IRVINE, CA, January 18, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ — The nonprofit Base 11 has promoted engineer and former HR executive Teniel Jones to president, and appointed her to the board of directors. In her new roles, Jones will oversee the next era of growth for the organization, which is dedicated to accelerating women and people of color in STEM jobs and entrepreneurship — with a focus on impacting more lives through digital tools.
“Teniel is an exceptional leader and role model, whose cross-disciplinary expertise benefits both the students and early career adults we serve at Base 11, as well as all of us who work with her,” said Base 11 founder Landon Taylor. “In just two short years, she’s established some of the most game-changing and impactful programs in Base 11’s history, and I’m excited to see her continued success and impact on an even greater scale.”
Taylor, who has led the organization as its founder and CEO since 2015, will continue serving on the board of directors with a focus on providing strategic guidance to the management team and helping cultivate new corporate and private equity partnerships to support Base 11’s growth and expansion.
Jones joined Base 11 in 2019 as a program manager, and later served as director of operations, overseeing the organization’s Next Frontier Initiative. During that time, she managed Base 11’s first Next Frontier Conference & Expo in 2020, which is now an annual event. She also oversaw the development and launch of Base 11 Digital, an all-in-one mobile and desktop platform aimed for students and early-career adults. Plus she collaborated with HeroX and Base 11 sponsors on the development and launch of a series of Innovation Challenges that give young people an opportunity to gain hands-on experiences solving real-world problems.
Prior to Base 11, Jones spent 15 years at Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace firm and a Fortune 500 company. Trained as an engineer, Jones rose through the ranks at Boeing as a systems engineer then manager, before transitioning to a human resources role. As Director of Learning & Development and Innovation for Boeing, she partnered with tech, space and defense industries, as well as academic institutions, to promote learning through collaboration and leveraging technology.
Jones also serves on the advisory board of EmpowHer, which impacts girls in marginalized communities, and is a frequent guest speaker and mentor for students and adult learners through programs including Elevate. She holds a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; a master’s in engineering management from the University of Southern California; and certificates in project management, HR management and accelerated leadership.
“As a woman in STEM, I understand how critical it is to see people who look like you in every field, and at every level of leadership, so I appreciate that the significance of this moment reaches beyond me personally,” said Jones. “The growth and professional development I’ve experienced over the last two years with Base 11 exemplifies to me what we are all about. I’m eager to extend that growth and development to even more students and young people through Base 11’s work.”
Jones will continue to focus on Base 11’s Next Frontier Initiative which aims to scale Base 11’s impact 10-fold by 2030. Through the initiative, Base 11 and its partners will accelerate 100,000+ students, early STEM career adults, and STEM entrepreneurs on their pathway to success in Next Frontier industries — which include data analytics, cybersecurity, fintech, life sciences, aerospace autonomous systems, private equity/venture capital, AR/VR, advanced manufacturing and edtech. Base 11 runs programs, facilities and events as part of the Next Frontier Initiative. But it is the Base 11 Digital online platform, unveiled earlier this year, that promises to extend the programs and opportunities most broadly to reach more students and young adults than ever before.
About Base 11
Base 11 is a nonprofit 501c3 STEM workforce and entrepreneur development company empowering women and minorities with the Access, Awareness, and Belief needed to succeed in Next Frontier Industries of the 21st century. Base 11 facilitates partnerships with industry, academia and philanthropy which deliver to employers a pre-recruitment pipeline of well-trained, highly skilled STEM talent. Through Next Frontier programs, facilities and events, Base 11 and its partners set students — and those returning to the workforce — on direct pathways to four-year STEM degrees, well paid STEM jobs, and the opportunity to launch their own STEM related business. For more information, please visit www.Base11.com. Base 11 is a DBA of the Center for Innovations in Education, a nonprofit 501(c) 3 – IRS exemption EIN# 26-4365936.