AEO Welcomes New Leadership
Mar 16th, 2009 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Politics & PolicyThe Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), national trade organization for the microenterprise development industry, announced last week that Connie Evans would assume the helm of the organization as President and CEO, effective March 11, 2009, and I think it is fair to say that the news was greeted gleefully. Ms. Evans was one of the organization’s earliest members, having founded one of the nation’s first microenterprise development programs. She has more awards than one can conveniently list, including being the first recipient of President Clinton’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Microenterprise Development. She is much more than an experienced leader in the microenterprise field. She is a luminary.
The timing couldn’t be better. Ms. Evans takes over the AEO after a somewhat lengthy leadership vacuum. The organization’s longstanding president left under a cloud and his successor had the misfortune to be required to keep the AEO’s advocacy and industry development efforts going during the term of a hostile President. Evans has the stature to give the organization together its passion back and, given the community development background of President Obama, will have a much friendlier political landscape to navigate. The entire microenterprise development community appears to be eagerly looking forward to Ms. Evans’ leadership. And, thank goodness, the ripples she makes will be very wide.
