Amy Rosen joined the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) in October 2008. As President and CEO, Rosen has taken the organization’s core belief, that every young person can find their pathway to opportunity through entrepreneurship education, and built an outcomes-driven organization. Overseeing the milestone of reaching 350,000 young people from low income communities throughout the world, Rosen has led the organization in creating a replicable and sustainable model that is currently working in 21 states and 10 other countries. With only 60 hours of a young person’s time, a NFTE certified teacher, using the NFTE curriculum, can provide a student the opportunity to develop and present a business plan, compete in a competition and significantly increase their chances of graduating high school with a plan for success.
New accomplishments of Rosen’s tenure include creating clear and measurable goals, restructuring the organization, overseeing the publication of NFTE’s core high school curriculum as well as a new curriculum targeting middle schools, the development of the organization’s new brand, and co-authoring the book Teen Business Blasts Off! NFTE’s effectiveness in changing the lives of youth from low income communities led Thomas Friedman of The New York Times to recently write that “the president should also vow to bring the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, or NFTE, to every low-income neighborhood in America.”
Prior to joining NFTE, Rosen spent more than 20 years as a leader in the field of transportation. She earned a national reputation as a change agent in this field, and has served in leadership roles on the Boards of New Jersey Transit and Amtrak. During the last decade her focus shifted to reform of the US education system, advising leaders including Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey and New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Rosen earned a BA in political science from the Claremont Colleges and was a fellow at the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy. She is the Chairman of the Board of KIPP TEAM Schools in Newark.