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Jill Vialet serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Playworks. She has worked for more than 25 years in the nonprofit sector, during which she has focused her entrepreneurial skills on founding and growing two successful nonprofit organizations. Playworks launched in 1996 with two schools in Berkeley, California. Currently the organization brings play and physical activities to children across the country, with offices in 23 cities. During the 2014-15 school year, Playworks will serve over 600,000 students through direct and training services, reaching more than 1500 schools and youth-serving organizations. Prior to Playworks, Jill founded the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA) in Oakland, California. She served as the Executive Director at MOCHA for nine years, ultimately expanding its programs to reach 20,000 young people each year. Jill graduated from Harvard University where she studied Medical Sociology, played rugby, and became actively involved with Harvard's service-learning community. She served as the director of Harvard's Public Service Program during the 1986-87 school year. In 1996 she was awarded Radcliffe's Jane Rainie Opel Award for achievement by a young alumna. Jill published her first novel in 2013, Recess Rules. Inspired by her work with Playworks, Recess Rules tells the story of four friends who save recess with the help of an angel-on-probation named Clarence. She was a Eureka Fellow from 2000 to 2001 and in 2004 she was selected as an Ashoka Fellow. In 2009, Jill and Playworks were selected as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. In 2011, Jill was named by Forbes magazine as one of the top 30 leading social entrepreneurs and recognized by the Women's Sports Foundation as one of 40 Women Leaders in honor of the anniversary of Title IX. In 2013, she was awarded the James Irvine Leadership Award. Jill is a Fellow of the 11th class of the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
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