Our Story

NPower is a nonprofit rooted in the community and committed to advancing race and gender equity in the tech industry through skills training, real-world experience, support, and mentorships. The organization has helped young adults from underserved communities and veterans move from poverty to the middle class by training them with a range of tech skills and connecting them to quality jobs.

Students who enter our free training programs earn industry-recognized certifications and graduate with the competencies of an IT professional with one to two years of experience. NPower also places students in paid internships and apprenticeships with corporate and nonprofit organizations. Eighty percent of NPower graduates get a full-time job or continue their education. NPower is a vital solution towards bridging the national talent gap that exists in the high-growth technology industry.

Over the past decade, NPower has expanded its program reach and developed a robust network of Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized enterprises, government agencies, staffing firms, and a network of nonprofit partners that host its interns and hire its graduates full-time. To learn more about NPower, visit www.npower.org.

National Board of Directors

Matt Horner | Chair Executive Vice President, Global Enterprise Sales World Wide Technology

Gail Fierstein Vice Chair

SVP, Global Head of People CaaStle

Stephen M. Murphy | Secretary Sr. Managing Director, Financial Services Technology Global Lead Accenture

Viola Maxwell-Thompson | Treasurer CEO Emeritus Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF)

Michael Fugett | Board Observer NPower TX Graduate - VP, Production Management - U.S. Army - Citi

Luisana Estevez Board Observer NPower NY Graduate - VP, Data Center Production Operations Engineer - Meta

Gerald Charles Jr.

VP and Head of Product for Omni Customer Servicing Capital One

Craig Cuffie Chief Procurement Officer HSBC

Steering Committee

John R. Miller | Committee Chair Managing Director, Global Head of Cybersecurity Citi

Devon Bryan Global Chief Information Security Officer Carnival Corporation

Dean Del Vecchio

EVP, Chief of Operations and CIO

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Ami Desai Chief of Staff to Founder, Chairman & CEO Vista Equity Partners

Guillermo Diaz, Jr. Founder & CEO Conectado, Inc. Michael Fey Co-Founder & CEO Island

Kateau James Global Chief Operating Officer Deloitte Technology

Tony Kerrison Chief Technology Officer Bank of America

Debra King Digital and Technology Officer Bunge

Jennifer Kleinert Chief Operating Officer, Enterprise Infrastructure Operations & Technology

Citi

Mark Patterson

SVP, Chief of Staff to Chairman & CEO

Cisco Systems

Frank Pedersen Partner Apply Digital

David Reilly Tech Excecutive

Diane Schwarz VP, Chief Information Officer Johnson Controls

Dwight D. Shepherd REAR ADMIRAL (RETIRED) Executive Strategy & Standards, BISO IBM

Anupam Singhal Senior Vice President and Business Head

Tata Consultancy Services

Josh Sutton Chief Executive Officer Agorai

Peter Trizzino President Dell Technologies Select

Sangy Vatsa Founder Digital Insights, LLC

Bertina Ceccarelli Chief Executive Officer NPower

Ayo Ewebiyi Senior Manager, Cybersecurity Accenture

Daniel Johnson SVP, CTO and Head of Innovation Guardian life Insurance

Jeremiah Sahlberg

Managing Director, Third Party Risk Tevora

Vladimir Sukonnik Director, Engineering Executive, Technology Infrastructure Services Bank of America

Commencement Speaker

Toni S. Benson

Chief, Cyber Defense Education and Training

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Toni is the Chief of the Cyber Defense Education and Training (CDET) organization at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) supporting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Her roles within the organization are to provide a strategic vision around training and education to assist in combating the cybersecurity workforce shortage.

Prior to joining the DHS in 2015, Ms. Bensons spent most of her career serving in the United States Air Force, where she served as a Communications Officer. She also worked with other U.S. government agencies and private sector companies as a contractor, in support of various cyber initiatives. In 2022, Ms. Benson was selected as the SANS Practitioner of the Year. Ms. Benson holds a B.S. from Delaware State University, a M.S. from the University of Maryland Global Campus, and an Executive Leadership certification from Harvard University. Ms. Benson is also a Certified Information Systems SecurityProfessional.

Student Speaker

Quster Bicar

Cybersecurity Program

“Quster Bicar is an Software Developer & Network Engineer for Verizon . She is also currently a Cyber Security student at NPower who will be graduating in June 2023 with her CompTIA Security+ Certificate. When she is not working, she spends time volunteering by mentoring inspiring young adults & high schoolers whose interest is in working in Tech. With over 4 years of experience, Quster has performed many other roles including Project Manager for a Superbowl Project. This increased her skill set and gave her several cross-training experiences in the organization. She is currently pursuing a Computer Information Systems bachelor’s degree at Pierce College & her ultimate goal is to become a cyber security network engineer.”

Student Speaker

Diane Kim

Cloud Computing Program

“Before NPower, I was struggling with trying to maintain some type of work-life balance in a retail leadership role. During my search for a higher education degree program in technology, I stumbled upon an NPower success story, on TikTok of all places, and was amazed at all the organization was doing for people in underserved communities. I started the tech fundamentals program, completed my internship at Under Armour HQ, and went into the cloud computing program. NPower has helped to connect me to an amazing mentor, to obtain numerous certifications, and to gain hands-on experience to set my future up for success. I am grateful to have felt supported through the entire course, but also beyond, through alumni communications! Since I just passed my AWS Cloud Practitioner exam, I’m hoping to move forward toward the goal of achieving my AWS Solutions Architect Certification. Then, use my newly developed skills to grow within my current company.”

Statistics

The curriculum for this program includes a NetAcad learning module courtesy of the Cisco Networking Academy.

96% 78% Cybersecurity Graduation Rate Cloud Computing Graduation Rate

Cloud Practitioner Certification Rate People of Color 96% 81%

28% 27% Women Military Connected