JA USA

A Brief History
Junior Achievement was founded in 1919 by Theodore Vail, president of American Telephone & Telegraph; Horace Moses, president of Strathmore Paper Co.; and Senator Murray Crane of Massachusetts. Its first program, JA Company Program®, was offered to high school students on an after-school basis. In 1975, the organization entered the classroom with the introduction of Project Business for the middle grades. Over the last 39 years, Junior Achievement has expanded its activities and broadened its scope to include in-school and after-school students.

Location and Leadership
Junior Achievement USA is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and provides strategic direction, leadership, and support to approximately 1,600 employees throughout the United States. Local volunteer boards of directors comprised of business, education, and civic leaders set the policy and direction for each local office.

Mr. Arnold Evans, Co-Head of Emerging Middle Market JPMorgan Chase, is chairman of the Junior Achievement USA board of directors. Jack Harris is the Chief Executive Officer of Junior Achievement and Tim Greinert is the President. Junior Achievement USA board members represent a wide range of businesses and academic institutions around the world. In addition, approximately 3,800 board members lead JA Area Offices around the United States.

Program Reach
Nationally, Junior Achievement reaches over 3 million students per year in 127,817 classrooms and after-school locations. JA programs are taught by volunteers in inner cities, suburbs, and rural areas throughout the United States, by 97 Area Offices.

JASCPA

Location and Leadership
Junior Achievement of South Central PA is headquartered in downtown York, PA and serves students across our 14 county franchise.

Tom Russell/CEO and Allison Kierce/President & COO lead the JASCPA team. Norman Dunkinson from Starbucks is the Chair of JASCPA’s Board of Trustees.

Full listing of JASCPA leadership.

Markets Served
JA of South Central PA covers fourteen counties: Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Northumberland, Perry, Schuylkill, Snyder, Union, and York. The combined area includes 95 school districts.

Map of areas served.

Program Reach
JA of South Central PA reached over 1110,000 students in the2025-26 school year. There are 360,000 students in our 95 school districts (this includes private and home school students). Our market share is 30%. The national average is 9%. Of the 97 JA offices in the United States, JA of South Central PA ranks number four in students served.

History of students served.

Volunteers
JA of South Central PA recruits about 10,000 volunteers each school year. The volunteers come from all walks of life and include business people, college students, parents, and retirees. These dedicated individuals are the backbone of the organization.