The previous CEO of the Pittsburgh Marathon takes on the Junior Achievement of Western Pa. | Native information
Patrice Matamoros talks about her role in reviving the Pittsburgh Marathon and is happy to offer a bit of contemporary humor.
“It was like Dorothy in” The Wizard of Oz, “gathering key people along Yellow Brick Road,” she said with a chuckle, though no one knows if the fabled street of the canvas stretched 26.2 miles.
As the new president of Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania, Matamoros expects the same kind of strong teamwork that brought the Steel City premiere race back after a five-year hiatus.
“It was really an amazing thing where so many people with talent and resources came together and spent their time making it a success,” she said.
She joins Junior Achievement, headquartered in South Fayette Township, at a time when the global nonprofit mission of providing relevant knowledge and skills to young people is particularly important.
“We all know that there is a gap in education today. Virtual classrooms and parents must now teach their children at home, as well as teachers who have never had to teach virtually before. And Junior Achievement fills that void, ”she said. “Junior Achievement is a free program that parents can use, schools can use, teachers can use, and that really can be an answer and a solution.”
The crowning glory of the organization in western Pennsylvania was the implementation of JA BizTown’s experimental learning facility, which opened in January as a place where students can learn everything from working for and running a business to running a community.
Although COVID-19 precautions include limited in-person visits, Junior Achievement has been adjusted by giving BizTown an online presence and joining a variety of other educational offerings.
“Many of the parents who are now working with virtual classes and having to go to school are actually forming groups and teaching children together,” said Matamoros. “And there is a group of parents who took up the Junior Achievement curriculum.”
She succeeds Dennis Gilfoyle, who will retire at the end of December after 36 years with a Junior Achievement.
“He’s leaving the organization in a really good place and with Junior Achievement he laid the foundation for everything that’s going on in western Pennsylvania. He is also a leader in the industry. So I thought this is absolutely a great thing for me, ”she said. “First and foremost, my job is to listen and be the best detective I can find in looking for opportunities.”
She found the right combination as Chief Executive Officer of Pittsburgh Three Rivers Marathon Inc. and led the return of the race in 2009 at the height of the Great Recession.
“The organization was really the basis. They had a handful of board members. I had no income. There were some verbal commitments for sponsors, but nothing in writing, ”she said. “So I brought my credit card and went to work and put the marathon together and built it into an $ 8 million organization.”
Many people were keen to revive the marathon, which ran on the first Sunday in May from 1985 to 2003 and which gained considerable reputation for hosting national championships and US Olympic trials.
“You needed people who were good at marketing. They needed people who were good at event management. And I was lucky enough to have two members of the surgical team from the previous marathon who came on board for operations, ”said Matamoros. “I’ve traveled to marathons in the US and learned as much as I could.”
The O’Hara Township resident resigned from the Pittsburgh Marathon in 2019 after the recent race, primarily consulting for nonprofit organizations. When she received information about the Junior Achievement job posting after Gilfoyle announced his resignation, she was intrigued.
“I have come to realize that I would really love to work with another team based on what can be achieved,” she said. “Especially in the difficult times that we have had, education is really the answer to solving problems, real problems in our world. So there was nothing more urgent for me than this need to continue the mission of creating the future of tomorrow for the next generation. “
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Dennis Gilfoyle speaks during the JA BizTown opening in January.
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