30 Years of Scholar Success The Posse Foundation 1989-2019 MICHAEL AINSLIE becomes Posse’s first board Timeline chair. PRE-COLLEGIATE TRAINING (PCT) is launched. During PCT, Scholars attend workshops on leadership, cross-cultural dialogue, academic excellence and team building. 1989 1990 1991 1993 1994 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY THE KELLOGG FOUNDATION THE DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT CAMPUS MENTORING by Scholars work with POSSE BOSTON opens, POSSE CHICAGO opens. POSSE LOS ANGELES opens. SALLIE MAE provides the POSSE D.C. opens. signs on as Posse’s first becomes one of the PROCESS (DAP) is faculty is added to the Posse staff to create becoming the second foundation for Posse’s Posse establishes institutional partner. first organizations implemented. A three- program for Scholars. the first POSSEPLUS program site. endowment campaign, its CAREER PROGRAM to fund Posse with a month, nontraditional RETREAT (PPR). The pledging a $5 million The FIRST POSSE is to provide Scholars major grant. Sixteen interview process, PPR is a weekend of matching grant. recruited from New with the tools and years later Kellogg will DAP will grow to serve interactive workshops York City. opportunities to award Posse a $3.3 thousands of student focusing on a major secure competitive million grant to further nominees each year. social or political internships and its work. issue affecting the leadership-track jobs. nation. Scholars are joined by a cross- section of the entire campus community. Today, thousands of students, faculty and administrators experience the PPR each year, engaging in dialogue about topics such as race, class and power. 2 BRAD SINGER becomes Posse’s THE POSSE INSTITUTE is board chair. established with a $250K grant from the Ford Foundation. The Institute manages POSSE ATLANTA opens. Posse data and tracks JEFF UBBEN becomes the Foundation’s Posse’s second board growth and progress chair. toward its mission. 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2017 2019 Posse President The first STEM POSSE POSSE MIAMI opens. The Posse Foundation POSSE NEW ORLEANS POSSE HOUSTON opens. Longstanding Posse POSSE BAY AREA opens. Posse establishes the Posse celebrates its + Founder matriculates at is one of only 10 opens. board members JEFF UBBEN POSSE FELLOWS 30-YEAR MILESTONE, with POSSE VETERANS Posse launches DEBORAH BIAL is awarded Brandeis University. organizations selected TIM & JEFF UBBEN pledge PROGRAM in recognition more than 9,200 PROGRAM is launched POSSE CONSULTING to a MacArthur “Genius” The STEM program by PRESIDENT BARACK to increase their of Jeff’s tremendous Scholars selected to identify, train, and further promote its Grant. recruits, trains and OBAMA to receive a total giving to $50 contributions to the and $1.4 billion in support teams of theory of leadership, supports Posse portion of his $1.4 million in honor of organization. The scholarships awarded post-9/11 U.S. veterans which states that those Scholars with million Nobel Peace the Foundation’s 25th fellowship includes a by partner colleges. interested in pursuing who understand how leadership potential Prize money. anniversary. prestigious summer bachelor’s degrees aspects of identity in the STEM fields. internship with a CEO at top colleges and (race, gender, class, or another industry Posse launches universities. religion, etc.) affect equivalent along with an online database— decision making are a $10,000 stipend. POSSE ACCESS—through better leaders in the which hundreds of classroom, in the board unselected finalists can room, and beyond. be connected to Posse partner institutions. The MICHAEL AINSLIE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD is established as a tribute to Posse’s first board chair. The annual award recognizes an alum who has achieved success and given back to the world. 3 Dear Friends, In 1989, 30 years ago, the Berlin Wall fell, Seinfeld and The Simpsons premiered, students protested in Tiananmen Square, and a young internet went global. In New York City, David Dinkins had just been elected mayor, the first black person to hold the office. Against this backdrop of cultural, technological and historic change, Posse was born. Inspired by a student who remarked, “I never would have dropped out of college if I’d had my Posse with me,” the program began with five students and one partner university—Vanderbilt. It was a new concept in higher education. Posse would send diverse teams of students together to college so they could support one another. But the ultimate goal was much more than that. Posse Scholars would be selected for their leadership potential—with dreams of becoming CEOs, senators and college presidents, ready to address the world’s most pressing issues. Today, Posse is seeing these goals realized. It is building a national network of leaders who represent the great diversity of the American population. Posse Scholars and alumni are winning prestigious awards like the Fulbright, the Watson, the Davis; they are completing their PhDs, JDs and MBAs; they are running companies, leading schools, founding nonprofits and contributing to new discoveries in science. The Posse Foundation operates chapters in 10 cities and partners with 58 top colleges and universities. It has launched a post-9/11 U.S. veterans initiative, and it supports Posses focused in STEM fields. More than 9,200 students have become Posse Scholars. They have won $1.4 billion in leadership scholarships from our incredible partner colleges and universities. They graduate at a rate of 90 percent. Posse’s longevity is the direct result of our Scholars and alumni and their families, our phenomenal college and university partners, a talented hard-working staff, a dedicated board, and the many individuals and institutions who have invested so much—far more than we can ever properly acknowledge. Thank you for believing in the exceptional promise of Posse Scholars. Warmly, Deborah Bial Brad Singer President + Founder National Board Chair 4 6 Concept, Mission + Goals 9 Program Components 10 College + University Partners 13 Graduate + Fellowship Programs 15 Career Program Partners 16 STEM + Veterans Initiatives 19 Posse Nation 20 2018 Highlights 22 Gala 25 2018 Contributors 34 Financials 39 Posse Board 42 Posse Staff Contents Wheaton College Posse, Class of 2023 5 Concept Mission Goals Posse started in 1989 because The Posse model works for both • To expand the pool from which of one student who said, “I never students and college campuses top colleges and universities can would’ve dropped out of college if I’d and is rooted in the belief that a recruit outstanding young leaders had my posse with me.” The Posse small, diverse group of talented from diverse backgrounds. Foundation identifies public high students—a Posse—carefully • To help these institutions school students with extraordinary selected and trained, can serve as build more interactive campus academic and leadership potential a catalyst for increased individual environments so that they can be who may be overlooked by traditional and community development. As more welcoming for people from college selection processes. The the United States becomes an all backgrounds. Foundation extends to these students increasingly multicultural society, the opportunity to pursue personal Posse believes that the leaders of • To ensure that Posse Scholars and academic excellence by placing the 21st century should reflect the persist in their academic studies them in supportive, multi-cultural country’s rich demographic mix. The and graduate so they can take teams—Posses—of 10 students. The key to a promising future for our on leadership positions in the Foundation’s partner colleges and nation rests on the ability of strong workforce. universities award Posse Scholars leaders from diverse backgrounds full-tuition leadership scholarships. to develop consensus solutions to complex social problems. Posse’s primary aim is to train these leaders of tomorrow. 1989 Five students from New York City set off to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, as pioneering members of the first Posse. Their success paved the way for thousands of future Posse Scholars. Members of the first Posse: (from left to right) Shirley Collado, Madeline Thomas, Paul Arguelles, Veronica Rivera Savage and Nenee Gomez. 6 Posse set the stage for me to leave my “ comfort zone, trust my foundation, and apply my talents in a space where I was traditionally not represented. That journey gave me strength, courage and validation to set my sights on other spaces where I would be the first or the only. After graduation, it was important for me to return to the high school that had nurtured me, this time as a counselor. All these years later, I’m still encouraging the young people I’m blessed to work with to take up space, in the settings they desire, because they are needed there.” Veronica Rivera Savage, LMSW School Social Worker City-As-School High School Member of the First Posse Veronica Rivera Savage (left) with Cananya Leitch, a student at City-As-School High School. 7 1991 We debuted the Dynamic Assessment Process and Pre-Collegiate Training program, which have grown to serve thousands of students each year. Posse has created a unique interviewing “ process that helps us identify ten Scholars who will thrive at our college. The Dynamic Assessment Process, or DAP, enables us to peel back the complex layers of each candidate’s character, and helps us to see them as individuals and not just a GPA or SAT score. Members of the selection team actively participate in the process and engage the candidates on a deeper level than any other conventional interview process I have been in. Selecting Posse Scholars is a lot of fun because of DAP, and I trust the process. Way to go Posse!” Eric Staab Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Kalamazoo College 8 The Dynamic Pre-Collegiate Campus Career Assessment Process Training Program Program Posse’s Dynamic Assessment Process Posse’s Pre-Collegiate Training (PCT) The four-year Campus Program works The Career Program connects Posse (DAP) is a unique evaluation method helps Scholars develop as leaders to ensure the retention of Posse Scholars and alumni to highly coveted that identifies young leaders with before they matriculate at college.