Trustee
LinkedIn
Jackie Keenan expected a school tour. No more, no less. Like any loving parent, she wanted the best education possible for her son Nicholas, who was born with significant special needs. “I wanted him at a place where he had a real opportunity to learn, grow and succeed,” she says.
The tour guide that day for the Overbrook School for the Blind was a front office person, an administrator. Not a teacher, not a specialist. Just another worker at the school… or so she thought.
“Although she wasn’t a teacher she interacted with every child and knew them personally by name!’’ says Keenan, still impressed by it 15 years later. `` I knew right then that this was a place that really knows and cares about its students. Nicholas would be in good hands.”
This was in 2009. Seeking a school for her then three-year-old, Keenan was aimed towards OSB by Nicholas’s vision therapist, who worked in the school’s early intervention program. OSB, she was told, would tailor her child’s education to his specific needs, rather than try and tailor the child towards a more universal curriculum.
Together, they would unlock whatever potential lay in the child.
Nicholas is now 17, a vibrant part of Overbrook’s inviting community. “The staff here is amazing,” Jackie Keenan says. “They approach each child individually to maximize their abilities and potential. The reward is seeing my son thrive in an environment where he enjoys attending every day. He gets to come to a place where he is welcomed, supported, laughs, and is encouraged. Every child should experience that.”
Early on in that journey, Jackie attended the school’s annual holiday concert, and she was approached about joining the OSB board. She accepted quickly. “I was happy to be asked and to be able to contribute my time,” she says.
As a senior business manager and 30-year veteran at SEI Investments, Keenan holds an undergraduate degree in finance and a master’s in business administration from Villanova University. As a trustee, she has served on the instructions committee (as required of all newly appointed members) and is currently board secretary. Keenan also sat on the budget and audit committee and, as one of four parents on the board, offered that perspective to a search committee charged with hiring the current CEO, Todd Reeves.
“The board is a diverse group of individuals with varied backgrounds,” she says. “I’ve been happy to represent the parent perspective.”
When she’s not around OSB, Keenan likes to ski, sail and cook, in no particular order. She also spends time with a large family of 14 nieces and nephews. Nicholas has only a few years attending Overbrook, but, Keenan says, the bond of mother and child will endure long after that. “OSB lovingly welcomes Nicholas,” she says. “We are so very blessed to be here.”
