Jack E. Kosakowski

President and Chief Executive Officer

Jack E. Kosakowski is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Junior Achievement USA. Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices.

Today, JA reaches four million students per year in 122 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.8 million students served by operations in 119 other countries worldwide. Kosakowski has total oversight of Junior Achievement in the United States.

Starting as a student in the Junior Achievement program in Toledo, Ohio, he attended the University of Toledo on a Junior Achievement scholarship and has since served in a variety of staff positions with increasing levels of responsibility over the past thirty-seven years. He was named President and CEO of Junior Achievement USA in 2007.

Kosakowski was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve a two-year term on the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy in January 2008. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Achievement Foundation, is a member of the United States Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), and serves on the Council on Competitiveness’ Learn to Compete Commission. Kosakowski was also recently named a Trustee of America’s Promise Alliance.

Buzzy Thibodeaux

Executive Vice President

Buzzy Thibodeaux is responsible for providing strategic leadership on initiatives that impact the nonprofit organization on a national basis, with particular focus on strengthening JA’s relationships on Capitol Hill on the issues of financial literacy, work-readiness and entrepreneurship education for young people. As the number two person nationally, he also focuses on the national implementation of organizational strategies, the development and engagement of the national board of directors, and the advancement of partnerships that position Junior Achievement USA as a national leader in the areas of youth, education, and economic development.

Buzzy joined Junior Achievement’s Headquarters in August of 1997 as Vice President of Field Marketing. He was promoted to Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications in 2000, making him responsible for the entire national marketing and branding process. Buzzy transitioned to initiate JA’s Public Affairs effort in the Nation’s Capitol as Senior Vice President in July of 2003. He was named SVP Southern US Region in 2005 and SVP Junior Achievement USA in 2009, widening his scope of responsibility.

Previously, he was President of Junior Achievement of Greater Baton Rouge and Acadiana, which earned the Peak Performance Award four times and the National Junior Achievement Summit Award for nine consecutive years. Before this, Buzzy held several positions within Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Buzzy earned his BS in business administration at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He currently volunteers in various capacities at his alma mater.

Tim Armijo

Chief Financial Officer

Tim Armijo joined Junior Achievement in September of 1987 as an accountant on the Finance department. As the chief financial officer, Armijo manages the financial and sales functions of the organization. Working together with Junior Achievement’s senior management group and the Junior Achievement USA board, Armijo guides the financial operations of Junior Achievement. He also provides guidance and direction to area offices concerning accounting, taxes and national policies.

A Colorado native, he earned his B.A. from the University of Southern Colorado in business administration – accounting. Armijo is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Howard Bartner

Senior Vice President -- Operations

Howard Bartner has served as the senior vice president for the U.S. Western Region since January 2007 and became SVP -- Operations of the newly created Junior Achievement USA in 2009. He is responsible for the service, support and assisting the 36 area offices in this region. Prior to this role, he served as Regional vice president for the U.S. Western and Southern regions. Bartner has served as vice president-area accreditation and alignment. He also held the positions of director-operations and director–executive transitions for the organization. Bartner joined Junior Achievement as program manager in Greater Hampton Roads (Norfolk, VA) in 1982. He held the positions of director-applied economics, director of operations and director of educational services prior to being named president of the Charleston, S.C., operation.

Bartner holds a B.A. in Business Administration, Management and Economics from Virginia Wesleyan College. He has served on the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Club of the Pikes Peak Region, and is an active volunteer for Junior Achievement of Southern Colorado Inc. He was the 2005 recipient of the Frances Hesselbein "How To Be" award for living JA’s values of respect, integrity, and excellence.

Gary Blanchette

Senior Vice President -- Development

Gary began his career with Junior Achievement 28 years ago as program manager in Miami, Florida. Over the years, Gary’s responsibilities have progressively increased. He was instrumental in obtaining JA’s first-ever one million dollar personal gift in Orlando, and has served JA in a variety of functions and leadership positions, including serving as Area Operations Representative for 17 JA cities. Prior to joining Junior Achievement USA, he served as President of Junior Achievement of Central Florida. Gary and his staff of 19 associates reached over 84,000 students in the Central Florida area, reflecting market share of nearly 20 percent. Gary is currently a member of the Field HR Committee, a graduate of the Strategic Leadership in JA program at Penn State, and a member of the Board Strategic Plan Implementation Team.

Dr. John Box

Senior Vice President -- Education

John Box began is career in 1970 as a classroom teacher in the Racine Unified School District in Racine, Wisconsin. In 1983 he became assistant principal of Homestead High School in the Mequon-Thiensville School District in Mequon, Wisconsin. He was appointed Homestead’s principal in 1984. He held that position until 1990 when he left the district to become superintendent of the Hartland Arrowhead School District in Hartland, Wisconsin. In 1993 he became superintendent of the Monona Grove School District which serves the Madison, Wisconsin area communities of Monona and Cottage Grove. He held the position of superintendent at Monona Grove until returning to the Mequon-Thiensville School District as superintendent in the fall of 1996 and served in that capacity until 2004. Dr. Box presently serves as Senior Vice President of Education for Junior Achievement, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Dr. Box earned his BS and MS degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, Wisconsin and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His doctoral work was in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

Dr. Box is involved in a number of professional organizations. He is a member of the American Association of School Administrators, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and Phi Delta Kappa. Dr. Box also represents Junior Achievement as a member of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

During his career, Dr. Box has received numerous honors including being named Wisconsin Superintendent of the Year in 2000.

Don Creveling

Senior Vice President -- Human Resources

Don Creveling brings a wealth of human resources and senior management experiences with him to Junior Achievement. The bulk of that experience has been with the JCPenney Company, which he joined in 1971 in their New York office. Through a series of promotions and moves within the JCPenney Company, Creveling broadened his human resources and management knowledge, experience and skills and ultimately had responsibility for leading the human resources functions for all of their financial services businesses, including credit card, insurance, direct marketing and banking operations. His most recent assignment was executive vice president, director of Human Resources for JCPenney’s $1.2 billion Direct Marketing Services division in Plano, Texas. In 2001, that division was sold to Aegon USA.

He earned his Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Adelphi University. Through study, application and examination, Don has earned the Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) designation. His professional associations include memberships in the Society for Human Resource Management and World at Work.

Susan Kolon

Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Susan joined Junior Achievement from Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, where she had lead responsibility for developing and leading a fully integrated global strategic marketing and communications organization. Previously, she was Chief Marketing Officer for YMCA of the USA, leading the strategic branding and health and wellness marketing communications effort for 2,600 YMCAs in the U.S.

Susan also served in communications and public relations leadership roles for RR Donnelley & Sons Company, the Chicago office of Deloitte, and General Motors in Detroit. She began her career working at several international PR agencies in Los Angeles.

Susan earned a B.A. in Communications from Michigan State University and a M.S. in Managerial Communications from Northwestern University.

Susan Luu

Senior Vice President -- Business Improvement

Susan Luu began her career with Junior Achievement in 2006, possessing an extensive background in analyzing, designing, implementing, and leadership of large supply chain management systems and business/technology process improvement projects with The Inventure Group, Motorola, and Henkel International. Susan previously served as Executive Vice President for Junior Achievement of Arizona, achieving more than 14 percent student growth in her first year, managing two JA BizTown^® facility construction projects, and implementing a new class management system. Susan had statewide responsibilities and in 2009-2010 led fundraising and education teams to generate more than $1.2 million in revenue and delivered programs to nearly 80,000 students. Susan serves on the Student Impact US Strategic Plan Implementation Team and is a graduate of the Strategic Leadership in JA program at Penn State.

Steve Schmidt

Senior Vice President -- Operations

Steve Schmidt served 18 years in the field with JA of Wisconsin prior to coming to Junior Achievement in 2004 as the regional vice president of the Western U.S. Promoted to senior vice president of the Midwestern U.S. region in July of 2006, Steve became SVP -- Operations of the newly created Junior Achievement USA in 2009.

Schmidt is responsible for providing service to 47 field markets with a focus on training and district operations.