Junior Achievement of W. Pa. chief exec to retire
Dennis Gilfoyle has held job for 14 years
Dennis Gilfoyle, president and chief executive of Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania for 14 years, plans to retire later this year after spending more than three decades with the organization.
He will remain in the job until a successor is in place, Junior Achievement said.
The nonprofit provides education and hands-on training in job skills, financial literacy and entrepreneurship to students from kindergarten through high school.
Mr. Gilfoyle joined Junior Achievement in 1984 in its Pittsburgh office to manage an inschool business training program.
He later held jobs in marketing, fundraising and operations.
In 1995, he was named president of Junior Achievement in Jacksonville, Fla.
He returned to Pittsburgh in 1997 as vice president and became president in 2006.
He oversaw development of JA Biz Town, a complex in South Fayette where students in grades four through six get hands-on career and personal finance training in simulated storefronts sponsored by local businesses.
The complex opened in January adjacent to Junior Achievement’s headquarters.
“The feeling you get from knowing you’ve helped a young person become successful in whatever career they have chosen is amazing,” Mr. Gilfoyle said in a statement.
Founded in 1939, the local Junior Achievement has approximately 70,000 students enrolled in programs in 50 counties in Western Pennsylvania and North- ern West Virginia.