BUILD CEO and Founder Inducted into 2008 San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame

BUILD CEO AND FOUNDER SUZANNE MCKECHNIE KLAHR INDUCTED INTO 2008 SAN MATEO COUNTY WOMEN’S HALL OF FAME
Event scheduled for March 27, 2008 at the South San Francisco Convention Center

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008
GRAND BALLROOM
255 SOUTH AIRPORT BOULEVARD
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO,CA

Menlo Park, CA (March 3, 2008) – BUILD ( Businesses United in Investing and Development) is proud to announce that its CEO and founder, Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, will be inducted into San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame at their 24th Annual Awards Dinner on March 27, 2008.

“I am so honored to be a part of the 24th class of inductees,” said Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, CEO and founder of BUILD. “And I look forward to continuing BUILD’s work to help under-served high school students gain access to college.”


Suzanne joins six other inductees, chosen from 48 nominations. She was selected for her work with BUILD, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing real-world entrepreneurial experience that empowers youth from under-resourced communities to excel in education, lead in their communities and succeed professionally. The goal of the program is to help students apply to and get accepted into college. 100% of the students who have been through the program have graduated high school, and been accepted into colleges such as Harvard, Columbia, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, San Francisco State, Emory University, Foothill College, and many others.

Suzanne founded BUILD in 1999, and has grown this organization from one person serving 4 students in East Palo Alto, to an organization of 20 full-time staff serving 400 students per year. BUILD partners with all four high schools in the Sequoia Union High School District. The organization also operates the largest youth business and academic incubator in the nation. Students say the following about their experience at BUILD:

“I was living in a neighborhood where you are constantly surrounded by poverty and lack of education. It was my goal to break out of this environment and create a better life for myself. I never really thought I could go to college until I got involved with BUILD.”

“BUILD taught me a lot about responsibility, and taking initiative to do things for myself. BUILD also taught me how to be a leader.”



About BUILD
BUILD is a social venture focused on providing real-world entrepreneurial experience that empowers youth from underserved communities to excel in education, lead in their communities and succeed professionally. BUILD encourages students to develop their own small businesses, extending traditional entrepreneurial education far beyond the classroom and providing students with practical experiences and access to talented business, academic and investment leaders in the larger community. Established in September of 1999, BUILD is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. BUILD currently runs two incubators for students in nine schools in Oakland and Palo Alto, CA (the Palo Alto incubator is the largest in the United States). BUILD opened its third site in Washington, DC in October 2007. More information about BUILD can be found online at www.build.org.