Girls on the Run of Eastern Iowa (GOTREI) is proud to announce that Abbie Schneider Reuter will take on the Executive Director position. The position was recently vacated by Kelly Teeselink, who relocated to Flagstaff, AZ to become the council director for Girls on the Run of Northern Arizona. Reuter will serve as the main spokesperson for the organization and will work closely with staff and the board to navigate the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 while also working to advance the organization’s strategic priorities to better serve girls in Eastern Iowa.
Reuter previously served as a board member for Girls on the Run of Eastern Iowa from 2019 to 2021. She worked closely with the organization on multiple projects and is familiar with the organization's strategic goals. She leaves her role as the Associate Director of Employer Engagement for the University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center. Prior to that, she served as a strategy consultant to non-profit, for-profit, and start-up organizations both in Iowa and nationally. She also held executive leadership positions in national and international non-profits where she built capacity and oversaw the design and implementation of multiple enterprise-wide change initiatives.
“This position is a unique opportunity to leverage my background and experience with my personal passion of empowering girls and women,” said Reuter. “We know adolescence is a time when girls’ confidence plummets and Girls on the Run offers a program that is shown to be effective at countering that. It’s always important work, but even more so right now with the social and emotional impacts of COVID. I am particularly excited about the ways we have and can continue to evolve our program to support girls here in our local communities.”
“Abbie is an energetic, empathetic, and thoughtful leader,” said Board Chair Melissa Payne. “Her warmth, collegial style, practical approach to problem solving, and passion for girl empowerment have been evident throughout her career and in her time as a board member. The board is excited to work with Abbie as our new executive director and confident that Girls on the Run of Eastern Iowa will be well-positioned under her guidance to thrive in the years to come.”
The spring season begins on Monday, March 29 and program registration opens on Friday, February 26. To accommodate the changing and unpredictable environment, Girls on the Run of Eastern Iowa is offering its program both virtually and safely in person. Changes to the spring season include shortening the usual ten-week program to eight weeks. To learn more about the spring season, visit www.girlsontheruniowa.org/Program-Registration
Girls on the Run of Eastern Iowa’s coach registration is now open. For more information or to sign up to coach, visit www.girlsontheruniowa.org/coach
About Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run is a national physical activity-based positive youth development program for 3rd-8th grade girls. The program’s mission is to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident by providing critical social emotional support and programming. Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the cornerstone of the program’s research-based lessons and is an important component of a young girl’s development.
Participants develop and improve competence, feel confidence in who they are, develop strength of character, respond to others and oneself with care, create positive connections with peers and adults, and make a meaningful contribution to community and society. Each session is led by trained volunteer coaches that guide and mentor the girls. The ten-week program concludes with all participants completing a celebratory 5K event that gives them a tangible sense of achievement as well as a framework for setting and achieving life goals. Girls on the Run has served over 1.2 million girls since its inception in 1996.