Sharon Thomas

Experiences Director Turns Junior Achievement Around

When Sharon Thomas stepped in as president of Junior Achievement of Arkansas in 1996, the organization was $20,000 in the red while serving 5,000 students.

Four and a half years later, the nonprofit agency in Little Rock that teaches economic education to students in kindergarten through 12th grade has a $100,000 surplus and serves 14,000 students.

Thomas, 53, has also grown the staff from 1.5 positions to 5.5.

While most nonprofit agencies see a 5-9 percent average revenue growth, Junior Achievement of Arkansas has had an annual growth rate of 20 percent under Thomas.

Thomas said that in her first year as president, her goal was to raise $100,000, which she met. Last year, the organization raised $400,000.

“We don’t receive any government or United Way funding, either,” she said.

And Thomas is not finished.

Keeping with her goal of making Junior Achievement a statewide organization, a new district office is opening in northwest Arkansas in the spring. And by 2005, the organization plans to reach 35,000 students.

The secret to her success, Thomas said, is “being passionate about what you are doing. You’ve got to be passionate, but you have got to have commitment, too.”

Thomas, who graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a bachelor of science in business accounting, moved to Hawaii in 1983 and saw a classified ad for director of development for Junior Achievement of Hawaii Inc.

Thomas, who had previously worked as a public accountant, applied for the job and was hired. She quickly fell in love with it because she supports the organization’s goal of exposing children to what the real world is about and its message of staying in school.

Her organization recruits businessmen and businesswomen, trains them and puts them in the classroom. Some programs involved teaching students about credit cards, job interviewing skills, and how to keep a job once they get one.

She has also served in the organization’s national headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo.