Junior Achievement of Arizona
Katherine Cecala has extensive work experience in various industries and roles. Katherine is currently serving as the President of Junior Achievement of Arizona since 2015. Prior to this, they worked as a Faculty Member at Arizona State University starting from 2009. In 2015, Katherine served as the Interim CEO/President at Friendly House, Inc. Katherine also held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Valley of the Sun United Way from 2007 to 2015. Before that, they worked as the Director of Patient Financial Services at Mayo Clinic from 1995 to 2007. Katherine's earlier roles include Senior Management Engineer at Banner Health from 1993 to 1995, and Attorney at Beus Gilbert from 1991 to 1993.
Katherine Cecala holds a BS in Industrial Engineering Management from Louisiana State University. Katherine later pursued a JD in Law from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law. Katherine also attended Louisiana Tech University to obtain an MBA in Business.
Junior Achievement of Arizona
For the last 60+ years, Junior Achievement of Arizona (JA) has been empowering the futures of millions of Arizona students by giving them the knowledge and skills they need to manage their money, plan for their future, and make smart academic, career and economic choices. Delivered by 9,500 business and community volunteer mentors, our hands-on, age-appropriate programs focus on three key areas: financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Serving more than 80,000 students each year and over 2 million since its founding, JA is shaping the college- and career-readiness conversation, and we play an important role in Arizona’s workforce and economic development. Our programs help students connect what they learn in the classroom to the real world, and demonstrate how learning correlates to earning – knowledge critical to empowering today’s students to be successful, contributing members of society in the future. We serve students with diverse backgrounds and socio-economic status throughout Arizona, with primary focus on providing our programs to students from low-income households. We are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization wholly dependent on the financial and volunteer support of individuals, foundations and businesses.