(Dallas, Texas, January 12, 2015) – Veteran fundraiser, businesswoman and community leader Patty Leyendecker has been hired as the Chief Development Officer for the Young Women’s Preparatory Network.
Leyendecker brings a strong corporate and non-profit background to Young Women’s Prep. She previously worked in the financial services industry, running statewide marketing campaigns for Bank One, and had her own consulting firm managing lines of business for financial services companies. She left the for-profit world after a family illness and took on leadership roles in several non-profit organizations, such as the Junior League of Dallas, Genesis Women’s Shelter, Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center Board and Foundation, Visiting Nurse Association, Child Care Group, The Crystal Charity Ball, The Hockaday School and Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas.
She recently completed a year-long position as the Underwriting Chairman for The Crystal Charity Ball, leading a team to raise $5.6 million for seven beneficiaries. Leyendecker also serves on the Senior Source board and as a Co-Chair and Founding Member of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Friends of the Comprehensive Cancer Center program. She received her B.A. from the University of Southern California. She and her husband Mark have two adult children, Meredith, a graduate of The Hockaday School and Claremont-McKenna College, and Eric a graduate of Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas and a senior at Texas Christian University.
Leyendecker said, “I’m excited about the challenge and passionate about the mission to transform the lives of young women as they receive an incredible education. I’ve seen the positive effects of a single-sex education with my daughter and am thrilled to be part of an organization that is transforming education.”
Lynn McBee, Young Women’s Prep CEO, added, “I’ve known Patty for many years, and in every role, she brings her dedication and focus to meet the end goal. We know she will do the same at Young Women’s Prep as we expand our network to help educate even more young women and to prepare them to become tomorrow’s leaders.”
About Young Women’s Preparatory Network:
Young Women’s Prep (YWPN) provides funding and other resources to seven all-girls’ public schools in Texas, in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Houston, Lubbock, and San Antonio, working in close collaboration in each community with the public school district. Total enrollment as of last school year was 4,100 students in 6th through 12th grades.
Each YWPN school features a STEM-focused curriculum and is largely attended by disadvantaged students who are second-generation immigrants. The programs also focus on leadership development, college readiness and wellness life skills. Additionally, each school serves as a laboratory example of an innovative public-private education model that results in high student achievement. In 2014, all of the network schools that have been open long enough to have a senior class—146 young women—graduated 100% of their students, who earned a collective $15.8 million in scholarships. Each student was accepted into a four-year college or university. More information can be found at http://youngwomensprep.org/.
For immediate release:
Media contact: Juliette Coulter, 214.394.5532, juliette@coultergroup.com
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