Pinkerton Promotes Laurie Dien to Vice President-Programs

Laurie Dien has been appointed Vice President in charge of programs for The Pinkerton Foundation, President Rick Smith announced today. Dien has been a Senior Program Officer at the Foundation since 2003. She joined Pinkerton in 1997.

 

 “As the Foundation has grown Laurie’s skills as a teacher and team-builder have grown as well,” said Smith. “Her clear vision and good heart are reflected in every grant Pinkerton makes, and I’m delighted to recognize her important role with this new title.”

 

Laurie Dien grew up in St. Louis with dreams first of designing toys and later entire playgrounds. She went on to earn a B.A. from Barnard and a Ph.D. in environmental psychology from the CUNY Graduate School. Only then did she realize that her true motivation was a desire to improve the lives of young people in general. That led her to the Hasbro Children’s Foundation and ultimately to The Pinkerton Foundation in 1997. More than a decade ago, Laurie was instrumental in the founding of the Career Internship Network, a source of education and professional development opportunities for organizations that offer internships to thousands of high school students each year. She continues to have a special fondness for programs that provide career exploration for all young people and education and employment opportunities for those who are out of work and out of school. Laurie is also one of the architects of the Science Research Mentoring Consortium.  Currently in its third year, the initiative—now known as the Pinkerton Science Scholars Program—offers intensive science training and one-on-one mentoring in an authentic laboratory research project to talented high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds. That’s a long way from the toy box (or the sandbox, for that matter), but we see evidence every day that Laurie’s still having a lot of fun.

 

The Pinkerton Foundation was established in 1966 by Robert Allan Pinkerton, the Chairman and CEO of Pinkerton’s, Inc., the corporate successor of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. The foundation, which retains no connection with the security company, supports community-based organizations serving economically-disadvantaged young people in New York City. Many of the programs take place in the after-school, weekend or summer hours and focus on providing opportunities for academic development, career readiness, cultural enrichment and youth leadership. Pinkerton also supports a number of mentoring, training and internship programs that offer a way forward for young people involved in the criminal justice system or after years in foster care.