Workforce Development

I am passionate about training, education and societal importance of empowering people with knowledge. I understand the close interconnection of education, workforce development and economic development. I have spent the majority of my professional career working at that point of interconnection. I have had a unique perspective on workforce development. Having spent a lot of time working with the business community, I have attained a deep appreciation of workforce development from an employer perspective and have had the opportunity to see education and training through the eyes of a training provider. The Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier was a partner with Jamestown Community College and the Private Industry Council in the formation of the Manufacturing Technology Institute (MTI). As I reflect on my career, the partnership that I was part of building, that led to the creation of MTI, was one of the most challenging and rewarding endeavors of my professional career. I find it personally gratifying to be part of a process of helping people meet their full human potential through education and training.

Connecting Students and Businesses

In 2009 I led an effort to launch the Dream It Do It (DIDI) program. A lesson learned during the development of the Manufacturing Technology Institute (MTI) was that there was a negative perception of manufacturing in the community and especially among educators and young people. Our manufacturers needed a strategy to improve communication with the school systems and immerse young people and educators into the world of manufacturing. Working with leaders from the manufacturing sector and a retired plant manager, I led the effort to build a strategy and begin implementing tactics that would connect manufacturing and our regional schools in meaningful interactions. We started the program in Chautauqua County and facilitated the expansion of it to Cattaraugus County. Since 2009 DIDI has fostered over 76,000 interactions with students and educators.

Chautauqua County Education Coalition

The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier, working with Cummins Engine and a variety of community stakeholders launched the Chautauqua County Education Coalition. We provided oversight to the startup of this initiative as the CCCC & MAST served as the backbone organization for the Coalition.

CCEC Accomplishments

Business, education and local not-for-profits gather for the first meeting of the Chautauqua County Education Coalition.

Dream It Do It

DIDI coordinates a variety of programming throughout the year with the purpose of connecting students with Science Technology Engineering and Math and connecting them with local manufacturers. This is sample of some of DID programming:

STEM Wars originated through Dream It Do It in 2009 as Industrial Opportunities and Possibilities Day (IPOD's day). The incentive for students to attend that year was an IPOD drawing and giveaway. It also marked the official kick off of Dream It Do It. Then IPOD's Day became Tech Wars and eventually STEM wars. The event is hosted at Jamestown Community College.

STEM Wars 2015 - Post Journal Article

Manufacturing Day 2016 - Post Journal Article

Recognizing the importance of video in terms of communicating a message to the Dream It Do It target population, DIDI has contracted for the production of good quality video. I assisted with script development and video shot recommendations.

Dream It Do It Explained - In Your Backyard Video

STEM Wars 2017 - Event Day Video

Manufacturing Technology Institute Startup

As a partnership of Jamestown Community College, the Private Industry Council and the Manufacturers Association were coming together around the concept of MTI it was important that we have a clear understanding of our business model. It was my responsibility to lead the development of the business plan with input from the partnership. Developing this business plan was also a critically important component to our fundraising efforts. This is the original MTI business plan.

MTI Business Plan 2000

To help communicate the purpose of MTI to a variety of audiences I created the following presentation in 2003. We used this presentation to communicate to a variety of community stakeholders, including businesses, elected officials, school leaders, educators, counselors and various not for profit and membership organizations.

MTI Presentation 2003

Training begins at MTI , January 2003. Working with ABB, a multi-national robotics company, MTI delivers training to Cummins employees.

MTI takes delivery of HAAS CNC Lathe early in 2003 introducing live tooling technology to the region for the first time.

Workforce Development