Work Forces

Paul Fain is a journalist and the creator of The Job . In this year-end episode, Paul discusses workforce education and training, with a focus on sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, and tech. He shares the impact of policies like the CHIPS Act on job opportunities, especially for low-income workers, and the role of community colleges in workforce development. Our conversation also explores the...

Jill Buban is Chief Growth Officer at Arizona State University's EdPlus . Buban discusses the challenges and innovations in digital education and online learning, and shares her insights on creating scalable digital teaching models, forming strategic partnerships with corporations like Starbucks and Uber, and adapting online education strategies across various institutional sizes. She emphasizes t...

Yigal Kerszenbaum is the founding managing partner of JFFVentures . JFF Ventures is an impact fund committed to investing in early-stage startups that are building innovative, tech-based solutions for worker economic advancement. In his role, Yigal has overall oversight of JFF's innovative finance and investment strategy. During our conversation, Yigal explains the impact investing space, provides...

Kelvin Bentley is the program manager of Texas Credentials for the Future , an innovative initiative within the University of Texas System that is funded by the UT System and the Strada Education Foundation. The initiative includes an extensive partnership with Coursera that offers microcredentials from tech leaders such as Meta, IBM and Google and is designed to provide students with employer-ini...

Rollie Wesen is Executive Director of the Jacques Pépin Foundation and a professor at Johnson & Wales University (JWU) in Providence, Rhode Island. The Foundation supports culinary education through community-based culinary training networks, with a particular focus on workforce development. Rollie also teaches culinary labs and academics at JWU's College of Food Innovation & Technology . Rollie s...

Adriana Dawson oversees Verizon's Strategic and Social Impact programming across the eastern U.S. She leads and expands Verizon's partnership network, community investments, and collaborates up and across the business supporting regional and national initiatives. She also serves as a Global Lead for SOMOS, an enterprise-wide Employee Resource Group (ERG) amplifying the voice of Verizon's 6K+ Hispa...

Jamai Blivin is founder and CEO of Innovate+Educate , a nonprofit focused on big system change to create new employment pathways for workers based on skills and competencies. She is also the author of the new book Status: Reversing Degrees of Discrimination , which argues for an emphasis on skills over degrees when seeking talent. Jamai discusses her background as a connector, her pioneering work...

Learn more about this brand-new show from your hosts, Julian Alssid and Kaitlin LeMoine . Make sure you subscribe to Work Forces so you are all set when the show premieres soon! Please follow, rate, and review Work Forces on Apple ,  Spotify , or wherever you are listening. Also, please follow Kaitlin and Julian on LinkedIn.