For Immediate Release
Thursday, September 22, 2011
America’s Promise Alliance Announces Retirement of President and CEO Marguerite W. Kondracke
WASHINGTON, DC –America’s Promise Alliance (the Alliance) today announced that Marguerite W. Kondracke plans to retire as its President and CEO and a search has begun to select her successor. The longest serving president and CEO in the organization’s 14-year history, Kondracke has led the Alliance since 2004 and is credited with reinvigorating the organization through strong corporate and foundation support, growing the Alliance to over 400 national organizations, and helping usher in its strategic focus on the high school dropout crisis. She will remain in this position until a successor is named.
Alliance Board Chair Mrs. Alma Powell has appointed a search committee to help lead the process of selecting a new president and CEO. Brian Gallagher of the United Way Worldwide, who also serves as co-chair of the Alliance Trustees, will chair that committee. The executive recruitment firm Korn/Ferry has been retained to help conduct the search.
“Under Marguerite’s leadership the Alliance has become a powerful force for a better future for our children and our country, and the work continues with great momentum and urgency. We look to the future with excitement and resolve,” said Alma J. Powell, chair, America’s Promise Alliance. “Marguerite is a tireless advocate for children and families everywhere. We are grateful to have had her knowledge, passion and leadership at the helm for seven years and look forward to her remaining an active part of the Alliance family.”
Upon retirement, Kondracke will remain a part of the Alliance team, serving as a senior advisor and member of the Board of Directors providing counsel on key partnerships and helping develop the Grad Nation Community Impact Fund, a new $50 million social venture initiative that will provide resources to support work in local communities to transform the lowest performing schools and surrounding neighborhoods. Her counsel will support and help continue the Alliance’s Grad Nation Campaign, a 10-year initiative to end the high school dropout crisis and better prepare children and youth for college and the 21st century workforce.
Kondracke commented “It has been a personal privilege to serve as the Alliance’s President and CEO. This has been my most gratifying professional service in my 45-year career. The Alliance has never been stronger and what we’ve been able to accomplish—together with our partners—has positioned this work and our Grad Nation Campaign with the right support and momentum to move forward in an exciting and meaningful way. I believe this scenario gives us a good transition opportunity to pass the baton to the right successor who shares our vision and dedication to youth and can see this work to successful fruition.”
Kondracke’s commitment to children and families spans a 45-year career as both an entrepreneur and public servant. In Tennessee, as Commissioner of Human Services under then-Governor Lamar Alexander, she led a campaign to make sure that every child had a medical home and to improve the availability of prenatal care. This work helped Tennessee achieve the lowest infant mortality rate in its history. Later she served as Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families, chaired by Senator Lamar Alexander.
In the private sector, she is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of employer-sponsored child care, co-founding Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a publicly traded company that changed the way the nation and employers looked at child care— leading employers to recognize the bottom-line value of helping employees balance work and family. Today, Bright Horizons Family Solutions is the nation’s largest provider of employer-sponsored child care and one of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.
It was this multi-faceted leadership and devotion to young people that the Alliance called upon in 2004 to revive its mission and membership. Under Kondracke’s tenure as President and CEO, the Alliance has grown its partnership base and influence while preserving its historical significance, helping it become one of the most respected and effective voices devoted to children and youth in the country.
Kondracke is credited with creating First Focus, bringing public policy and advocacy to the work of the Alliance. She also developed what has become one of the Alliance’s most well known initiatives, the 100 Best Communities for Young People, the nation’s only annual competition that recognizes communities across the country that are making young people a priority.
Kondracke led the Alliance through the successful launch of its Dropout Prevention Campaign and completion of 105 Dropout Prevention Summits in all 50 states between 2008 and 2010. These summits brought together nearly 40,000 civic, policy, and business leaders alongside educators, parents and young people to begin a dialogue on solutions to the nation’s high school dropout crisis. Following the success of the summits, the Alliance launched the 10-year Grad Nation Campaign to move beyond awareness, focusing on community action to end the dropout crisis. The new Community Impact Fund will help communities put into action lessons learned and best practices.
Kondracke’s success at the Alliance has been honored by outside organizations, including the Non-Profit Times who recognized her in 2008, 2009 and 2010 as one of their “Top 50 People of Power and Influence,” crediting her with making the Alliance ‘a force in youth development.’ Kondracke is the only president and CEO of the Alliance, outside of Founding Chairman General Colin Powell, to receive this honor. She has also been nominated by President Obama to the Board of Directors for the Corporation for National and Community Service and was recently awarded, along with Geoffrey Canada, an honorary doctorate degree from the University of the South (Sewanee) for her work on behalf of children and youth.
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America’s Promise Alliance is the nation’s largest partnership organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth by raising awareness, supporting communities, and engaging in nonpartisan advocacy. Through our Grad Nation campaign, we harness the collective power of our partner network to mobilize Americans to end the high school dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21st century workforce. Building on the legacy of our Founding Chairman General Colin Powell, the Alliance believes the success of our young people is grounded in the Five Promises – caring adults; safe places; a healthy start; an effective education; and opportunities to help others. For more information about America’s Promise Alliance, visit www.americaspromise.org.