advisors

I’m so excited to share the news that Maria Eitel, president of the Nike Foundation and an Acumen Fund advisor, has been asked by President Obama to become the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Maria’s nomination was announced yesterday during an event with President Obama, the First Lady, Vice President Biden, Sen. Kennedy and others, as the President signed the Serve America Act.

We are so proud to work with Maria and have learned a great deal from her. The work at Nike, focused on girls, is important for the world – and The Girl Effect is one of the best examples I’ve seen of social marketing. If you’ve not seen it, watch it now! I know the Foundation will miss Maria, and at the same time, I believe Maria is uniquely positioned to lead this important work for the US and the world. This next generation of young people is an extraordinary one – finding opportunities to link them to real public service opportunities, not only in the US, but hopefully globally as well, could really change the world.

I know you all join me in wishing Maria our warmest congratulations and support. Hooray Maria!

We at Acumen Fund are so proud that Niko Canner, a key advisor to our work, was named in Fortune.com as among “the next generation of management experts who are changing the way business gets done”. As one of the “10 gurus you should know“, Niko stands alongside Nouriel Roubini, the NYU economist famed for predicting the recent economic turmoil, and Don Sull, the professor of management practice at LSE, among others. Niko has been a champion of our talent work and I personally feel incredibly grateful to him for all he and his firm Katzenbach Partners has done to strengthen and expand Acumen’s work.

Congratulations, Niko!