BELL Announces New Leadership

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - September 26, 2008) - BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) today announced the appointment of current BELL COO, Dr. Tiffany Cooper, as CEO, and the departure of its Co-founder and CEO of 17 years, Earl Martin Phalen.

Since joining BELL in 1998, Cooper has played a remarkable role in BELL's growth, program development, and continued success for its scholars. Backed by a strong senior management team, Cooper currently oversees all curriculum development, assessment and evaluation activities, service delivery in all regions, and policy-related initiatives at BELL. She has been honored for her work by the Massachusetts Conference for Women, and has received the New Profit Unsung Hero Award, and Boston College's Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award.

"I am honored to have been given the opportunity to lead an organization for whose mission I care so deeply," said Cooper. "With our dedicated staff and broad network of supporters, we will continue to grow and to inspire the next generation of great teachers, doctors, artists, community leaders and parents."

"Tiffany Cooper's dedication and leadership to BELL and its students is unsurpassed," said Laurene Sperling, Chair of the BELL Board of Directors. "BELL is stronger today than at anytime in its history, both organizationally and financially. We thank Earl for the tremendous role he played in building BELL into the transformative, nationally recognized organization it is today, and for his unwavering devotion to a vision that has made a difference in the lives of thousands of students."

Phalen stepped down from his position as CEO, but will continue as BELL's founder in an advisory role to the senior management team.

"It has been 17 years, and although my role is changing, I can tell you that my commitment to public service and to helping the 13 million American children living in poverty has not," said Phalen. "I am deeply proud of what we have built together and the children whose lives have been changed forever with the help of BELL and those who have invested their time, talent and financial support to our mission. No one is more prepared than Tiffany to lead BELL to even greater success."

About BELL

Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1992 by a group of Black and Latino Harvard Law School students, BELL is one of the nation's leading providers of quality after-school and summer educational programs serving more than 12,000 children nationally. BELL is dedicated to helping children living in under resourced, urban communities develop their tremendous potential and achieve success in the classroom. BELL's robust mentoring and tutoring programs improve children's core academic skills, strengthen their self-esteem, and elevate their expectations. BELL currently serves the students in Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York City, and Springfield, Mass. For more information, please visit www.bellnational.org.