2012 National Leadership Awards Events—Best Ever!
Washington, D.C. November 14-15, 2012
On November 14-15, we had one of the largest turnouts and one of the most engaging and successful series of Leadership Awards Events in our history. Nearly 700 were in attendance for our Leadership Awards Reception and Luncheon, led by Governors Jack Markell (DE) and John de Jongh (VI) of our Board of Directors.
The young people of JAG-South Carolina from Colleton County High School sang an inspirational and motivating song they had written about Jobs for America's Graduates, which was an especially rousing conclusion to the Awards Luncheon. The title of the song was “If It is to be, It’s Up to Me!” “JAG made me who I am today. JAG changed me in a better way. If it is to be, it’s up to me! I’ve gotta to find a better way.” The Specialist at Colleton County High School is Cyrus Birch.
On Wednesday evening, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack hosted the Board, leadership of the State Affiliates, funders, and six award recipients for the 2012 Special Recognition Reception in the Atrium of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Secretary was powerful in describing the value he has seen firsthand in Jobs for America's Graduates, both as Governor of Iowa and then as Chair of JAG-National.
Six members of the Board helped in the presentation of the awards, and each one was particularly eloquent in describing to the individuals receiving the awards their importance to our organization. The award recipients included: Rural Youth Leadership Award: United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. National Leadership Awards: Government Leader Award: Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, WV; Abraham Turner, Director, SC Department of Employment and Workforce; The Honorable Chris Masingill, Co-Chairman, Delta Regional Authority; AT&T accepted by Beth Shiroish, President, AT&T Foundation; and Bureau of Indian Education accepted by Brian Drapeaux, Director. National Above and Beyond Awards: Allen Bean, Director of Customer Service, Van Meter Industrial, IA; Anna Murphy, President, United Way of Southwest Michigan; and John Steele, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, HCA, TN. Special Recognition Awards: United States Senator Olympia Snowe, ME; State Senator Steve Wise, FL; and Priscilla Parisien, President, New Hampshire, JAG, Inc. National Educational Leadership Award: Dr. Chris Nicastro, Missouri Commissioner of Education. National Network Leadership Awards: Robert A. Almond, Executive Assistant to the State Superintendent, Virginia Department of Education; and The Honorable Harold Stafford, Former Delaware Secretary of Labor and JAG-Delaware Board Chairman.
We are also pleased to report that the Leadership Awards Events raised more money this year than those of the previous three years: approximately $390,000 of commitment before expenses – up from $345,000 last year and $327,000 the year before.
Our great appreciation to all of those who participated in the 2012 Leadership Awards, making them one of the great successes of 2012.
2012 JAG Leadership Awards Contributors
A very special thanks to these contributors for supporting the Annual National Leadership Awards Events.
Trustees 
($25,000 plus)
- Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
- Apollo Group
- AT&T
- Corinthian Colleges, Inc.
- IBM
- Microsoft
- JPMorgan Chase & Company
- PhRMA
- Shell
- UnitedHealth Group
- Verizon
Sponsors ($10,000 plus)
- American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)
- Adriane & Darryl Brown
- APS
- HCA
- Strategic Partnerships LLC
- Toys “R” Us
Associates ($5,000 plus)
- Abbott
- AGCareers.com
- Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, Schreck
- Educational Testing Service (ETS)
- Honeywell
- The Thomas M. and Jeri A. Tippett Foundation
Donors ($2,500 plus)
- Michael E. Hogrefe