David Martin to Receive Jump$tart Coalition Odom Visionary Leadership Award
The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy has named David V. Martin, Ph.D. former Executive Director of the Georgia Council on Economic Education (1982-2017), as the 2019 recipient of its William E. Odom Visionary Leadership Award.
The award will be presented at the Jump$tart Coalition’s 2019 Annual Awards Dinner, which recognizes the accomplishments of individuals and organizations that are working to create a financially literate future. The event takes place April 3 at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel and is a central event during Jump$tart’s Financial Literacy Month (#FLM19) celebrations.
“The Odom Award was named for the man whose vision led to the creation of the Jump$tart Coalition and, in his honor, we recognize leaders whose vision has made a difference in the financial education effort,” said Laura Levine, president and CEO of the Jump$tart Coalition. “I’ve known David Martin for many years. He has been a central force in the financial education effort in Georgia, but his inspiration has been felt well beyond his home state.”
Martin helped see the Georgia Council on Economic Education from infancy to an organization that touches thousands of teachers each year. In 1979 he joined the Council as associate director and became its first full-time Executive director just four years later.
He’s also held leadership roles in Communities in Schools of Georgia, The Georgia Association of Economics and Finance, and the Georgia Consortium for Personal Financial Literacy (an affiliate of the Jump$tart Coalition).
Martin also provided leadership for a number of national task forces and committees, and twice served as the liaison between the National Association of Economic Educators and the National Council on Economic Education (now the Council for Economic Education). He also served on the Board of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, and co-authored “A Guidebook for Directors of the Affiliated State Councils on Economic Education.”
“It was a privilege to work with Bill Odom at the national level for a number of years, and to be directly involved in the creation of the Georgia Consortium for Personal Financial Literacy,” said Martin. “Working with organizations like the Jump$tart Coalition and the Council for Economic Education, Georgia has become a national model for economic and financial literacy.”
Odom Award Background
The William E. Odom Visionary Leadership Award was named in honor of Bill Odom, former chairman of Ford Motor Credit Company, whose vision led to the creation of the Jump$tart Coalition. The award recognizes individuals for their significant contribution to financial education, their leadership, vision and the length of their service to the financial literacy effort. Recent past winners were:
- 2018 – Tim Ranzetta, co-founder of Next Gen Personal Finance
- 2017 – Ted Beck, then-president and CEO, National Endowment for Financial Education
- 2016 – Richard G. Ketchum, chairman and CEO (ret.), FINRA
About the Jump$tart Coalition
The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the personal financial literacy of students in pre-kindergarten through college. Jump$tart’s approximately 100 national partners and 51 affiliated state coalitions work individually and collectively to educate and prepare our nation’s youth for life-long financial success. Jump$tart is the original promoter of April as Financial Literacy Month and publisher of the National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education. For more information about the Jump$tart Coalition, go to jumpstart.org or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
