August 2026 Issue - JASAN-Annual Meeting/NLC Recap | | From the Immediate Past Chair.... | | |
We had a wonderful time at the JASAN Annual Meeting and NLC in beautiful Salt Lake City, UT. On Wednesday morning, a small group of us took an informative tour of Temple Square which included beautiful artwork and sculptures culminating in a relaxing organ recital in the Tabernacle which is the home of the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
| | Tim Greinert's Presentation | | |
Our meeting began Wednesday afternoon with Tim Greinert, President, JA USA, sharing some important highlights of JA's current strategic initiatives [click to view Tim's slides]:
- JA USA’s goal is to be seen as the “educational consultant to school districts”
- JA USA staff realignment, with no reduction in force, focusing on product alignment
- New fee model: $60,000 base fee for all areas, with added fees based on local area needs. Just one example: software license fees based on number of users. One expectation is more area consolidation.
- More focus on program model fidelity. Key message to areas, build from where you are. It still needs to be the right mix for your area.
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What is the status of the JA Company Program?
| | The program is being redeveloped, in part with a major grant from Eli Lilly and the Achievement Foundation. Any rumors of the demise of the JA Company Program are greatly exaggerated. | | How is JA USA working to capture the information and interest of student alumni? | | While there have been efforts through the years, JA USA is planning to better promote JA Worldwide’s “JA Gather” | | Erin Sawyer's Presentation | | |
Following Tim's presentation, we heard an update on JA Worldwide from Erin Sawyer, Chief People Development Officer, JA Worldwide. Erin shared the following [see Erin's slides]:
- Aspiration: 100 million students worldwide by 2050
- Creating AI Ambassadors, recognizing that most students around the world are in remote areas. Using the “What’sApp” platform, students can access “Pitchmaster” and “BizMaster” – still in test phase.
- While JA USA tends to grow from a “supply” side, JA Worldwide is more focused on growing from a “demand” side.
- 2025-26 student experiences worldwide: nearly 24 million!
| | The 2026 Scholarship Breakfast | | The Scholarship Breakfast was held with 30 recipients and members of the Achievement Foundation Board of Directors. This brings our total scholarships to more than 250 recipients since 2022. | | See more pictures of the 2026 Professional Staff Hall of Fame Laureate, Julie Hubbard Ziff, and the award dinner on our Facebook page. | | See more pictures from the Awards Banquet and the celebration of the 2026 Karl Flemke Award Winner, Stephanie Gambone, President and CEO of JA of Southeastern Pennsylvania, on our Facebook page and the JA Awards page. | |
2026 Jim Sweeny Award Winner
Lana Nguyen from JA of Southeast, TX is the 2026 Jim Sweeny Entrepreneurial Award Winner.
Watch Lana's Thank you message.
Watch Video
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We continued our business meeting by focusing on the our achievements of the past year and goals for the coming year:
- Heard the 2025-26 Annual Report, acknowledged the approved, by proxy, 2026-27 program of work, the 2026-27 budget, and the 2026-27 Executive Committee.
We showcased a highlight achievement of the past year which has been the creation of the Virtual Museum.
We are grateful to Robert Brendt and Hannah Henry at JA USA (and to Ed Grocholski) for their work and commitment. This link will be in the footer of the JASAN website and the JA USA website. We are looking for photos from your JA past to add to the site. Phase 2 will hopefully include various embedded links.
- Additionally, we have added a number of History updates. We also added several videos, but we still need help with editing the transcriptions from the oral histories recorded many years ago.
- The archives hosted at IUPUI isare open to the public and contains many important and interesting JA records and memorabilia.
| | Discussion of the Member Survey Results | | |
The JASAN member survey results were distributed to all participants in advance of the meeting. Key question to be addressed: “Should we separate the JASAN Annual Meeting from the National Leadership Conference?”
- Overwhelming response was to continue holding the JASAN annual meeting in conjunction with the JA USA National Leadership Conference. Two top reasons to attend: (1) learn JA’s future direction, and (2) catch up with old friends (including those still working for JA). These can best be accomplished when the JASAN meeting is held in conjunction with NLC.
- Reasons for not attending: cost and location
- Other feedback:
- Risk of losing facetime with JA USA – need to be seen to be valued
- Need to have a clear agenda, with outcomes, farther in advance
- Scholarship breakfast is important for JA’s new associates. This is the only time they get to meet people who spent their entire career (or many years) with JA
- If the meetings are separate, there is a significant loss of “energy” from the current associates.
- Potential strategies for increasing attendance in Baltimore:
- Identify leaders of small groups of friends to connect and convince their buddies to attend the meeting in Baltimore
- Large populations within a day’s drive of Baltimore:
- Washington, DC – 35 miles
- Philadelphia, PA – 90 miles
- New York City, Newark, NJ, Jersey City, NJ, Norfolkk, VA, Virgina Beach, VA – 164 miles to 175 miles
- Pittsburgh, PA – 198 miles
- Cleveland, OH – 375 miles
- Cincinnati, OH – 500 miles
- Indianapolis, IN – 578 miles
- Create fun reasons to attend – create an environment of “I really don’t want to miss that”
- Send a special invitation (in writing) to those within a 500-mile radius of Baltimore
| | It’s easy to stay connected…find us on Facebook, join us on LinkedIn, check out our YouTube videos, and keep an eye on our website! We welcome your thoughts and ideas…always! | | | | |
