Care to Learn director retires, successor named

Morey Mechlin is retiring at the end of the month.

Springfield-based nonprofit Care to Learn this month named two new leaders as its longtime executive director retires.

Morey Mechlin, who worked as executive director of the Foundation for Springfield Public Schools for a decade prior to joining Care to Learn, is slated to retire at the end of the month after holding the job since 2009.

“Morey has worked hard for Care to Learn, for Springfield, for Missouri, for poverty. It’s just a chance for her to take a breath,” co-founder Doug Pitt said yesterday at Care to Learn’s Creamery Arts Center headquarters, 411 N. Sherman Parkway.

Mechlin, 62, said she would continue to be an advocate for Care to Learn, as well as serve in volunteer community roles, but she would not seek another paid job.

“Care to Learn needed more energy and time than I was able to give it,” she said, noting she approached (Doug) Pitt and the nonprofit’s board in June to announce her retirement.

Succeeding her, effective Oct. 1, is Linda Ramey-Greiwe, a former president and publisher at Springfield News-Leader. Care to Learn also named former state Rep. Sara Lampe its deputy director, a newly created salaried position, said Pitt, who co-founded the organization in 2008.

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