Since our founding in 1961, Ivymount continued to look for ways to meet the unmet and evolving needs of students and families. Over the years, it became clear that older students needed both academic instruction as well as vocational skills to help them find and maintain a job. The Post High School and Project SEARCH programs were started to address these needs. Along with several families who helped forge these programs, George Pedersen took a special interest in investing in our students’ independent and productive futures.
The founder and former CEO of ManTech International, George served on Ivymount’s Board of Directors. He helped lead the establishment of the School-to-Work program through his investment in building the Young Adult Center and his student intern program at ManTech. Starting in 1999, the intern program afforded our young adults the opportunity to acquire job skills in a remarkably well-supported environment. George truly believed in our students’ abilities to be productive and included in the mainstream workplace. For many of our Post High School students, it was their “dream” job to be a ManTech intern.
In 2016, George was honored at the Ivymount Gala for his decades of support to Ivymount.
Even in retirement, George and Marilyn Pedersen continued to support Ivymount in many ways,
through their gifts to the Investing in Excellence, Learning in a New Age, and Teaching in a New Age initiatives. George, who passed away in May 2023, never sought acknowledgement for his contributions to Ivymount and other nonprofits. He is remembered for his values of generosity, compassion and community.
Read about how Ivymount grew up alongside our students.
