Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy Names Mike Staten Chairman
The board of directors of the national Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy® announced that it has elected Michael E. Staten, the Bart Cardon Associate Dean for Academic Programs at the University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as chairman of the Jump$tart board. His term begins January 1.
Staten succeeds Ted Beck, CEO of the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), who served as chairman for five years. To recognize his service, a scholarship was presented in Beck’s honor at the recent Jump$tart National Educator Conference.
“We’re pleased to have someone with Mike’s experience, vision and passion to lead our board,” says Laura Levine, president and CEO of the Jump$tart Coalition. “We’ll all miss Ted and his tremendous contributions to Jump$tart, but look forward to continuing his success with Mike’s leadership.”
For nearly three decades, Staten has straddled the academic and public policy sectors. He spent the first eight years of his career as a regular faculty member in an economics department (University of Delaware) and spent the next 20 years as director of policy research centers at Purdue University, Georgetown University and George Washington University. There he focused on public policy affecting retail financial services markets, especially those that provide consumers with credit cards, auto loans, mortgage loans and a host of other credit products. Since 2007, he has actively built and promoted youth financial education programs as Director of the University of Arizona’s Take Charge America Institute for Consumer Financial Education and Research.
“I look forward to helping the coalition champion the long-term benefits of a financially savvy population,” said Staten. “The Jump$tart Coalition brings together nonprofits, for-profits, academic and government entities in a unique collaborative effort that has been highly effective at promoting personal financial awareness for youth and young adults.”
The Jump$tart Board also elected Corey Carlisle, SVP of Bank Community Engagement for the American Bankers Association, to fill Staten’s unexpired term as vice chairman. Vickie Bajtelsmit, professor of finance and academic director of the Master of Finance Program at Colorado State University was re-elected to a second term as treasurer. Melanie Mortimer, president of the SIFMA Foundation for Investor Education, continues as board secretary.
About Jump$tart
The Jump$tart Coalition is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the personal financial literacy of students in pre-kindergarten through college. Jump$tart’s nearly 150 national partners and 51 affiliated state coalitions work individually and collectively to educate and prepare our nation’s youth for life-long financial success. Jump$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 follow us on Facebook and Twitter.