MENTOR Names Jermaine Myrie as New CEO
March 28, 2023
Myrie brings deep nonprofit leadership expertise to national mentoring movement
March 28, 2023 – MENTOR, the unifying champion for expanding the quality and quantity of mentoring relationships across the United States, today announced that Jermaine Myrie will serve as the organization’s new chief executive officer. Myrie, who currently serves as chief external affairs officer of uAspire, brings to the position deep experience in education, business development, fundraising, and external affairs.
“Jermaine is a highly accomplished and dedicated nonprofit leader who distinguished himself among a nationwide pool of nearly 150 applicants,” said Nancy Altobello, chair of MENTOR’s board of directors. “Not only did Jermaine distinguish himself professionally, but he also brings depth of character and integrity. Throughout this CEO search process, Jermaine’s passion, empathy, and humble confidence resonated deeply with the board and staff. His experience leading organizations through rapid growth in a manner that is nurturing, inclusive, and authentic to an organization’s culture and values will be a tremendous asset to MENTOR as we enter our next chapter.”
Myrie’s journey to MENTOR began in a middle school classroom, where he served as an English teacher. Since then, he’s held numerous roles in the corporate and nonprofit sectors. For the past six years, Myrie has held leadership roles at uAspire, a nonprofit organization that works to provide young people with financial information and resources to find an affordable path to and through college. During his time at uAspire, he helped the organization drive innovation, energize and expand its donor base, and diversify and grow its revenue. Myrie has also held leadership roles at Aetna Student Health, Johnson Controls, and Xerox Corporation.
“I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to lead MENTOR as it works to deepen its impact and partnerships across the country,” Myrie said. “At a time of profound challenge for our nation’s young people, MENTOR is called to not only lead a national mentoring movement, but well positioned to be a catalyst for relationship-driven change in communities across the country. As someone who has experienced the profound power of mentoring in my own life, I can’t wait to work with MENTOR and its partners to ensure more young people have access to the mentorship, support, and guidance they need to reach their goals and dreams.”
Myrie is the first person of color to be named CEO of MENTOR in its more than 30-year history and joins the organization at a pivotal moment in its evolution. He succeeds David Shapiro who successfully led MENTOR and the mentoring movement for more than a decade, during which the organization grew its Affiliate network, expanded the scope of its work, and embraced a vision for achieving systems-level change that benefits our nation’s young people.
“As the lead champion of the mentoring movement, MENTOR is committed to dismantling systemic racism and removing barriers to opportunity in our society so all young people can thrive,” said Tara Spann, chief people and strategy officer of MENTOR. “To achieve this, MENTOR was looking for a changemaker and community builder who could continue to leverage and activate alliances with nonprofits, educators, businesses, and government. Jermaine’s authenticity, relationship-centered approach, strategic acumen, and unique blend of cross-sector experience makes him uniquely suited to build upon MENTOR’s existing momentum and drive our strategy forward to achieve greater impact, equity, and growth within the mentoring field. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome him to the team.”
Myrie will assume his new role as CEO on April 24. Under Myrie’s leadership, MENTOR will continue its work to address the critical and urgent need for more mentors. About one in three young people today are growing up without a mentor. Although the prevalence of mentoring has increased over the past decades, the mentoring gap has grown larger for the current generation of young people because of the pandemic and other factors.
ABOUT MENTOR’S CEO SEARCH – Phillips Oppenheim, an executive search firm that specializes in serving mission-driven organizations, was engaged by MENTOR’s CEO Search Committee to facilitate the search. The CEO Search Committee was comprised of seven members of MENTOR’s board of directors.
ABOUT MENTOR – More than 30 years ago, MENTOR was created to expand opportunities for young people by building a youth mentoring field and movement. The result: a more than 10-fold increase in young people in structured mentoring relationships. Today, MENTOR is the primary resource and expert for the youth mentoring field, representing a movement that meets young people everywhere they are – from schools to workplaces, and beyond. MENTOR operates in collaboration with 24 local Affiliates across the country. For more information, visit mentoring.org.