NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Independent music entrepreneur Peter Shapiro has been named Chair of the Board of Directors of HeadCount, a non-partisan nonprofit aimed at registering voters at live music events.
Shapiro has been a member of HeadCount’s board of directors since the organization was founded in 2004. Shapiro will serve a four-year term as the organization prepares for the 2020 U.S. Presidential Elections.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help recruit the next generation of voters and political leaders,” Shapiro said. “HeadCount is one of the leading youth-oriented political engagement organizations in America, so becoming Chair of the Board is a great honor and responsibility. I look forward to helping push things to the next level.”
Shapiro assumes the Chairman role at the organization from co-founders Marc Brownstein, bass player of the electronic rock band The Disco Biscuits, and former journalist Andy Bernstein, who is the organization’s executive director.
“It’s an honor to pass the reins to my friend of more than 20 years,” said Brownstein, who remains a member of the HeadCount Board of Directors and will now have the title of “Founder, Chairman Emeritus.”
Since its founding, HeadCount volunteers have registered nearly 600,000 voters at concerts and via its website, HeadCount.org, and has more than 30,000 volunteers nationwide.
Currently, volunteers are doing voter registration drives as part of Ariana Grande’s Sweetener tour as well as tours by Billie Eilish, Death Cab for Cutie, and Dave Matthews Band.
The HeadCount board of directors also includes Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead, John McCrea of CAKE, Kam Franklin of the Suffers, TicketFly Founder Andrew Dreskin, AEG Live promoter Don Strasburg, and former White House official Alyssa Mastromonaco, among others.
A veteran concert promoter, Shapiro has overseen the opening of multiple Brooklyn Bowls, as well as the restoration of the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York and was featured in a CelebrityAccess interview with Larry LeBlanc in 2017.
