The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), North America’s leading advocate for entrepreneurship education and programming for community and technical colleges, has awarded Rose M. Kirk its 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award. She will accept the award during NACCE’s annual conference November 1-4 in Boston.

Cary, NC October 21, 2026 –(PR.com)– NACCE’s Lifetime Achievement Award is given annually to an individual who has achieved entrepreneurial success and played a pivotal role in the community through involvement and support of civic and philanthropic activities.

“NACCE is proud to bestow its Lifetime Achievement Award upon Rose Kirk, who is widely recognized as a pioneer in corporate social responsibility,” said Rebecca Corbin, president and CEO of NACCE. “Her vision, commitment, and leadership led to the creation of innovative programs that have significantly improved the lives of millions of young people in communities throughout the country.”

Record of Social Responsibility
Kirk has a 40-plus year history of corporate social responsibility, social impact innovation, and civic engagement, having participated in philanthropic pursuits nationally and internationally since her early twenties. Serving on her first board of directors at just 22, Rose Kirk demonstrated early on the skills and passion that would fuel her evolution as an executive. Throughout her career, Kirk worked in marketing strategy and integration, consumer product line management, and marketing communications. She was also an award-winning journalist and the executive producer of the documentary Without a Net: The Digital Divide in America.

In her role as Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer and Senior Marketing Executive at Verizon Communications Corporation, Kirk demonstrated an entrepreneurial leadership style that embraced innovation, collaboration, and creativity.

In 2012, Kirk was tapped to take Verizon’s corporate responsibility function in a new direction by creating pathways beyond philanthropy to improve communities and the company’s constituents.

Among her notable achievements:
· creating Verizon Innovative Learning, a professional services education model that is offered in 664 schools and has impacted more than 8.5 million students
· forming a small business digital inclusion solution for small businesses bundled with revenue-generating products by Verizon Business
· developing 5G educational technologies for middle schools that included building 5G laboratories in schools across the country
· tripling the company’s investment in responsible innovation and leading the category to become a critical component of the company’s overall business and revenue strategy.
Responsible innovation is helping companies find new untapped customers and audiences, according to Kirk. “You are helping to teach new skill sets that benefit society as a whole,” she said. “By putting technology in individuals’ hands, you are giving them the ability to develop more skills and helping them to be more competitive and sustainable.”

Kirk continues to serve on national and local boards, including Casella Waste Systems as an independent director; the National Archives Foundation Board of Directors; an advisory board member of the Texas Book Festival; a member of the Texas Women for the Arts; and a strategic advisor for NationSwell and Blackbaud-YourCause.

About NACCE
NACCE is an organization of educators, administrators, presidents, and entrepreneurs focused on igniting entrepreneurship in their communities and on their campuses. NACCE has two main goals: to empower leaders to approach the business of running a community college with an entrepreneurial mindset; and to grow the community college’s role in supporting job creation and entrepreneurs in their local ecosystem. The association represents 350+ community and technical colleges and 2,000 faculty, staff, administrators, and presidents who serve more than 3.3 million students. Visit: www.nacce.com.

Contact Information:
National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship
Carol Savage
978-857-1473
Contact via Email
www.nacce.com

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