Unified Progress International (UPI) Education, Inc. is proud to announce that Leslie Carpenter has joined their 501c3 nonprofit team, as Executive Director. Carpenter brings a wealth of national and international experience to UPI. As a senior management member of the
PeaceJam Foundation, Arvada, CO, Leslie initially raised over $3 million for their international youth conference; and secured an additional $2 million for the We Speak as One documentary to include 12 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. Leslie spent 10 years with PeaceJam where she also orchestrated an International Youth Conference, at the University of Denver, consisting of 3500 students from around the world and 11 Noble Peace Prize Laureates, including the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.
Encouraged by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, Leslie participated in South Africa’s Reconciliation and Healing hearings in Cape Town, South Africa. Leslie has developed volunteer and internship programs; and trained thousands of volunteers, staff and strategic partners. She has created strong boards and raised millions more to ensure every child has a healthy, fair, safe and moral start in life and a successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
Leslie spent seven years with the Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo, MI and six years along side Mariam Wright Edelman, Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, Washington, DC, where Leslie coordinated the outreach and development of the famed “Freedom Schools”. It has been said, that Leslie builds working environments that are holistic eco-systems, as she fuses collaboration across program areas,
departments, different ethnicities, cultures and diverse populations to produce amiable win-win outcomes. Leslie, a graduate of Davenport University of Kalamazoo, MI has received numerous awards and recognition for her exemplary service over the years. UPI Founder/President/CEO, Frank Crump. Said “We have waited for quite some time for a person with Leslie’s background and infectious spirit to achieve beyond the boundaries. “Leslie added, “I have known Frank Crump for 5 years and he is truly a visionary with whom I am proud to work.”