Greater Boston

“Before BUILD, I skipped class and my grades were horrible. I now get As and Bs. I am the CFO of my own business. I want to study math in college, and I want to be a banker. Thanks to BUILD, my dreams are now goals.” —Romane

More than 100 dedicated volunteer mentors from the Boston business community meet with BUILD students every week. Mentors help students with their businesses, academics, and life issues.

“When I joined BUILD, they told me I would go to college. They believed in me before I did.” —BUILD 11^th grader

BUILD: Greater Boston

Much has been said and written about the dropout crisis in American cities and among minority students. Millions of tax dollars have been allocated toward improving urban schools. But is anything being done to effectively address this social justice issue?

In Boston, particularly at the lowest-performing schools, something is being done. Five Boston high schools have partnered with BUILD, a non-profit that uses entrepreneurship to help students make the connection between academics and life. BUILD Boston enlists its own staff, BUILD-trained high school teachers, and more than 100 volunteer mentors from the business community to help students create and launch their own real, licensed businesses by the end of their freshman year. As students learn real-life skills, and earn real money, they begin to see the importance of doing well in school.

BUILD works with students for all four high school years, providing life skills training, college tours, and academic coaching. BUILD also offers students many opportunities to connect with the Boston business community to develop and refine their new skills and growing confidence.

School Partners

Another Course to College
Charlestown High School
Jeremiah E. Burke High School
Community Academy of Science and Health
Dearborn STEM Academy

Local Advisory Board

Executive Committee

Roy Hirshland (Chairman); President, T3 Advisors
Amy Villeneuve (Vice Chair); Start-up Advisor and Past President & COO, Amazon Robotics/Kiva Systems
Adam Beard; Senior Vice President, Jefferies, LLC
Scott Friend; Managing Director, Bain Capital Ventures
Jeff Glass; CEO, StartingFive Partners
Dennis Kunian; Chairman, The Kunian Group
Frank Graziano; Partner, PwC
Sydney Atkins Mason; Investment Advisor, Goldman, Sachs & Co
Sarah McMillan; Vice President / Psychologist, McMillan, Howland & Spence
Christopher Moore; International Relations & Marketing Coordinator, City of Boston
Jeffrey Newton; Founder & Managing Director, Gemini Investors

Additional Board Members

Michele Brooks ; Asst. Superintendent, Boston Public Schools (Ret.)
Andrew Gates; CEO, Azigo
Sarah Hodges; VP of People and Places, Pluralsight
Sasha Hoffman; CEO, Fuzzy Compass
Curt Hunnewell; Sales Performance Manager, Bank of America
Rizwan Mallal; Co-Founder and VP, Crosscheck Networks, Inc.
George Moker; Director of Entrepreneurship Programs and Instructor of Management, Suffolk University
Rob Parsons; President, Synergy Dining
Shari Redstone; President, National Amusements and Vice Chair, CBS and Viacom
Venkat Srinivasan; President, Rage Frameworks, Inc.
Nancy Sterling; Senior VP, Strategic Communications, Mintz Levin Strategies
Ed Sullivan Jr.; Partner, KPMG LLP
William Tita; Professor, Northeastern University
Richard Vieira; Group Head Technology, BMO Capital Markets