PENCIL Founder Lisa Belzberg Hands Reins to JetBlue CEO Dave Barger

NEW YORK, June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PENCIL, the NYC–based non-profit that works to improve student achievement by bringing private sector expertise into public schools, announced today that Dave Barger, President and CEO of JetBlue Airways, has been elected Chair of the organization's Board of Directors. He succeeds the organization's founder, Lisa Belzberg, who launched PENCIL in 1995. Belzberg will serve as Chair Emeritus, remaining involved in the organization credited with mobilizing the city's private sector to play an active role in public education, and which today operates programs in four cities.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110614/DC19380)

Additionally, the Board elected Lewis Warren, Jr. of Bank of America Merrill Lynch to its membership.

"After sixteen years, I am more convinced than ever in the importance of PENCIL's mission and its unique ability to change schools and transform lives," Belzberg said. "It's a tremendous honor for this organization, and particularly gratifying to me personally, to have the opportunity to bring on a business leader of Dave Barger's caliber to take PENCIL's work forward as we continue to grow in New York City and across the country."

Barger said that he was honored to be entrusted by the Board to lead one of New York City's most-respected and best-known education not-for-profits. Having experienced the work firsthand as a successful PENCIL Partner to PS 153 in West Harlem, and now Aviation High School in Long Island City, JetBlue's new hometown, Barger plans to work with the staff to build on the foundation Belzberg helped create and expand the work in multiple ways.

"PENCIL has been a critical force in connecting the city's private sector with the public school system, and helping business leaders realize that they have a big stake in the success of students," he said. "Lisa's contribution to New York is priceless, and I'm honored to carry her vision forward."  

Founded in 1995, PENCIL began with Principal For A Day®, an awareness program designed to provide leaders from all sectors with an opportunity to spend a day experiencing a New York City public school. Today, PENCIL's Partnership Program has helped to build relationships between private sector leaders and public school principals in hundreds of schools across the five boroughs, with affiliate programs now operating in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Rochester.

Read the full release: http://www.pencil.org/content_assets/B0BDE466-B202-4A30-9774-D4CCB2BF89DB.pdf

SOURCE PENCIL