By JD Hoye, NAF President
Since 1982, NAF has envisioned a world in which all young people — regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic status — have equal opportunity to pave the way for successful futures. Through the support of thousands of dedicated educators, business professionals, community members, and more, this vision has delivered life-changing results over the decades and we will not stop until it becomes the only reality.
How NAF Creates Opportunity
NAF is a national network of education, business, and community leaders who work together to address the skills gap and develop the future talent pipeline by ensuring that high school students are college, career, and future ready. NAF academies are small learning communities that fit within and enhance public high schools and focus on one of five career themes in leading industries: finance, hospitality & tourism, information technology, engineering, and health sciences. Starting with one Academy of Finance in Brooklyn in 1982 with 30 students, NAF has grown to nearly 700 academies across the nation in 2017 and serves almost 100,000 high school students.
From the time of NAF’s inception, an emphasis on the impact that public-private partnerships can have in changing the course of a young person’s life has been a guiding light for progress. Chairman and Founder, Sanford “Sandy” I. Weill, along with NAF’s Board of Directors, are leaders in their fields who advocate for improving education and developing a talent pipeline in the United States. Through their leadership, guidance, and support, NAF delivers on our promise of developing the next generation of future-ready employees.
“I am always so impressed by how thoughtful these young people are and how much they have accomplished,” said Sandy “My advice is for them to not only think about the business side, but also about how to be philanthropic and give back to their communities.”
Members of NAF’s board includes captains of industry such as Kenneth Chenault, Chairman & CEO, American Express; Alex Gorsky, Chairman & CEO, Johnson & Johnson; Lynne Doughtie, Chairman & CEO, KPMG; Sanjiv Yajnik, President, Financial Services, Capital One; Jennifer Morgan, President, Americas and Asia Pacific Japan and Global Customer Operations at SAP; Ursula Burns, Retired Chairman and CEO, Xerox Corp.; David Steward, Founder and Chairman, World Wide Technology (WWT); and many more.
The Critical Role Of Corporate Partnerships
Strategic support and hiring opportunities from NAF’s corporate partners provide invaluable exposure for NAF students. It also allows NAF partners to enhance the program based on their core competencies. KPMG has lent its expertise to help develop NAF’s Accounting curriculum and provided more than 100 internships to NAF students since the summer of 2011.
KPMG employees serve as champions and mentors to students in NAF academies across the country. Employees provide a wide range of opportunities including office tours, job shadows, speed networking, panels, mock interviews, and resume writing workshops.
Most recently, KPMG has partnered with Verizon and the NYC Academy Foundation to pilot NAF’s latest initiative to scale internship opportunities — NAF Future Ready Labs. Being one of three labs this summer; the NYC location serves approximately 20 students studying finance and hospitality & tourism. At the end of the internship, students will have completed three projects related to employment ethics, company services, and sustainability practices. The final presentation will be judged by executives from KPMG as well as other industry and academy representatives.
“Workforce readiness is a critical issue for KPMG and leading companies across the country,” said KPMG’s Lynne Doughtie. “NAF is helping to ensure that young people – particularly from low-income communities – develop the skills and are presented with the opportunities they need to become valued and successful employees in the future.”
The only way we can achieve more is together. Time and time again, NAF has witnessed firsthand the life-changing impact of education and business coming together to close the skills gap and that role that each of us plays in building the future. Looking forward, what’s needed is the willingness to be “all-in” when it comes to pledging your commitment and being ready to join a team of committed and caring leaders who band together to make the world a better place for America’s high school students.
Join us in this movement. Visit naf.org to learn more today.
NAF is proud to partner with KPMG LLP. KPMG LLP is committed to helping its clients anticipate tomorrow, while delivering today. Visit KPMGVoice to learn more.
With a deep commitment to preparing students for college and meaningful careers, JD has worked at both the grassroots and the highest levels of government to reform how young people are engaged in learning and how they are positioned to pursue their academic interests and career goals. Through this work, she has become a nationally recognized leader in forging partnerships between educators and employers.
In leading NAF, JD oversees a network of nearly 700 college preparatory, career-themed academies in 36 states, including DC and the US Virgin Islands. Prior to her appointment at NAF, JD served as President of Keep the Change, Inc., a nationally recognized consulting business focused on helping communities reform education and develop a skilled workforce.
During her years in the public sector, JD developed and implemented policy at the highest level of federal government. In 1994, she was selected by US Secretary of Education Richard Riley and US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich to head the new Office of School-to-Work in Washington, DC. She served in that role for four years, overseeing a $1.1 billion budget and spurring nationwide progress in education reform and workforce development.
JD has also been a leader for education reform at the state and local levels. She was Associate Superintendent of the Office of Professional/Technical Education for the Oregon Department of Education and Office of Community Colleges and served as the leader of a 27-county organization that managed federal job training funding for rural counties in Oregon.
JD’s commitment to the mission of NAF is rooted in her genuine passion to make young people’s lives better.