For Release: Immediate – Monday, August 30, 2021
Miriam Dushane of Alaant Workforce Solutions re-elected as Chair, Kyle Bisnett of Microsoft chosen as Vice Chair during board’s Annual Meeting
Albany, NY – CanCode Communities, a nonprofit organization creating a new generation of software coders, today announced the addition of Facebook executive Lisa Harris to its board of directors, and the election of Miriam Dushane of Alaant Workforce Solutions and Kyle Bisnett of Microsoft to lead its slate of officers for 2021-22. The appointments were made at the board’s annual meeting.
Harris is the Director of State and Local Economic Development Policy for Facebook. An upstate New York native, she is an accomplished professional who previously served as Deputy Counsel to the New York State Senate Majority Republican Conference, and in the Executive Branch of New York state government, where she served four governors in executive roles.
Dushane, Managing Partner at Alaant, was re-elected as Board Chair, and Bisnett, Senior Customer Engineer at Microsoft, was chosen as Vice Chair. In addition, David Wojeski, Founding Partner at Wojeski & Company CPAs, P.C., was selected as Treasurer, and John Haller, former Founder and Chief Technology Officer at SportsSignUp, was chosen as Secretary.
“We are thrilled to welcome Lisa Harris to our board of directors, and excited to benefit from her recognized expertise, big-picture vision, and demonstrated passion for uplifting people and communities,” said Annmarie Lanesey, Founder and CEO of CanCode Communities. “She joins a talented group of professionals, guided by the dedicated leadership of Miriam Dushane and Kyle Bisnett, that is laser-focused on delivering life-changing coding education and training, creating a vibrant and diverse technology workforce, and expanding the reach and impact of CanCode Communities.”
Launched in 2016 as AlbanyCanCode and rebranded as CanCode Communities in July, the organization now includes 6 additional affiliates: KingstonCanCode, SaratogaCanCode, HerkimerCanCode, BerkshiresCanCode, NewYorkCanCode, and NewAmericansCanCode. Its rapid expansion was fueled by a $50,000 investment from Facebook, announced last year and championed by Harris.
Over the past 5 years, more than 300 students have graduated from the organization’s computer coding courses, obtaining jobs with leading employers – including Accenture, Goldman Sachs, New York State Office of Information Technology Services, MVP Healthcare, and Zones, among others – and seeing average annual salary increases of more than $18,000. Additionally, CanCode
Communities has provided digital literacy training to hundreds of adults, and conducted coding courses to serve thousands of K-12 students.
For more information on CanCode Communities, including the Fall 2021 course schedule, visit www.cancode.org.
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About CanCode Communities
A 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2016, CanCode Communities develops non-traditional talent and advocates for a vibrant, inclusive tech talent pipeline. The organization designs and delivers workforce training courses, hands-on K-12 coding programs, and community code literacy workshops, in alignment with the needs of employers, educators, talent and the community in general. Its mission is to shift mindset about who can work in technology, remove cultural and economic barriers to joining the tech workforce, and establish and promote pathways to tech careers throughout the region. For more, visit www.cancode.org.
Contact:
Steve Janack
Principal, The Janack Group
(518) 810-8050 | steve@thejanackgroup.com