Steve Mariotti

Steve Mariotti
Born	August 14, 1953 (1953-08-14) Flint, Michigan
Residence	New York, NY, US
Nationality	American
Occupation	Founder and Board Member of NFTE
Known for	Founder of Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship and Author of entrepreneurship education textbooks for junior high to college level students.

Educator and Founder of an International Entrepreneurship Movement

One of today’s leading experts in entrepreneurial education for at-risk youth, Steve Mariotti changed career paths in 1982 when he decided to move from the private sector and become a special education teacher in the New York City school system. He was assigned to such difficult neighborhoods as East New York and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, and the “Fort Apache” section of the South Bronx.

While teaching in these challenging environments, Mariotti gained insight into how to motivate his troubled, economically at-risk students, which was to teach them how to start and operate their own small businesses. His perceptions led to creating a program curriculum to bring entrepreneurial education to low-income youth. (Mariotti was mentored by Jaime Escalante (the model for the teacher in the movie Stand and Deliver), who allowed him to present 40-minute lesson plans in his class.)

In 1987 Mariotti founded the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (now the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) — NFTE — which was granted 501(c)(3) non-profit status by the IRS the following year. Since then, Mariotti has steadily expanded NFTE’s operations, reaching over 400,000 young people by 2011. It has programs and licensees in 21 states and in The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, China, the United Kingdom, India, New Zealand, Bermuda, Canada, Belgium, South Africa, Israel (and the West Bank city of Hebron). Advisors have included Loida Nicolas-Lewis, Jawanza Kunjufu, and Jeff Raikes of Microsoft. Some of NFTE’s board members include Diana Davis Spencer, Tucker York, and James Lyle. NFTE is frequently used as a model for other educational programs to teach entrepreneurial expertise and small-business formation.

Mr. Mariotti also co-founded a popular prison program: Inmates Teaching Entrepreneurship and Mentoring (ITEM). Prison inmates, in maximum security prisons, teach other prisoners the basic skills of starting a business as a way for them to stay in contact with their families and adapt to life after their sentence.

In 2011, NFTE received the Top Charity Award in China by a popular vote. which was widely distributed globally. Mariotti co-authored a position paper for the World Economic Forum in 2009, "Educating the Next Wave of Entrepreneurs," He has also spoken at the Aspen Institute and other major business and educational forums. He has been the subject of national media profiles on such programs as ABC Evening News and 20/20.

Mariotti is a graduate of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (BBA and MBA). Additionally, he has studied at Harvard University, Stanford University, and Brooklyn College.

Awards and honors

• Leavey Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Field of Free Enterprise Education, 1985
• Mobile Award for Top High School Economics Teacher in NY State, 1988
• National Award for Teaching Economics, The Joint Council of Economic Education, 1988
• Best Teacher of the Year, National Federation of Independent Businesses, 1988
• Bronx Business Hall of Fame, Bronx Community College Foundation, 1988
• Giraffe Project Citation for Risk-Taking Leadership, Everett Foundation, 1989
• Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, California Lutheran University, 1989
• Minority Business Enterprise Project, 1989
• Honorary Doctorate in Business and Entrepreneurship, Johnson and Wales University, 1990
• Castle Award for Entrepreneurial Achievement, Social Category, Entrepreneurial Center of Manhattanville College, 1991
• Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Chief Executive Officer's Club
• Inc. Magazine Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award
• Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 1992
• National Director’s Entrepreneurship Award from the Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce
• Appel Award, Price Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, 1994
• African American Business Hall of Fame Award for Best Teacher 2002
• Association of Education Publishers’ Golden Lamp Award, Best Lesson Plans 2004
• The ACE/Currie Foundation Humanitarian Venture Award
• America’s Top High School Business Teacher
• Salvatori Award
• Runner-up in Brooke Russell Astor Awards
• Ben Applebaum Award for Community Service 2006
• Lifetime achievement award from SOCIETY OF ENTRPRENEURSHIP EDUCATORS
• Lifetime achievement award from Extreme Entrepreneurship
• University of Michigan Business School, Entrepreneurship of the Year Award
• Association of Educational Publishers Award for Best Math Curriculum, 2010

Publications

• Your Financial Future 2011
• Entrepreneurship: Owning Your Future (11th Edition) 2009
• Entrepreneurship: Starting and Operating a Small Business (2nd Edition) with Caroline Glackin (2009) ISBN 0132366002
• Entrepreneurship: Owning Your Future with Tony Towle (2009) ISBN 9-780135-128442
• Entrepreneurs in Profile with Jenny Rosenbaum (2002)
• The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting and Running a Business with Debra de Salvo (2000) ISBN 0812933060
• How to Start and Operate a Small Business
• Entrepreneurship: Starting and Operating a Small Business
• Educating the Next Wave of Entrepreneurs http://www.gvpartners.com/web/pdf/WEF_EE_Full_Report.pdf
• Kaizen Newsletter http://www.ethicsandentrepreneurship.org/20091005/interview-with-steve-mariotti/

Articles

• Remembering Ayn Rand, Huffington Post, 4/21/2011
• Teaching Capitalism in the Last Days of the USSR, Part One, Huffington Post, 5/17/2011
• Teaching Capitalism in the Last Days of the USSR, Part Two, Huffington Post, 5/18/2011
• Tips for Entrepreneurs Who Want to Start Not-for-Profit Organizations, Huffington Post, 5/23/2011
• Inside Ford Finance Staff, Huffington Post, 6/3/2011
• 24 Concepts Every Young Person Should Know About Business, Huffington Post, 6/6/11
• Good Summer Business Ideas for Kids 11-17 Huffington Post, 6/9/11
• Subjective Versus Objective Costs: How the Labor Theory of Value Almost Destroyed the World, Huffington Post, 6/20/11
• How to Start a Non-Profit, Huffington Post, 6/21/11/
• Questions to Ask Money Managers: A Guide for the Non-Profit Executive Huffington Post, 6/28/11
• Memories of Flint, Huffington Post, 7/3/11
• How and Why I Teach in Prisons, Huffington Post, 8/17/11
• My Favorite Teachers, Huffington Post, 8/28/11
• Up in Maine, Huffington Post, 8/30/11
• Raising Owner-Entrepreneurs Would Solve Youth Unemployment, Spur Growth, and Rescue Low-Income Communities , Huffington Post, 9/9/11
• September 11, Huffington Post, 9/11/11

References

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-mariotti/remembering-ayn-rand_b_851966.html

External links

• NFTE website
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-mariotti