BOSTON, MA, May 21, 2009 -- BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) Chief Executive Officer Dr. Tiffany Cooper Gueye will be honored at The Network Journal's 12th Annual "40 Under Forty" Achievement Awards, on Thursday, June 18, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in New York City. The Network Journal, the premier monthly magazine for Black professionals, corporate executives and business owners, will profile the 40 business and community leaders in a special June issue of the magazine.
"As we celebrate the twelfth anniversary of our '40 Under Forty' Achievers awards, The Network Journal cherishes its role in recognizing up-and-coming African-American men and women, who show promise and commitment in their careers, and dedication to their community," said Aziz Gueye Adetimirin, founder, publisher and CEO of The Network Journal.
Gueye is among a very small number of African American women to serve as the CEO of a nonprofit organization. While fewer than 30% of all nonprofit CEOs are women, and only 7% of nonprofit CEOs are African American, last year, at the age of 29, Dr. Tiffany Cooper Gueye became the CEO of BELL, a $28 million nonprofit organization.
At a very young age, Gueye dedicated herself to making high-quality education available to all children. Gueye first began working at BELL while attending Boston College. She immediately identified with BELL's mission to dramatically improve the academic achievements and life opportunities of children in under-served communities. She quickly climbed the ranks of BELL's program management team and became Chief Operating Officer, overseeing a multi-million dollar annual operating budget. Gueye's strong commitment to education also led her to pursue her Ph.D. in Educational Research, Evaluation and Measurement from Boston College while teaching graduate courses as well.
BELL offers summer and afterschool programs that provide tutoring and mentoring to students, who BELL calls "scholars," in grades K-8. The BELL Summer program helps scholars to gain, on average, the equivalent of three to five months of academic skills in a six week period, whereas most students in under-resourced communities experience about three months of summer learning loss if they do not attend a summer program. An Urban Institute random assignment evaluation conducted in 2006 found that participants in BELL's summer program showed greater reading skills gains compared to the control group.
Gueye has been the driving force behind BELL's rigorous, award-winning academic program. During her time at BELL, the organization has grown from serving a few hundred scholars to now serving more than 11,000 scholars in Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and North Carolina. Through her leadership, BELL's programs, outcomes and evaluation methods have been nationally recognized as best practices. As testimony to this success, President Barack Obama cited BELL in legislation (STEP-Up Act, 2005) as a model program and enabled Gueye to work with his office in the development of the legislation.
For more information about the Network Journal "40 Under Forty" event, please visit www.tnj.com.
About BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
BELL, founded in 1992, is one of the nation's leading providers of quality afterschool and summer educational programs. It is committed to enhancing the educational achievements, self-esteem and life opportunities of children living in under-resourced communities. BELL serves more than 11,000 children annually in schools throughout Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, Flint, New York City and Saginaw (Mich.). Please visit www.bellnational.org for more information.
Contact:
Collin Earnst
617-933-9011
cearnst@bellboston.org