New executive director at Students Run Philly Style

Students Run Philly Style, now in it's 12th season, has a new executive director. Replacing founding executive director Heather McDanel, Andrew Kucer will now lead the organization into its next phase of growth and impact.

Prior to joining Students Run, Kucer helped launch a national nonprofit entity for the Michaels Organization, the largest affordable housing owner in the country, and served as the National Director of Philanthropy for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies with a concentration in Community Organizations from Stanford University and a Juris Doctor from the Villanova University School of Law.

"Not only does our program make a difference in the lives of its participants, but it provides a safe and productive out-of-school time activity for these students," said Kucer. "As schools struggle to do more with less funding, Students Run is helping fill a void. This is why we have seen a continued increase in program participants and why each year new schools approach us about bringing the program to their community."

Some of Kucer's priority areas of focus include expanding the organization's capacity to respond to its recent growth, evaluating the longitudinal impact of the program, and forging new corporate partnerships.

McDanel, Students Run's founder and executive director of 11 years, made the decision to step down in order pursue new interests and to give Students Run the benefit of a fresh leadership perspective for its future.

Established in 2004 at the behest of the Independence Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Students Run Philly Style uses running to build positive mentoring relationships between adolescents and adults. Each year, 300 volunteer mentors help over 1,200 kids train for a milestone race, including the Philadelphia Marathon and the Blue Cross Broad Street Run. The program aims to address both the health crisis of childhood obesity and the need to build resiliency in Philadelphia youth.

"When you complete a marathon at the age of 14, your definition of what's possible in life is forever changed," said Kucer. "I see these kids adopting new outlooks for their futures, and setting goals for themselves beyond what they ever thought possible."

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