OFE News Release
Charles Oppenheim Named President of Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence
September 9, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Charles L. “Chip” Oppenheim, an Oklahoma City business and community leader, has been named president of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.
Founded in 1985 by then-U.S. Sen. David L. Boren, the foundation is a nonprofit organization that recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma's public schools. Oppenheim joined the foundation board of trustees in 2001 and has since served as chair of the Academic Awards Banquet committee and as a member of the management committee and executive committee. He has also been an active supporter of the foundation’s Colonial Williamsburg history education programs.
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| Steve Holton (left), immediate past president of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, and David L. Boren (center), OFE founder and chairman, welcome Oklahoma City business leader Charles “Chip” Oppenheim as president during the foundation’s recent Board of Trustees meeting in Oklahoma City. |
“The foundation has been a positive force in encouraging excellence in Oklahoma public education for many years, and it is a privilege to have the opportunity of leading its efforts this next year,” Oppenheim said.
Through its Academic Awards Program, the foundation has provided more than $3.6 million in scholarships and cash awards since 1987 to honor outstanding graduating seniors as Academic All-Staters and exceptional educators as Medal for Excellence winners. Through its Local Education Foundation Outreach Program, the foundation provides free technical support, training and networking events to local education foundations across the state.
Among its other initiatives, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence coordinates a program to send Oklahoma teachers to the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute each summer and provides subscriptions for schools to receive Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips. The award-winning field trips help students to experience 18th-century colonial life through live television broadcasts, Web site activities and toll-free access to Williamsburg historians.
In 2005, the foundation launched the David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative to promote the growth and establishment of school-based mentoring programs throughout Oklahoma. The Foundation also administers Professional Development Grants for Teachers to attend national conferences and institutes and, in 2006, partnered with the national Fund for Teachers and the Tulsa Community Foundation to provide grants of up to $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for teams of teachers for self-designed summer professional development opportunities in locations around the world. Thanks to generous bridge funding from the national Fund for Teachers, 439 Oklahoma educators have received grants totaling $1.4 million in the past four years.
An Oklahoma City native, Oppenheim serves as managing partner of the Oppenheim Group, a retail commercial real estate management and investments company located in Oklahoma City. From 1982 to 1994, Oppenheim lived in Washington, D.C., where he served a director of communications and public relations for Perpetual Bank, a regional financial institution..
Since returning to Oklahoma City, Oppenheim has been actively involved in the community, with a special interest in the arts. Oppenheim is past chairman and a current board member of the Oklahoma Arts Institute. He is past president of the Oklahoma City Ballet, an ambassador to the University of Oklahoma College of Fine Arts Board of Visitors and a member of the OU Dance Partners executive board. A graduate of Leadership Oklahoma and Leadership Oklahoma City, Oppenheim serves on the Oklahoma City Civic Center Association board and is active in the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Rotary Club. He serves on the Casady School Alumni Board and on the allocation committee for United Way of Oklahoma City.
Oppenheim is a graduate of Casady School in Oklahoma City and the University of Texas at Austin.