Boston, MA Junior Achievement Volunteer Receives Top National Honor

Boston, MA — Junior Achievement of Northern New England (JAofNNE) announced that William Schawbel, Founder & CEO at The Schawbel Group, had been chosen from more than 151,000 U.S. volunteers as one of eight recipients of the organization’s most prestigious national award for volunteerism, the Gold Leadership Award.

Junior Achievement’s Gold Leadership Award honors volunteer excellence, presented in recognition of leadership in supporting and expanding JA’s student impact, resources, operational excellence, and sustainability. The Gold Leadership Awards honor the recipients’ JA volunteer service during the 2019-20 school year.

“Our local business community’s support of JAofNNE is critical to achieving our mission, to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in the global economy,” said Radhames Nova, President and CEO of Junior Achievement of Northern New England. “Bill is a remarkable example of that spirit of dedication and service to others. In a very real way, he helps Greater Boston area JA students get the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices.”

Bill participated in the JA Company Program while attending Boston Latin School in the mid-1950s. The JA Company Program teaches high school students how to launch and operate their own startup businesses leveraging the JA curriculum and under the guidance of business mentors. Bill credits Junior Achievement with sparking his entrepreneurship interests and exposing him to the business world. He has remained an avid supporter of the JA Company Program, providing funding to allow JAofNNE to grow the program, introducing students to patent attorneys in his network to explore patents for their products and being a big champion and cheerleader of the JA students, mentoring some individually. Bill supported JAofNNE while holding executive roles at Gillette Company and served on its board of directors since 1963. During his tenure on the board, Bill served as Board Chair, on the Executive Committee, Advisory Council Member and has chaired several fundraising campaigns for the non-profit. Bill now serves on the JA Worldwide Global Council and continues to serve locally on the JA of Northern New England Board Emeritus. Bill has been JAofNNE’s biggest benefactor in its 71-year history.

“Thank you, Junior Achievement, for honoring me with the Gold Leadership Award and for all you’ve done for me personally. You opened the world to me and gave me the skills to navigate it successfully while developing my own self-worth. My successes have allowed me to support youth worldwide in education, diversity, and entrepreneurship through JA for over 60 years in various capacities - fundraiser, volunteer, sponsor, board president, and global board member. Given the current state of affairs in the world, now more than ever, there is no better investment than in our youth. And I look forward to continuing to support JA!”, said Bill.
Junior Achievement’s entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness programs are delivered nationwide—typically in classrooms during the school day, by volunteer role models from the local business community.

About Junior Achievement USA® (JA)

Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches more than 3 million students per year in 105 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.2 million students served by operations in 100 other countries worldwide. Junior Achievement USA is a member of JA Worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information.

About Junior Achievement of Northern New England (JAofNNE)

Junior Achievement's (JA) mission is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. JA was founded in 1919 in Springfield, MA and Junior Achievement of Northern New England (JAofNNE) was incorporated in Boston in 1950. JAofNNE provides economic mobility and opportunity to youth in 10 Massachusetts counties and the state of New Hampshire. JAofNNE focuses on teaching youth from Boston, Brockton, Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Quincy, Somerville, Worcester and Manchester NH to effectively manage their finances, build critical skills for the workforce, develop their entrepreneurial mindset and increase their confidence to prepare them to succeed in our global economy and help them break the cycle of poverty. Visit https://newengland.ja.org for more information.

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