LEXINGTON, VA, Oct. 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) today announces the appointment of Jim Langford as its new executive director. Langford brings many years of business, public service and nonprofit experience to the organization, most recently as the co-founder and president of the Georgia Meth Project and the Georgia Prevention Project.
"I’m excited to join such a solid and experienced organization that pursues this kind of ambitious mission,” Langford commented. “SHECP’s work is a critical component in building a new generation of leaders who understand poverty and who are willing to roll up their sleeves and make changes happen.”
SHECP is a collaboration among 25 colleges and universities that integrates classroom study of poverty with summer internships and co-curricular activities. In his new role, Langford will work closely with the SHECP council and governing board to guide the ongoing development, execution, and funding of the nonprofit’s strategic vision for the future.
“Jim Langford has a proven record of success when it comes to leading programs like ours,” explained Dr. Alan Tinkler, SHECP governing board chair. “We are excited to have him as part of our team, a team that is committed to learning about the meanings, causes, and consequences of poverty with particular attention to the human dignity of every person.”
A native of Calhoun, Georgia, Langford has been appointed by five Georgia governors to a variety of commissions and boards in the state. He also served as the state director of the Trust for Public Land where he conceived and implemented the connected park system of the Atlanta BeltLine. He is the founder of three other land conservation, greenway and archaeology education organizations. Langford has been named by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of Atlanta’s 100 most influential people.
In his business life, Langford founded and managed successful high technology companies over a 20-year period. Prior to his high technology career, he was an executive of The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, New York, Puerto Rico and Argentina. He serves as a member of the Board of Councilors of the Carter Presidential Center and the board of advisors of the Ivan Allen College at Georgia Tech.
Langford holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
Langford will lead the day-to-day operations of SHECP from Atlanta, working remotely with the national nonprofit’s Virginia and Mississippi offices. To learn more about SHECP and how you can support its mission to transform poverty studies, visit shepherdconsortium.org.
About the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty: The Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP), is a consortium of colleges and universities that are committed to the study of poverty as a complex social problem, by expanding and improving educational opportunities for college students in a wide range of disciplines and career trajectories. SHECP institutions support undergraduates toward a lifetime of professional and civil efforts to diminish poverty and enhance human capability. For more information, please visit ShepherdConsortium.org, or follow us on Twitter at @TheSHECP.
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