SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Margaret M. Benz today was named executive director of the Education Exchange. She previously has served as treasurer of the organization’s board of directors.
“Practical experience in adult educational processes, coupled with experience in social/educational advocacy, proven grant writing/fundraising abilities, and strong leadership and problem-solving skills, made Benz a natural fit for the position,” the Education Exchange said in a statement today.
She replaces Tom Brillat, who resigned effective Dec. 31 – “to pursue longstanding interests,” the school said at the time. READ MORE.
Benz previously had operated her own consulting business, helping nonprofits and small businesses to organize events, do strategic planning and develop promotional materials.
She also had worked as a marketing and events coordinator for a Fortune 1000 company, as a resource manager for a nonprofit; and as a grant writer for the R.I. Education Opportunity Center, where she contributed to the creation of two U.S. Department of Education grants; and in Haiti, for CARE International, as an export manager for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Benz also has served in the Peace Corps in Kenya, where she was a training coordinator for the Business and Cooperatives program and a volunteer adviser. There, she also founded Watatu Importers, managing all facets of its international business, marketing and procurement operations.
An active volunteer, she is a former board member of Friends of Kenya; has served as vice president, board member and chair of Habitat for Humanity of South County; and has also been a volunteer for the Narragansett Housing Authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program, the Newport Council of International Visitors, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, the New England Educational Opportunity Association, the R.I. Educational Opportunity Association, the Dorcas Place Family Literacy Center’s mentoring program, the Community College of Rhode Island’s ACCESS mentoring program and the Newport International Film Festival.
The Education Exchange was founded in 1978 as the Washington County Adult Learning Center, part of the Chariho Regional School District. Over the nearly 30 years since then, it has served more than 14,000 adult students, providing high school equivalency classes and testing, English as a second language and computer literacy classes, vocational training and customized work force training.
The Education Exchange – based in The Stedman Government Center in Wakefield, with sites in North Kingstown and Westerly – is a nonprofit provider of adult education classes and customized work force training. To learn more, visit www.edexchange.org.
