Fourteenth Annual Goodwill Awards

Jim Gibbons is the president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International, an internationally recognized leading social enterprise of independent, community-based agencies in the United States and Canada as well as 14 affiliate members in 13 other countries. Founded in Boston in 1902, Goodwill Industries® first put people to work by hiring them to repair and sell donated goods. Today, Goodwill® trains people for careers in fields such as financial services, computer programming, manufacturing and emerging industries, including technology and health care. The organization does that by selling donated goods in stores and online at shopgoodwill.com and using the revenues to fund job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs, such as financial education and youth mentoring, that benefit three million people each year.
 

Before coming to Goodwill in April 2008, Gibbons served as the president and CEO of National Industries for the Blind (NIB), a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with more than 88 associated agencies around the country to enhance economic opportunities and professional development for people who are blind. Through comprehensive marketing and branding strategies and an emphasis on aggressive mission measures, Gibbons transformed the nearly 70 year-old NIB into a results-oriented social enterprise for the 21st century.  An expert at social enterprise management, socioeconomic program strategy and leadership skills development, Gibbons is a veteran speaker, guest lecturer and information resource for advocates, educators and journalists.
 

Prior to NIB, Gibbons was the president and CEO of Campus Wide Access Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. An employee of AT&T for more than a decade, Gibbons held various leadership positions in operations, product management, and mergers and acquisition.  Gibbons earned his B.S. in industrial engineering from Purdue University, and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, where he was the first blind person to graduate with a master’s in business administration. Jim is a 2012 board member of the National Workforce Solutions Advisory Board, sponsored by ACT, Inc. Gibbons has received several awards and recognitions for his work, including the 2010 National Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, the 2010 SmartCEO EcoCEO award for organizational commitment to the environment, the 2009 Young Presidents’ Organization Social Enterprise Leadership Award, and the 2007 Purdue Outstanding Industrial Engineer of the Year award.  Gibbons was recently appointed by President Obama as a member of the White House Council for Community Solutions (WHCCS), a two-year commitment.