A Letter from the Executive Director, Outward Bound USA
To Outward Bound Family, Friends and Partners:
I am pleased to announce that Katie Newsom Pastuszek will be joining the Outward Bound USA (OBUSA) team as the new Chief Advancement Officer (CAO), effective July 1, 2018.
Katie joins the OB USA team with more than 20 years of service to Outward Bound in the mid-Atlantic region. Her primary focus has been leading the establishment and growth of the Philadelphia Outward Bound School (POBS), a regional Outward Bound school annually serving over 6,000 students in highly regarded outdoor educational programs across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and northern Delaware. Katie’s deep commitment to Outward Bound’s students and their course experience has been the driving force behind her success and that of POBS.
Katie is one of those rare people that brings vision to life. After 10 years of steady growth, by 2009, POBS was bursting at the seams of its tiny office facility. Katie realized that POBS needed to ‘think outside the box’ in order to reach more students and better serve staff and community partners, including a long term and growing relationship with the School District of Philadelphia. Katie and her team found Audubon, a partner whose vision blended easily with Outward Bound’s, and together they agreed to inspire future generations with an appreciation and respect for our natural environment in a joint facility project. Their missions converged in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park to create a unique partnership that would inspire more students through access to Outward Bound programming and Audubon constituents through a unique wildlife sanctuary in the center of this nation’s fifth largest metropolitan region. In order to fund their vision, under Katie’s constant leadership with donors and funding authorities, the two organizations have successfully raised more than $18.5M. Working with their respective boards and other supporters to complete The Campaign for The Discovery Center, the project broke ground in the fall of 2017 and will officially open on September 28, 2018. The Discovery Center – the permanent home for POBS and an environmental education center for Audubon – will be a hub of experiential learning for generations to come.
Two decades of service to Outward Bound and Katie remains passionate and committed to serving students today, tomorrow and long into the future. She is excited to continue to serve Outward Bound across the USA as the Chief Advancement Officer and to embark on a journey of discovery and opportunity, supported by a clear vision to be stronger, to be better and to grow bigger.
We are thrilled to have Katie step into a leadership position for OBUSA, to advance our mission and support the national network of regional schools. Please join me in welcoming Katie into her new position.
Sincerely,
Josh Brankman
Executive Director, Outward Bound USA