Fight for Children (FFC) recently named Michela English its new president and CEO. English was previously president of Discovery Communications’ consumer products division and president and COO of Discovery.com. She also served as the senior vice president of the National Geographic Society (NGS), where she was responsible for the book division, Traveler magazine, World magazine for children, educational media, and international publishing.
English managed the K-12 education businesses at both Discovery and National Geographic Society. She was a member of NGS’s board of trustees and vice chairman of the NGS Education Foundation Board.
Fight for Children, a charitable organization focused on improving education and healthcare opportunities for children in Washington, D.C., has raised more than $190 million through fundraising, private contributions, matching grants and public policy initiatives. English hopes FFC’s ability to work with partners in the public sector, other nonprofits and the business community will prove to be an effective model in making a major impact on the lives of D.C.’s children.
By improving education and health care opportunities for our children, we are making an investment in society’s future citizens,” English says. “If we can help even a few kids, it’s a worthwhile effort. If we can improve services on a more systemic basis, that’s even better.”
English currently serves on the boards of the Educational Testing Service, D.C. Preparatory Academy (an award-winning public charter school in northeast Washington), the Gladstone companies in McLean, Virginia, and the Women’s Forum of Washington, D.C. She is a member of the advisory council of William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Yale School of Management Advisory Board.
Rebecca Stewart recently joined The Philanthropy Roundtable as deputy director of K-12 education programs, serving under Stephanie Saroki, senior director of K-12 education programs.
From 2003 to 2005, Ms. Stewart served as a Teach For America Corps member in Roma, Texas, designing and teaching interactive curricula for her eighth-grade U.S. history students. Following her stay in Texas, Ms. Stewart worked as a policy article freelance editor and a documentary photographer of the Azande tribe, a group of Sudanese refugees in Portland, Maine. As a grant writer in 2006, Ms. Stewart secured $10,000 to fund an after-school writing center for Portland’s refugee students and their mentor writers.
Ms. Stewart graduated magna cum laude with a degree in political science from Davidson College, where she administered a $10,000 grant as part of a study on philanthropic giving.
