Donnovan Beckford named CEO at WestCOP agency

Donnovan P. Beckford, the longtime executive director of the Westchester-Putnam Workforce Development Board and its one-stop employment centers, has been named CEO and executive director of Westchester Community Opportunity Program Inc., the nonprofit social services agency in Elmsford known as WestCOP.

His appointment is effective Feb. 1.

Beckford since 1999 led the two-county Workforce Development Board, which links employers and job seekers at its One-Stop Career Centers. The agency under his direction has cultivated regional partnerships between businesses, service providers and the public education system.

Beckford received his MBA from Zicklin School of Business at City University of New York”™s Baruch College and a bachelor”™s degree in computer science from CUNY-Lehman College.

In 2016, he was awarded The Harold Fitzpatrick Community Leadership Award by African American Men of Westchester and The Business Council of Westchester for his innovative and visionary approach to improving the job environment for employers and employees.

No information on Beckford”™s successor at the Workforce Development Board was available today from the office of Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

WestCOP also announced that Vernex S. Harding will join the agency on Feb. 1 as its early childhood director, overseeing the agency”™s Head Start program that serves more than 1,500 children across Westchester and Putnam counties. She formerly was executive director of early childhood education programs at Family Services of Westchester in White Plains.