s oldest and largest advocacy organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.