Engineering Tomorrow Announces Executive Director Transition

Timothy McNiff, whose strategic innovation and financial stewardship contributed significantly to the organization’s rapid expansion, passes Executive Director title to former Director of Operations Megan Barrett

Megan Barrett brings 20 years of experience in education and nonprofit management, including over eight years of leadership at Engineering Tomorrow

Engineering Tomorrow, a public charity dedicated to inspiring high school students to pursue a path in engineering, today announced a transition of its leadership, with Timothy McNiff retiring and passing the role of Executive Director to the organization’s former Director of Operations, Megan Barrett. Through lab events developed and led by experienced engineers at no cost to schools, Engineering Tomorrow encourages students of all backgrounds to connect what they learn in the classroom with real-world applications and potential career paths. Since Engineering Tomorrow’s founding in 2014, high school students across the country have completed more than 2.2 million individual labs free of cost.

Dr. McNiff steps down after serving as Engineering Tomorrow’s Executive Director since 2019. Throughout his time at Engineering Tomorrow, Dr. McNiff contributed significantly to Engineering Tomorrow’s transformation into a national, digital-first organization capable of delivering life-changing educational experiences to hundreds of thousands of students per year. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, Engineering Tomorrow delivered four times as many lab kits to students than any previous year, engaging over 572,000 students at more than 3,600 schools. Dr. McNiff will continue to be involved as an advisor in Engineering Tomorrow’s special projects.

Prior to her appointment as Executive Director, Ms. Barrett served as Director of Operations for Engineering Tomorrow, which she joined in 2016. As Executive Director, she will seek to build upon the organization’s significant impact and exponential growth in recent years, coordinating with engineering partners, administrators, and educators throughout the nation to further expand access to Engineering Tomorrow’s vital programming.

Bill Woodburn, Founder and Chairman of the Board, said, “Tim’s direction has been critical in our journey from holding events for individual schools to now averaging nearly 30,000 students attending Lab Day events, which feature inspiring engineers from leading public and private organizations like General Electric, CRISPR Therapeutics, General Motors, NASA, Texas Instruments and many more. I’d like to thank Tim for his years of excellent service to our mission and the growth of our organization as Executive Director. I look forward to our continued growth under Megan’s capable leadership as we work toward building a larger, more diverse engineering workforce equipped to tackle the many engineering challenges of the future.”

Ms. Barrett added, “One of Engineering Tomorrow’s greatest strengths is our team’s ability to adapt our format and labs as demand from teachers for accessible, industry-relevant programming continues to increase. I am excited to build on the strong foundation that Tim has established and lead this incredible team through the next chapter of our growth. Plans for the 2024-2025 school year, which feature 24 unique Lab Day events, are already well underway, and we’re looking forward to our most successful year yet.”

Before joining Engineering Tomorrow, Ms. Barrett served as Chief of Staff to the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of New York, the third largest Catholic school system in the country. She brings over 20 years of successful experience in education and nonprofit management, including teaching in schools in New York City and Newark, NJ. Ms. Barrett holds a Master of Nonprofit Administration from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Arts in Education from Seton Hall University through the EPICS Program, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame.

About Engineering Tomorrow

Engineering Tomorrow is a public charity inspiring high school students across the nation to pursue a path in engineering through labs developed by engineers, mentorship, and hands-on instruction. The organization’s mission is to create a robust and more diverse engineering workforce to solve the engineering challenges of the future and build a more innovative world. All programming is provided to schools at no cost. Visit https://engineeringtomorrow.org/ to learn more about Engineering Tomorrow’s programming and impact.

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