SCO Family of Services Announces Gail B. Nayowith to Step Down and Douglas O’Dell to Become Interim Executive Director 

NEW YORK – OCTOBER 10, 2014 – The SCO Family of Services Board of Directors today announced the appointment of Chief Program Officer Douglas O’Dell to serve as its Interim Executive Director, effective November 1st, 2014. The Board has formed a search committee and has engaged Korn Ferry to conduct a national search for the next Executive Director, which will begin immediately. After serving with distinction as SCO’s Executive Director for four years, Gail B. Nayowith began discussions with the Board during the summer about not renewing her contract and has been actively working with the Board to ensure a smooth transition.

“The Board wishes Gail great success in all her future endeavors,” said Board Chair Kelly L. Williams. “We appreciate her leadership during a period of extensive change and growth, and her commitment to achieving excellence in all that SCO does for the people we serve. I know she will be missed.”

Williams said, “We are looking forward to working with Doug O’Dell to continue all the wonderful work happening throughout SCO, including the reaccreditation by the Council on Accreditation, the anticipated sale of 570 Fulton Street, expansion of after-school programs at middle schools in Brooklyn and the appointment of a distinguished new director of the SCO/FirstStepNYC Leadership Institute, the City’s first initiative to train early education leaders throughout NYC.”

O’Dell is a widely respected expert in children’s services. He has more than 40 years of professional experience, 24 of them at SCO, where as Chief Program Officer he is responsible for the administration of SCO’s city-based adolescent and young adult services and services for children and adults with developmental disabilities in NYC and on Long Island. Prior to his appointment as CPO, Doug served as Assistant Executive Director at SCO for 15 years. He was the Director of Training at the Institute for Families and Children for 11 years, and he also held positions as Training Consultant, Campus Director for MercyFirst (formerly St. Mary’s), Co-Director of St. Christopher’s Home Intermediate Care Facility (an SCO program) and various roles in direct care.

O’Dell is a graduate of the State University of New York at Old Westbury and earned an MA in Training and Adult Learning Theories from the New York Institute of Technology. He serves on several advisory boards and work groups throughout New York State.

SCO Family of Services, a leading provider of human services in New York, provides life-changing results each year for 60,000 children, teens, adults and families through 95 programs in New York City and Long Island.

For more information, please contact SCO Director of Communications Sharman Stein at [email protected] or 718.797.3068, ext. 316. For more information about SCO Family of Services, please visit www.sco.org.