TECH CORPS Announces New National Director

The TECH CORPS National Board of Trustees has named Lisa M. Chambers as the new National Director of TECH CORPS. Chambers has served as the State Director of the TECH CORPS Ohio chapter since 1999. Under her leadership, the Ohio chapter has experienced significant growth and success and her work has been recognized and honored at the local, state and national levels.  Chambers was recently named a “Modern-day Technology Leader” by US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine and in 2008 the chapter received the Technology Innovation Award in Nonprofit Service Delivery from TechColumbus.

"The amazing impact that TECH CORPS Ohio has had on the education and the lives of students and teachers in Ohio is the direct result of Lisa’s strong leadership skills, her thoughtful and effective planning and execution skills, and her tireless commitment to making a difference in the lives of youth," said Gary Beach, Founder of TECH CORPS and Publisher Emeritus of CIO Magazine. "I have great confidence in Lisa’s ability to lead the National TECH CORPS organization.”

In her new role as National Director, Chambers will focus on building a national infrastructure to support the delivery of innovative technology programs to students throughout the United States.  TECHie Club is one of the programs that Chambers is most excited about launching nationally. Developed in 2008, with support from the American Electric Power Foundation, tech-savvy volunteers are recruited and trained by TECH CORPS to use the TECHie Club lessons to introduce 3rd-5th graders to the fundamentals of Computer Programming, Robotics, Web Development and Digital and Social Media. This school year more than 200 students are participating in the TECHie Club program in Ohio.

“With the support of our public and private partners in Ohio, we have developed programs which educate, excite and empower students with technology,” said Chambers.“We look forward to establishing the partnerships that will make these programs available to students throughout the United States. Together – we can inspire the next generation of technology leaders and innovators.”  

Chambers is a board member of the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority and serves on the National Center for Women and Information Technology - K-12 Alliance and the Computer Science Collaboration Project Change Agents Council.

# # #

TECH CORPS was founded in 1995 by Gary Beach, Publisher Emeritus of CIO Magazine.  Beach envisioned an organization which would challenge American volunteers to help K-12 schools build a technology infrastructure -- much like the Peace Corps challenges men and women to help developing countries build their infrastructures.  Building from a state pilot in Massachusetts,TECH CORPS developed engaging technology programs and deployed tech-savvy volunteers to assist K-12 schools and youth-serving organizations across the country.  Since its inception, over 10,000 TECH CORPS volunteers have shared their time and talents with K-12 students and schools delivering in-person technology support and programming. For more information about TECH CORPS visit www.techcorps.org or www.techcorpsohio.org.