RI PowerPlayer: Rick Simone

RI PowerPlayer: Rick Simone

GoLocalProv's PowerPlayer is Chairman of the Board of Junior Achievement of Rhode Island, Rick Simone.

The marketing and event executive, who is also Vice President of Events & Special Projects at Seven Swords Media, has helped to transform the organization to be more community focused, more impactful and more exciting.

Get to know Simone—this week's RI PowerPlayer.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

1) First, congratulations helping to lead Junior Achievement in a new direction. What are your top three priorities for 2013?

Our top priorities for 2013 are first, increasing volunteer involvement - volunteers from the local community sharing their experiences with students are the very heart of JA and what make us unique; secondly, increasing our reach to urban and urban-ring school districts in Rhode Island – currently 64% of JA programs are offered within urban and urban-ring districts; and thirdly, without expanding our donor base our first two priorities would become increasingly difficult. With urban and urban ring schools as our focus, we will be able to bring our programs to some of the most disadvantaged areas of the state. The students in our most disadvantaged neighborhoods are least likely to hear a message of how to be successful in our economy. JA is one way to ensure that this happens.

2) We've heard so much talk about Junior Achievement's positive impact on the community, but many folks don't know the details - can you help tell the story of the positive impact?

As a Junior Achievement Alumni I know first hand about the positive impact it has. In our 65-year history in Rhode Island, more than 380,000 students have participated in JA programs. Surveys of our alumni have shown the significant advantage that JA students have over fellow students who did not participate in JA. Some examples are:

• 88% of JA alumni report that they are confident in their ability to manage their personal finances effectively, compared to 71% of those who did not have the benefit of the JA experience.
• 92% of JA alumni say they are confident they can compete successfully in a business environment – twice the rate of students who did not participate in JA.
• 76% of JA alumni reported confidence in starting their own business while only 41% of those who did not take JA programs felt the same way.

JA’s mission is all about the students, but a little known fact about JA is the benefit it also provides to volunteers and their employers. Junior Achievement not only makes volunteering fun, it also offers personal and professional development opportunities. In a recent survey of JA volunteers, more than half said their JA experience allowed them to practice key job skills, including – public speaking (54%), motivating others (53%), and presentation development (45%). So JA is not only contributing to the future workforce, but the current one as well.

3) Take us through a day in your life as board chair.

Typically, on any given day, I have spoken, texted, or emailed with the president, staff, or organization at least a half of a dozen times. Usually at least one of my meetings through out the day are centered around Junior Achievement’s activities, fundraisers, or events. However, the best part of any day, serving as chairman of the board, is hearing the success stories from students, teachers, and volunteers on the effectiveness of Junior Achievement’s mission.

4) Junior Achievement is one of the financial education leaders in the world. What are the challenges?

The severity and length of the global economic recession that began in 2008 has been our most significant challenge. In difficult times where the companies that support us are intensely focused on the challenges of the recession, there becomes a significant drop-off in funding to us, which results in a reduction of programs that we can offer. This recession, which hit Rhode Island particularly hard, also resulted in significant layoffs which means the pool of volunteers is much smaller and those individuals who are working are working twice as hard and often do not have the time to volunteer in the classroom.

5) Tell us something nobody knows about you. 

I prefer white chocolate to dark chocolate.

Quick Hitters:

Role Model: My grandfather, Richard Simone

Favorite Restaurant: I have two, Café Nuovo and Circe

Best Beach: Misquamicut Beach

Best Book You’ve Read in the Last Year: Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson

Advice for the next Rick Simone: Enjoy what you do and all of the rest will follow.