Press Release: Executive Director Search
On September 11, 2015, the board of the Piedmont Education Foundation (PEF) unanimously approved the addition of an Executive Director for PEF. PEF’s fundraising results – and needs – have grown to a level where having an Executive Director is essential. In the spring of 2015, PEF successfully merged with APCP into one streamlined organization. PEF now raises approximately $3 million annually, or nearly 8% of the Piedmont school district’s budget. There is no end in sight for the need to augment public funds with private fundraising in order to maintain PUSD’s tradition of excellence and innovation. The role of the PEF ED will be to help PEF continue to increase its revenues and carefully manage expenses so that it can donate more money to the Piedmont schools.
In addition to fundraising, PEF also provides valuable services to the school community, such as the Student Directory, the Portal website, and fundraising support and volunteer coordination for other school support organizations. Parent and community volunteers are an essential part of the success of the Piedmont schools, and volunteers will continue to be involved in all aspects of school support and fundraising activities, including as leaders of key projects, events, and campaigns.
PEF has benchmarked itself against other comparable education foundations in other high performing school districts, including Palo Alto, San Marino, Hillsborough, Kentfield, Mill Valley, Menlo Park, and Manhattan Beach. Among its peers, Piedmont is the only education foundation that does not have an Executive Director. Even with the addition of an ED, PEF’s administrative expenses will be under 10%, well within best practices and comparable to these other education foundations.
PEF has created a task force to hire the new Executive Director. The task force includes the following PEF board and committee members, community representatives, and parent volunteers: Christine Wente von Metzsch, Cory Smegal, Molly Ashford, Bob McBain, Mary Silver, Shahan Soghikian, and Abby Scott, with Doug Okun as an alternate. This task force will recruit, interview and evaluate candidates and make a recommendation to the PEF Board. The PEF Board is comprised of 30 volunteers, including parents and community members.
Interested candidates can visit the PEF website at PiedmontEdFoundation.org, to learn more about the position. Applications, including a resume and cover letter, should be submitted to pefresumes@gmail.com by October 16, 2015.
