TechForce Foundation Celebrates Historic $1 Million Scholarship Month – Autobody News
The foundation’s newly elected president and chairman of the board aims to eventually be able to distribute $30 million annually to support students, including those in collision repair.
TechForce Foundation celebrated an extraordinary milestone: $1 million awarded in the month of June alone in student scholarships support — a particularly remarkable achievement considering that just a few years ago, the foundation was awarding $1 million over the course of an entire year.
“This transformation from $1 million annually to $1 million in a single month shows the incredible growth and momentum of TechForce’s ability to fundraise and positively impact the education and skilled careers of thousands of students with financial need,” said Jennifer Maher, CEO of TechForce Foundation. “Our Board of Directors is committed to growing our capabilities so that no student who needs financial assistance to pursue their technical education and career as a professional technician is denied.”
Jon Vesely, newly elected president and chairman of the TechForce Foundation Board of Directors, has challenged the organization to reach its potential: “While we’re budgeted in 2025 to award $6 million in scholarships and grants, a significant accomplishment, this is still only helping 1 in 7 students coming to us for assistance. When America desperately needs skilled technicians, we need to push ourselves, industry and donors to do more.
“Our goal is to build our capacity to raise and distribute the $30 million annually necessary so every qualified student gets the support they deserve,” Vesely said.
Recent transformational gifts enabled the record-breaking scholarship distribution, including major support from Ford Philanthropy, Ford Motor Company, and Christian Brothers Automotive. Additionally, two unrestricted grants from General Motors and Bridgestone Americas Trust are enabling TechForce to invest in its people power for growth and scaling to serve more students and tech schools nationwide.
“These unrestricted grants allow us to strengthen our infrastructure and expand our capacity, ensuring we can process more scholarships, help more students find apprenticeships and jobs, and ultimately fill America’s critical skilled technician gap,” Maher said.
TechForce continues to expand its impact across all sectors of technician employment, including automotive, aviation, collision repair, diesel, emerging technologies, machining, motorsports, welding and more. Recently TechForce expanded into the HVAC technician sector thanks to a sizable grant from Carrier.
“The pendulum has swung where now society understands that not every student wants or needs to go on to a four-year university and that technical education and skilled trades are a solid, viable pathway to sustainable careers. Most engines are now computers on wheels, and we need a highly trained, dedicated workforce to keep America rolling,” said Maher.
To drive this expansion, TechForce Foundation has appointed a dynamic slate of officers to serve on the Board of Directors’ Executive Committee team:
• Jon Vesely, president and chair – partner, Vesely Investment Partners
• Angie Babin, immediate past president – VP of OEM partnerships and strategy, Caliber
• Denise Kingstrom, vice chair – supply chain director, coatings solutions, BASF Corporation
• Chris Adams, treasurer – senior vice president, Discount Tire
• David Ellis, secretary – owner, Ellis Automotive, LLC
• Jennifer Maher, ex-officio – CEO, TechForce Foundation
TechForce Foundation also announced George Giltner as its new vice president of development. Giltner joins from his role as president and CEO of TechPoint Foundation for Youth, where he championed technical careers and education, supporting schools across Indiana. At TechForce, Giltner will lead development efforts to build partnerships, secure resources, and fuel programs that connect students to careers as professional technicians.
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