Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation names new director

The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation has named a new director.

Jenna Whitney started Jan. 1, the foundation’s board of directors announced this week. Whitney has more than 15 years of general management experience in the professional services industry and the U.S. government.

Whitney replaces the foundation’s first director, Lila Metcalf, who has announced that she is leaving the position after almost 10 years with the foundation. She will return full-time to her nursing career.

Whitney recently served as a program manager at a defense contracting firm with oversight of more than $59 million in U.S. government contracts, and she has directed a portfolio of engineering and technical support contracts, a press release said. She has worked overseas for the U.S. State Department, managing financial operations and leading strategic and technical initiatives.

“I truly believe in the mission of ORPSEF and will work toward fulfilling the foundation’s goals and objectives,” Whitney said in the press release. “I believe my experiences in the public and private sector managing programs, building businesses and handling budgets and financial transactions, will translate well to the duties of ORPSEF director.”

Whitney worked for Summit Solutions LLC in Maryland for four years before coming to Oak Ridge. From 2006-2008, she worked for the U.S. Department of State in Moscow, Russia, where she was a finance officer for the Embassy’s Financial Management Office. She held positions as project manager, program manager, and analyst with government contractors and with the U.S. Defense Department earlier in her career.

The foundation board welcomed her strengths in business experience and interpersonal skills, the press release said.

“We were very pleased that she presented an application for the job,” said Barry Stephenson, who chaired the foundation’s search committee. “She brings more than 20 years of experience, including project management and financial operations. Jenna’s work experience and energy could well take the foundation in new directions.”

Stephenson, president and chief executive officer of Materials and Chemistry Laboratory Inc., added that Whitney also brings community volunteer experience to the position. She serves as PTO Co-President at Woodland Elementary School and as a member of the Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent’s PTO Council. She was a board member of ORPSEF before her selection as director.

She is married to Mark Whitney, manager for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, and they have two children in Oak Ridge schools. Whitney earned a master’s degree in information and telecommunication systems for business from Johns Hopkins University and her bachelor’s degree in foreign language from Thomas Edison State College. She completed the Certified Financial Management Officer Program with the Foreign Service Institute.

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.