Merrill Lynch Honored at New York "Principal for a Day" Gala


Eddy Bayardelle, right, with Janet Corcoran, President of Pencil, and another Pencil Award recipient, David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue Airways.

Merrill Lynch has been honored by Pencil, the New York-based organization whose Principal for a Day® program creates partnerships between the business community and New York City's public schools. Hundreds of volunteers joined students and real-life principals for the award ceremony on March 8. The ceremony included a video highlighting Merrill Lynch's involvement with Pencil.  It featured SVP Jason Wright, head of Communications & Public Affairs and AVP Jennifer Sutton, a MLIM relationship manager.

Merrill Lynch has been involved with Pencil since its inception 11 years ago and is one of the organization's strongest corporate partners. The company's employees represent the majority of honorary headmasters during Principal for a Day, and many maintain fruitful relationships throughout the year.

Eddy Bayardelle, president of the Merrill Lynch Foundation, accepted the Pencil Award on the company's behalf. "This award highlights all of the hard work, dedication and sacrifice that Merrill Lynch employees have put into developing long-term relationships with their partner schools," he said. "The work of Pencil ties in with the company's culture and allows us to demonstrate our commitment to educating young people."

The chancellor of New York City public schools, Joel Klein, praised the partnerships between businesspeople and educators and thanked Merrill Lynch for its continued support of the city's schools.

"Merrill Lynch has been such a responsible partner for public education in New York," Mr. Klein said. "One of the many things the company has done is to support Pencil, which has really created a great public-private partnership. Equally importantly, the company has supported our schools directly in many ways. I'm very proud of the work the company is doing for our city and for our schools."

Besides Ms. Sutton, Merrill Lynch volunteers who attended the event included MD Patricia Collins, Global Operations & Infrastructure Services; VP Michael Pappadio, of Communications & Public Affairs Finance; Director Christina Cotton, Structured Finance, Asset-Backed Securities, GMI; VP Danny Gutierrez, of the Chief Financial Office's Funding & Liquidity Group; FVP Bob Ollwerther, Hedge Fund Development and Management; Director Bonnie Gellas, Corporate Communications; Specialist Nazerine Yasin, Corporate Marketing; and Director Eric Fliegel, Global Technology Infrastructure's End User Computing.

Keith Webb and Bob Ollwerther at a meeting with Principal for a Day coordinators.

Steve Harvey, a comedian and the evening's host, was principal last year at a high school in Queens. But his influence on students might have been weaker than when he played a principal on his former television series. During the series, “When I got tired of them, I could just yell 'Cut!'” he said, drawing laughs from the real principals. “You all are so underrated and so underpaid.”

Earlier in the day, Mr. Bayardelle and Director Selena Morris, Corporate Communications, along with Melanie Mortimer and Larry Sharpe, directors of Global Philanthropy, met with Principal for a Day coordinators as well as Pencil's founder and executive chairman, Lisa Belzberg, and its president, Janet Corcoran. Coordinators from Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia and Phoenix discussed best practices for the program, including encouraging volunteers to participate in their schools beyond the one-day event.

“Merrill Lynch has been an extraordinary corporate partner,” Ms. Corcoran said.

Director Keith Webb, head of GMI Undergraduate Diversity Recruiting, told the group that he enjoys being a volunteer principal at the Bronx school he attended as a child. “If we can get more people involved who understand the importance of this program, whether they came up through the public school system in New York or not,” he said, “I think that would be very helpful for extending the growth of the program.”

Eddy Bayardelle, New York Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, Bonnie Gellas, WNYW-FOX5/WWOR-UPN9 Vice President and General Manager Lew Leone and Eric Fliegel

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