Junior Achievement of Greater Washington has named the former CEO of the Prince George’s County Public Schools as its next president and chief executive.
Monica Goldson, who currently serves on the Maryland State Board of Education, succeeds longtime President and CEO Ed Grenier, who stepped down in April. Junior Achievement of Greater Washington told the Washington Business Journal exclusively that Goldson’s first day as Junior Achievement’s CEO will be Dec. 2. She’s the first Black woman to lead the local nonprofit since it launched nearly 60 years ago.
Goldson has spent almost her entire career in the Prince George’s County Public Schools, starting as a math teacher at Suitland High School and eventually rising in 2018 to lead the second-largest school system in Maryland and one of the 20 largest school districts in the country. The school system has an annual budget of $2.3 billion, 22,000 employees and student enrollment of 132,854 as of September. Roughly 60% of its students receive free and reduced school meals.
She served in the role for five years and retired at the end of the 2022-2023 school year, citing “a clear divide of philosophical beliefs on the Prince George’s County Board of Education about how we should move forward as a school district” in her resignation announcement.
