e.Republic Executives Honored with Leadership Awards for Assistance after Hurricane Katrina
Terry Smithson, Manager of the Hurricane Education Leadership Program (HELP Team) and Education Program Manager, Intel Corporation, presented leadership awards to two executives at Folsom-based e.Republic in a surprise visit to the company.
Receiving the awards were Cathilea Robinett, Executive Vice President of e.Republic's Center for Digital Government and Folsom resident Marina Leight, Vice President of the Center for Digital Education. Robinett was instrumental in establishing the HELP Team immediately following Hurricane Katrina and currently serves in a leadership and advisory position for the team. Leight is currently the co-chair of the consortium's Marketing and Public Relations Committee.
Immediately following the onset of the hurricane, Robinett and Smithson connected with longtime friend and colleague, Mayor Kip Holden of Baton Rouge, asking "How can we help?" Together they led an effort to create the HELP Team - an unprecedented collaboration among more than 45 information technology companies, nine non-profits, government agencies and nine foundations focused on the recovery of school systems in five Gulf Region states (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Texas) that were devastated by the storm. The HELP Team provides expertise, guidance and support for the students, teachers and administrators trying to rebuild their schools as 21st century learning environments.
The awards honored Robinett and Leight for their "outstanding support and contributions to the HELP Team", said Smithson. "Countless students' lives have been changed as a result of Cathilea and Marina's efforts and the backing of their efforts by e.Republic."
The HELP Team will assist in the development and facilitation necessary to implement a 21st Century learning model that can be easily replicated by other states and countries.
