John Dervin joined the Board of Directors in 2021 after serving for years as an unofficial advisor to the President of the GSF Board.

John is from Winston-Salem and attended Governor’s School West for math in 1990 at Salem College. John’s sister attended Governor’s School East for clarinet in 1996.

John graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill where he served as the president of the UNC Association of Student Governments and as an ex-officio member of the UNC Board of Governors. John also currently serves on the UNC General Alumni Administration Board of Directors.

John has extensive experience in state and federal public policy, communications, advocacy, and government having worked with or for non-profits, political campaigns from the county to presidential level, campaigns for statewide office in North Carolina, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. John served as policy advisor to the Governor for health and human services and as chief-of-staff for the NC Department of Health and Human Services.

John lives in Durham with his spouse Danielle and their two sons who attend Durham Public Schools.