LaunchCode CEO Tasmyn Scarl has "departed" the St. Louis technology training nonprofit, it said Tuesday, after she was on the job less than two months.
"Our Board of Directors is working to put a plan in place for our next leader and we are waiting to hear next steps," LaunchCode's vice president of strategic communications, Leah Freeman, said in an email. "All of our programs and job placement services are running as planned and our learners, apprentices, company, and community partners have not and will not be affected."
Freeman didn't address questions about the reason for Scarl's departure. Scarl couldn't immediately be reached.
Scarl, previously executive director of the Challenger Learning Center-St. Louis, was named in March to lead LaunchCode after a national search by Chicago-based Morten Group.
She had succeeded LaunchCode's former leader, Executive Director Jeff Mazur, who left the organization in September and became the director of government and industry partnerships for the Taylor Geospatial Institute in January this year. Scarl's appointment came with the title change to CEO. Mazur received total compensation of $153,984 in 2020, according to the organization's most recent IRS filing.
Scarl became executive director of the Ferguson-based Challenger Learning Center-St. Louis in December 2002, nearly a year prior to its official opening, and set about building it from the ground up. The center, one of a network of more than 40 such centers, provides simulated space missions, science education and team building programs for schools, corporations and community groups. During her tenure, Challenger Learning Center-St. Louis was named the top-performing center in multiple areas for nine consecutive years, serving more than 10,000 students annually, officials said previously.
Prior to moving to St. Louis to take the Challenger post, Scarl was senior manager of exhibit projects for The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California, after having served as traveling exhibits manager at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Founded in 2013, LaunchCode provides free technology training to aspiring computer programmers and places them in apprenticeships and jobs. It provides programming in St. Louis, Kansas City and Philadelphia.
LaunchCode reported total revenue of $16.9 million and total expenses of $13.5 million in 2021, according to its website. The organization completed a $5 million expansion and renovation of its headquarters, at 4811 Delmar Blvd., last fall.
