And the winner is...

Jack Harris, President & CEO of JA Georgia, accepts Charles R. Hook award at 2017 JA Global Leadership Conference.

Last month JA of Georgia hosted colleagues from around the world for the Global Leadership Conference. It was a phenomenal week filled with inspiration, networking and strategy.  

The final evening celebrated numerous awards and winners, including the Charles R. Hook award.  The award is given annually to the JA USA President whose professionalism and performance best represents the core values and ideals of Junior Achievement. 

For our organization, no one embodies this more than Jack. For the past 13 years, he has led us through good times and tough ones alike, all while keeping his focus on the bigger picture front and center, and executing it in humblest of ways. Our organization is now at an incredibly important inflection point, with the opportunity to truly transform education, and change the trajectory of students’ lives, due in large part to Jack’s vision and steadfast leadership.

His ability to bring together key players in the business communities and school systems to fully embrace and commit to our programs is invaluable. His knowledge of issues the education system is facing, coupled with his true passion to break down those barriers for students, makes him an unending source of inspiration for us. We often wonder (to ourselves and out loud), how does he do it?

Under his leadership, the team at JA of Georgia has hit many major millstones over the last few years: a highly successful capital campaign, the opening of two JA Discovery Centers, an expanded student impact in terms of reach and depth of experience, and the launch of the innovative JA Academy.

Here are a few that happened in the 2016-2017 school year alone:

• Breaking ground on the third Capstone Center, which will result in JA BizTown and JA Finance Park serving nearly one in every three middle school students in Georgia.

• Opening of a second JA Academy, which is proving to significantly elevate outcomes in high school students' engagement and academic achievements.

• Preparing for the opening of two additional JA Academies this upcoming school year, and four to five the following.

• Expanding the number of corporate partners and integration with each, which resulted in a 12% increase in volunteer engagement and revenue reaching $10 million, a 32% increase over the past two years.

The summation of these efforts led to outstanding growth and substantial impact on the lives of students throughout Georgia. More than 175,000 students engaged with JA, totaling 2.5 million contact hours, an increase of 50% over the past two years. Focused on serving the greatest need in today's education model, middle school and high school represent the majority of the 2 million + hours, making up 65% of total outreach.

Quite a list in such a short time!

In true Jack fashion, he asked for our full JA of Georgia team to join him on stage; to accept that momentous honor alongside him. Thankfully, we didn’t break the stage.

To Jack: thank you for never settling for the status quo; for pushing our organization, from the brand-new hires, to the people who’ve been by your side from the start, to realizing that we’ve barely scratched the surface of our potential to transform education; for your unending passion and inspiration.

Global Leadership Conference: A week as #OneJA

Do you ever find yourself caught up in the day-to-day, seemingly small tasks that somehow all come together to make up your job description? Same. Sometimes when you’re doing great, big things, that big vision gets lost in the small, sometimes annoying, albeit important, tiny things.

Want to know what can snap you out of the in-the-weeds mindset, and remind you that your work goes far beyond the little things? Spending a week with more than 300 of your colleagues from around the world who have stories to share that go far beyond what you could’ve ever imagined.

JA Worldwide, the organization that connects JA USA local offices to the rest of the globe, has offices in more than 100 countries, and when combined with JA USA, served more than 10,000,000 students last year.

A snippet of this group were the colleagues that made up this year’s Global Leadership Conference, hosted by yours truly, JA of Georgia. For a week, we heard from industry leaders, local staff members, and our own leadership teams. We shared stories of success, and best practices for everyone to bring back to their corner of the globe. We came together as #OneJA, with one mission in mind:

To empower youth to believe that they are the builders of their futures.

After three days of insightful workshops and networking, we had the culminating Awards Night to honor distinguished leaders throughout our network. Below are the winners of these prestigious awards.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is a recognition of a chief executive of a member country who has contributed significantly to the growth and impact of JA programs at national level.

Nina Kuznetsova, Executive Director of JA Russia

The Soraya Salti Award was created in memory of the visionary leader who started INJAZ Al-Arab in the Middle East, which now reaches students across the region in 14 countries. It recognizes innovative JA visionaries who move JA forward in a positive way, bringing systematic change to a country or a region. 

Caroline Jenner, CEO of JA Europe. Not pictured: Co-winner Majid Khalid Al-shammiri, CEO of INJAZ Yemen

The JA Collaboration Award recognizes member countries, U.S. Areas and Regional Operating Centers that champion collaborative projects between and among themselves to encourage worldwide cooperation that promotes efforts around fundraising, operational efficiency and program reach.

JA Bulgaria, JA Greece, JA Latvia, JA Norway, & JA Romania

The JA Alumni Engagement Award recognizes member countries, U.S. Areas and Regional Operating Centers that have developed robust alumni strategies including tracking, communication and engagement projects.

Co-winners: JA Nigeria and INJAZ Al-Arab

The Karl Flemke Award recognizes the accomplishments of a JA Area President for their outstanding achievements, all while being in the position for four years or less.

Megan Sturges, JA of Greater Kansas City

The Charles R. Hook Award  is given annually to the JA Area President whose professionalism and performance best represents the core values and ideals of Junior Achievement. 

Jack Harris, JA of Georgia

What a phenomenal week, topped off with Jack taking home a top honor (more on that next week).

To all our colleagues around the nation and world: thank you for joining us in our hometown for a week of collaborative efforts (and some fun), that will no doubt lead to improved practices and inspired thinking from all.

Sixty seconds with Hunter Pierce

How does your role fit into the organization as a whole?

I am honored to serve JA of Georiga by giving students the opportunity to learn from volunteers at the JA Discovery Centers.  These individuals represent grown-ups from all walks of life who are willing to share their stories and experience with students as they participate at the JA Discovery Centers. My role is to steward these individuals, help them see their value, and help them gain the personal and professional development skills that comes from philanthropic giving of time and treasure. So, basically, my role is to invite great people to the JA Discovery Centers to help inspire our future leaders! 

What’s the most challenging part of your job?

My inspiration has been fueled by the stories I hear and the students whose lives have been changed by the simulations. The passion that lives in my heart undoubtedly comes out when I am doing recruitment events, or speaking one-on-one with a volunteer. So my biggest challenge is really more of an opportunity: to work with volunteer champions (what we call the point of contacts from an organization) to help them convey that same passion to their colleagues and our students. 

What do you like most about your role?

My two favorite times of the day are the morning and the afternoon of a volunteer day.  In the morning, most volunteers are a combination of excited and unsure about what will come of their day. We like to make them laugh and help set their minds at ease. We are given the unique opportunity to help people build new personal and professional relationships while volunteering.  I enjoy watching people make friends and make connections throughout the Gwinnett community during the morning arrival time.  I also love seeing a show of hands of how many return volunteers we have! In the afternoon, the volunteers share their stories about the day.  The stories are funny, heart war,, life changing, and inspiring.  Every volunteer debrief is a reminder of why we are here! Who says volunteers can’t have those “ah-ha moments” too?! 

What motivates you?

Service! Sharing those one-on-one conversations with volunteers after their day or reading an email that says “thank you for having me…truly changed my life” keeps me going. So many adults walk the earth thinking that they have nothing to give.  Serving others through our talent or treasure can help us find our worth and I am happy when someone finds their individual value in Service.

Advice for the next generation?

If you find a role or a field that you are truly passionate about, you will watch yourself excel professionally and personally.  It’s never too late to begin listening to your heart and becoming a more compassionate and hardworking person…just never forget why you are here and that you can make a difference.