Junior Achievement of Arizona (JA), a nearly 60-year-old Arizona nonprofit, announced it has selected esteemed business and nonprofit executive Katherine Cecala as its new president. Cecala joins the organization at a time when it is poised to elevate its programs and breadth of student service to a greater level.
“There are more one million students in the Arizona, Kindergarten through high school, who must be prepared to become tomorrow’s leaders,” said Cecala. “I’m passionate about the role our 8,000 volunteers, corporate partners and school partners play in empowering our youth to own their economic success.”
Before joining the JA team, Cecala most recently served as the interim CEO/president of Friendly House, Inc. Prior to that, she was the chief operating officer at Valley of the Sun United Way for eight years, and in healthcare management with Mayo Clinic and Samaritan Health System (now Banner Health) for 14 years. She is a licensed attorney, having received her juris doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law, and is an industrial engineer. She received a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree from Louisiana Tech University.
Junior Achievement of Arizona empowers nearly 100,000 students, Kindergarten through high school, each year to own their economic success by providing critical financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship education. The organization is the eleventh largest JA area in the United States, in terms of students served. Since its inception in Arizona in 1957, JA has impacted the lives of more than 1.5 million students. During its last fiscal year, the organization operated with a $3.6 million budget.
Cecala succeeds JA president, Joyce Richards, who retired earlier this month after 14 years.
