Citizens Energy co-founder and former Perkins School for the Blind President Steven Rothstein has been selected as the new executive director of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the organization announced Tuesday.

“Throughout his career, Steven has answered President Kennedy’s call to service, dedicating himself to social justice and human progress,” foundation chairman Kenneth Feinberg wrote in an announcement email, touting Rothstein’s roles as CEO of Citizen Schools and assistant commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation, which is now known as the Department of Developmental Disabilities.

Feinberg said he’ll work with him to build on the foundation’s partnership with the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester. In his own letter, Rothstein noted he supported the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s senatorial and presidential campaigns and Joe Kennedy II’s 1986 congressional campaign and encouraged people to visit the library and museum or explore archival documents available online “that offer a fascinating glimpse into the life and times of John F. Kennedy.”

“The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is dedicated to the memory of our nation’s thirty-fifth president and to all those who, through the art of politics, seek a new and better world. Through the inspiration of President Kennedy and members of his family, I have built my career around assisting individuals that have been in the shadows of society,” Rothstein wrote.

Rothstein begins his new job next Tuesday.