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August 28, 2007
Tech Valley High school 
Kate Osterhout - Sawchuk, Brown Associates

EXECUTIVES NAMED TO CO-CHAIR

BUSINESS ALLIANCE FOR TECH VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

Two area business executives have been named to co-chair the Business Alliance for Tech Valley High School.

Kevin M. Leyden, a solution executive in the Albany office of IBM, and Amy Johnson, president of Capstone Inc. of Latham, will lead the 30-member alliance to provide an ongoing connection between the real world of work, the businesses and colleges of Tech Valley and the school’s students, faculty and curriculum.

Tech Valley High, scheduled to open Sept. 6 with its first class of 40 freshmen, will focus on math, science and technology and is a joint venture of Questar III BOCES and Capital Region BOCES. Together, in cooperation with 48 school districts in seven counties, the BOCES have created this new school to expand the range of opportunities available to more than 124,000 students. The school is being shaped and sustained by an unprecedented partnership of K-12 educators with leaders from business, higher education, organized labor and government.  It will be housed initially at Pitney Bowes MapInfo in Rensselaer Technology Park, Troy.

“We at Tech Valley High believe that the role of business is crucial to helping develop education for the 21^st century, and we are so pleased to have Kevin Leyden and Amy Johnson helping us marshal the thinking and the resources of the companies and colleges that are putting Tech Valley on the map and to help students truly prepare to become the global citizens of tomorrow,” said James N. Baldwin, district superintendent of Questar III and interim district superintendent of Capital Region BOCES.

The Business Alliance, created in 2005 by the same legislation that created Tech Valley High, provides a strong link between the region’s technologies, businesses and colleges. The goal is to influence the curriculum and create educational experiences focused on emerging technologies and project-based learning to connect students with real-world experience.

Mr. Leyden, who has been with IBM since 1995, is focused on management and marketing of IBM’s sales initiatives in government, health and human services.  He has been honored by IBM on numerous occasions with its highest sales excellence and sales achievement awards. He also received the New York state Governor’s Citation twice for outstanding contributions and was cited by former Gov. Mario Cuomo as “one of the most talented young men in the state.”

Before joining IBM, Mr. Leyden served as the director of family placement service for the New York State Department of Social Services, the director for the Decade of the Child, overseeing the efforts of 18 state agencies and more than 140 programs, and a teacher and administrator at LaSalle School, Albany. He has spoken both nationally and internationally on innovative trends in child welfare and currently serves as the president of the board of directors of Parsons Child and Family Center, Albany.  Recently Governor Spitzer named Mr. Leyden to the advisory board of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. A New York state certified secondary school teacher, he is a graduate of Manhattan College and holds an M.S. from the University at Albany.

Ms. Johnson founded Capstone Inc., a retained search firm, in 1995 on the philosophy of integrating an understanding of technology, business and human resources in building productive leadership teams.  The company focuses primarily on high growth, technology driven companies and partners with them to recruit senior business professionals and technologists. Ms. Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Union College and has held senior positions in manufacturing and product engineering at Texas Instruments and Apple Computer, where she was responsible for technology transfer of manufacturing operations of Apple's desktop computer systems to Singapore. 

She received the Small Business Council of New York State’s Entrepreneurial Enterprise Award and serves on the board of directors of Proctor’s and is a CEO guide/mentor in the Center for Economic Growth’s CEO CONNEX program. She has been a guest lecturer at RPI’s Lally School of Business, Union Graduate College and the University at Albany.

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Tech Valley High School is small school with no more than 400 students in grades 9-12 drawn from 48 school districts within the two BOCES, which serve seven counties: Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Schoharie, Saratoga and Greene. It will launch in September with 40 freshmen and will be located initially at Pitney Bowes MapInfo in the Rensselaer Technology Park, Troy. In fall 2008, the school will add up to 48 sophomores. Starting in the fall of 2009, each incoming freshman class will have up to 100 students. The school is currently seeking a permanent location in Rensselaer County.     

Organized around the principles of project-based learning, Tech Valley High’s academic program and day-to-day activities will differ in many ways from other schools. Students, however, will meet New York State Learning Standards; earn a Regents diploma or Advanced Regents diploma; earn at least 23 credits following the New York State course of study; and earn college credits. Tech Valley High’s course of study will be deeply enriched by the school’s connection to area businesses and institutions of higher learning working on the cutting edge of science, math and technology. Its academically rigorous college-preparatory curriculum will cultivate an appreciation for the technologies for which Tech Valley is recognized: biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, energy technology and advanced materials.

Additionally, the school’s curriculum will focus on 21^st century learning skills which students will need to succeed in the global, rapidly changing world of work, include teamwork, making presentations, using technology as a tool and solving unforeseen problems.

The president of the 10-member Board of Education of Tech Valley High School is Paul Puccio of Castleton, and the vice president is Jeff Bradt of Cohoes. The principal is Dan Liebert. For more information, please visit www.techvalleyhigh.org.