Education Foundation names new director

Jessica Steed was recently named executive director of the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation.

The Foundation’s board of directors chose Steed to replace Jenna Whitney, who resigned after her husband Mark, who was the manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management for the U.S. Department of Energy, accepted a new job with DOE in Washington, D.C.

Steed, a certified public accountant since 2001, worked for more than six years in public accounting as an auditor and tax accountant before becoming a full-time parent and community volunteer for the last nine years.

Since Steed moved to Oak Ridge four years ago, she has served as a classroom volunteer, as treasurer for both Woodland Elementary and Jefferson Middle School PTOs, and as an active member of the PTO Council. The Foundation’s selection committee noted that Steed comes to the position with a strong financial and accounting background and with knowledge of issues that affect the Oak Ridge school system.

“Although I have thoroughly enjoyed volunteering in the school system, I am ready to move into a position that allows me to help support not only my own children’s schools, but the whole school system I have grown to appreciate,” Steed said in a press release. “My experience in public accounting and volunteer work in the schools will serve as a great foundation as I strive to support the mission of the ORPSEF.”

Steed is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting. The Education Foundation board of directors also named four new directors—Ivan Boatner, Leigha Edwards, David Bradshaw, and Kevin Corbett—to serve two-year terms.

Boatner is general counsel at Oak Ridge Associated Universities. He has more than 20 years of experience in legal advisement of nonprofit entities. He also serves as legal counsel for the Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education.

Edwards manages the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Protocol and Community Relations Office, which coordinates high-level visits and tours for elected officials and dignitaries. She is also responsible for UT-Battelle’s corporate philanthropy, staff volunteerism program, and K-12 education outreach.

Bradshaw is executive vice president and director of client services at Capital Mark Bank and Trust in Oak Ridge. A former Oak Ridge mayor and school board member, he also teaches management courses as an adjunct instructor for Roane State Community College.

Corbett is vice president of quality assurance at the Y-12 National Security Complex. He has managed quality programs, projects, and installations for DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Defense, and the Department of State, as well as commercial nuclear power facilities and large-scale infrastructure programs.

The board also re-appointed Ken Reuter as a board member. Reuter recently returned to Oak Ridge as UCOR President and East Tennessee Technology Park project cleanup manager. He had resigned from the board upon his transfer to Savannah River and agreed to come back on the board after returning to Oak Ridge.

The new board members will be serving alongside Thom Mason, Andy Page, Darrell Kohlhorst, Gerald Boyd, Barry Stephenson, Jim Campbell, Kelly Callison, Bob Smallridge, Brenda Thornburgh, John Smith Jr., Cathy Toth, Benita Albert, Ken Reuter, and Matt Shafer Powell.

The Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2000, provides funds beyond public tax dollars for education, raising funds through grants and private donations to invest in enhanced educational programming, innovative technology, and state-of-the-art facilities for teachers and students. For more information, see the foundation’s web site at www.orpsef.org.