FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Stephanie Surles, strategic development manager, Agile Mind, Inc., ssurles@agilemind.com, 512-636-8940

Agile Mind CEO Linda Chaput wins national award, cites
major foundations, R & D partners as crucial support for R & D success

Austin, TX (October 5, 2010)  In an initiative co-sponsored by Fortune Magazine and American Express OPEN, Linda Chaput, founder and CEO of Agile Mind, Inc., has been named one of the 10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs for 2010. The award was created to honor “the most innovative, ground-breaking, game-changing female entrepreneurs in the U.S.” The rigorous review process winnowed the field from hundreds of nominees to the 10 winners who were finally selected.

Agile Mind (www.agilemind.com) is an education company that partners with states, districts and schools to provide the tools and services they need to manage instruction effectively and to ensure that all students—and particularly those of poverty and color— experience a high-quality education in math and science that prepares them for college and the contemporary workplace.  To date Agile Mind’s online services have been used in more than 900 schools to support almost 20,000 educators and 2 million of their students—including Chicago Public Schools, LA Unified School District, Atlanta Public Schools, San Antonio Independent School District, and Boston Public Schools.

“Achieving excellent learning outcomes for large number of students is possible only with next-generation instructional systems,” Chaput said, “And the support for R & D from visionary funders at the Noyce, Hewlett, Gates, and Sid Richardson Foundations, as well as the Carnegie Corporation, has been essential to our progress. We are deeply gratified to be able to provide—at very low cost—tools that help communities close the achievement gap in mathematics and science.”

 “And foundational to our work is the vision of leaders at The University of Texas, who joined with us in a commitment to innovation,” Chaput said, when asked about the keys to the company’s success.

“Women-owned businesses in the United States employ more than 13 million people and will generate approximately 5.5 million new jobs nationwide by 2018,” says Susan Sobbott, president of American Express OPEN, a co-sponsor of the initiative.

“We ... are thrilled to facilitate the interaction and learning between innovative small and large business leaders who are building a legacy for the next generation,” she said.