Steve Mariotti

Steve Mariotti
Born August 14, 1953 (1953-08-14) (age 58)
Flint, Michigan
Residence New York, NY, US
Nationality American
Occupation Founder and Board Member of NFTE
Known for Founder of Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship and Author of entrepreneurship education textbooks for junior high to college level students.

Contents

Educator and Founder of an International Entrepreneurship Movement

One of today’s leading experts in entrepreneurial education for at-risk youth,[1] Steve Mariotti changed career paths in 1982 when he decided to move from the private sector and become a special education teacher in the New York City school system. He was assigned to such difficult neighborhoods as East New York and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, and the “Fort Apache” section of the South Bronx.
While teaching in these challenging environments, Mariotti gained insight into how to motivate his troubled, economically at-risk students, which was to teach them how to start and operate their own small businesses. His perceptions led to creating a program curriculum to bring entrepreneurial education to low-income youth. (Mariotti was mentored by Jaime Escalante (the model for the teacher in the movie Stand and Deliver), who allowed him to present 40-minute lesson plans in his class.)
In 1987 Mariotti founded the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (now the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) — NFTE — which was granted 501(c)(3) non-profit status by the IRS the following year. Since then, Mariotti has steadily expanded NFTE’s operations, reaching over 400,000 young people by 2011. It has programs and licensees in 21 states and in The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, China, the United Kingdom, India, New Zealand, Bermuda, Canada, Belgium, South Africa, Israel (and the West Bank city of Hebron). Advisors have included Loida Nicolas-Lewis, Jawanza Kunjufu, and Jeff Raikes of Microsoft. Some of NFTE’s board members include Diana Davis Spencer, Tucker York, and James Lyle. NFTE is frequently used as a model for other educational programs to teach entrepreneurial expertise and small-business formation.
Mr. Mariotti also co-founded a popular prison program: Inmates Teaching Entrepreneurship and Mentoring (ITEM). Prison inmates, in maximum security prisons, teach other prisoners the basic skills of starting a business as a way for them to stay in contact with their families and adapt to life after their sentence.
In 2011, NFTE received the Top Charity Award in China by a popular vote. which was widely distributed globally. Mariotti co-authored a position paper for the World Economic Forum in 2009, "Educating the Next Wave of Entrepreneurs," He has also spoken at the Aspen Institute and other major business and educational forums. He has been the subject of national media profiles on such programs as ABC Evening News and 20/20.
Mariotti is a graduate of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (BBA and MBA). Additionally, he has studied at Harvard University, Stanford University, and Brooklyn College.

Awards and honors

Publications

Articles

References

  1. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-mariotti

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-mariotti/remembering-ayn-rand_b_851966.html

External links