At Scale: The tnAchieves Podcast

On this episode of At Scale , tnAchieves welcomes Dr. Brian Noland, President of East Tennessee State University, for a conversation on building Northeast Tennessee’s workforce from the ground up. Dr. Noland shares how ETSU is expanding access, supporting student success and working with regional partners to create stronger pathways from high school to postsecondary education to career. The conver...

Herbert Brown didn't set out to work in construction. A Memphis native with a political science degree from UT and a master's in public administration from TSU, he spent his early career at the Higher Education Commission and the Nashville Chamber of Commerce — learning how education, workforce, and economic development all connect. Today, as Community and Citizen Director at Turner Construction,...

In this episode of At Scale, tnAchieves welcomes Alfred Degrafinreid II, President and CEO of Leadership Tennessee, for a conversation about leadership, education, public service and building stronger connections across the state. A proud Memphian, Alfred shares how his journey through Tennessee State University, law school, government, campaigns, higher education and civic leadership shaped the w...

What happens when a community invests in curiosity? In this episode of At Scale, tnAchieves is joined by Scott Williams, President and CEO of Discovery Park of America, to explore how one of Northwest Tennessee’s most unique destinations is helping students and families “see beyond.” Scott shares the story of Discovery Park’s founding, the vision of Robert Kirkland and the role hands-on learning p...

In this episode of the At Scale Podcast, Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp joins us to discuss why he has made education and workforce development a priority in his role—something not typically associated with county government. Wamp shares how his administration is working to expand postsecondary opportunities for students by investing in career and technical education, supporting multiple pathwa...

In this episode of At Scale, the podcast hosted by tnAchieves, Krissy DeAlejandro and Ben Sterling sit down with Dr. Tracy Hall, president of Southwest Tennessee Community College, and Dr. Michael Torrence, president of Motlow State Community College. Together, they explore leadership, innovation and partnership in support of student success across Tennessee’s community colleges. The conversation...

This week’s episode is a special one. We are celebrating one year of the At Scale podcast, and we could not imagine a better guest to mark the occasion than the 49th Governor of Tennessee, Bill Haslam. Governor Haslam has been deeply connected to the tnAchieves story from the very beginning. From early skepticism around a small idea sketched on a whiteboard to helping scale it into what became Ten...

In this special edition of At Scale, tnAchieves releases Tennessee’s Future Workforce Framework, a new strategy grounded in student voice and nearly two decades of experience supporting postsecondary access, persistence and workforce readiness. Drawing from survey responses from nearly 6,000 students, the framework highlights key challenges facing Tennessee students today—from financial hardship a...

In this episode of At Scale, Tara Scarlett discusses leadership, scholarship impact, statewide education strategy, and preparing Tennessee students for the future workforce. In this episode: Tara’s journey from corporate marketing to nonprofit leadership The mission and impact of the Scarlett Family Foundation Expanding scholarship access across rural, suburban, and urban Middle Tennessee Why Tenn...

In Episode 23 of At Scale, Chancellor Donde Plowman of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville joins tnAchieves for a conversation about leading a flagship, land-grant university with clarity and purpose. At the center of the discussion is a simple idea: student success must remain the north star, even within a large and complex institution. Chancellor Plowman shares how alignment across leadership...

Every statewide movement has a beginning — and for tnAchieves, that beginning was a simple but bold idea sketched out on a whiteboard: every Tennessee student deserves a chance to continue their education and build a future through a credential of value. In this episode, An Idea on a Whiteboard Part 2, former Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale — founding board member and longtime champion of public s...

In this episode of At Scale from tnAchieves, Josh Brown, CEO of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, and Stephanie Coleman, CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, join the conversation to break down what is driving Tennessee’s economic growth and what it will take to sustain it. From regional job creation and rural prosperity to education-to-career pathways and high-wage, high-demand industr...

In this listener-recommended episode of At Scale, hosts Ben Sterling and Graham Thomas sit down with Jeff Riley, former Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education and current Executive Director of Day of AI, a nonprofit launched out of MIT that helps schools and communities understand and responsibly use artificial intelligence. After more than three decades in public educati...

In this episode of tnAchieves At Scale, we dive into the cutting-edge world of automated manufacturing with the team behind HAMMER – Hybrid Autonomous Manufacturing, Moving from Evolution to Revolution. Hosts from tnAchieves are joined by Dr. Glenn Daehn and Dr. Samantha Trzinski from The Ohio State University to discuss how this ambitious national initiative is reshaping the future of advanced ma...

In this episode of the tnAchieves At Scale Podcast, we are joined by Dr. Keith Gray and Craig Pickett from UT Medical Center for an in-depth conversation on workforce demands across East Tennessee and the critical role healthcare partners play in preparing the next generation of talent. Together, we explore how tnAchieves and UT Medical Center collaborate to create meaningful job shadowing and car...

From Policy to Practice with Senator Bo Watson On this episode of the At Scale podcast, tnAchieves President and CEO Krissy DeAlejandro and Senior Vice President Graham Thomas sit down with Senator Bo Watson, longtime representative of Hamilton County and Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Guided by his belief that his role is to “improve quality of life for all Tennesseans,” Senator Watson di...

The TN Promise scholarship offers every high school senior in the state of Tennessee the chance to go to community college or technical school tuition and mandatory fee free. As a partnering organization to the TN Promise scholarship, tnAchieves could not do the work we do without the partnership and support of the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR). TBR is a unified system that oversees every commu...

At tnAchieves, we believe that Building Tennessee’s Future Workforce begins with ensuring that every community—especially our rural ones—as a seat at the table. That means making a commitment to making sure students are skilled, educated and prepared to meet the needs of businesses once they graduate and enter the workforce. It also means fostering partnerships with organizations that are on the g...

Building Tennessee’s Future Workforce means having strong relationships with the chambers of commerce across the state. We often sit down with their leaders who wake up each day thinking about the best ways to drive a thriving economy, hire a diverse and talented workforce and attract the best businesses to their area. Those are also things we think about as we help students into and through colle...

At tnAchieves, we like to put a big tent around the word college. College is not just four-year universities. It also includes community colleges and Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs). While many may think of TCATs as being separate, they DO belong under the college umbrella; the word college is right there in the name! Building Tennessee’s Future Workforce means we believe EVERYONE...

Building Tennessee’s Future Workforce isn’t something that tnAchieves does alone. It takes support and partnership from a variety of partners. That includes our state’s government. tnAchieves expanded to be a statewide organization during former Tennessee Governor (and current tnAchieves Board member) Bill Haslam’s time in office. His support and enthusiasm were crucial in the creation and impleme...

Ever wondered how tnAchieves began? We started in 2008 as knoxAchieves. It began as a conversation…and an idea on a whiteboard. That brainstorming idea grew into a workforce development initiative in Knox County. From there it continued to grow and scale (hence our podcast name) before becoming the statewide and nationally recognized organization it is today. tnAchieves would have never gotten off...

In 2008, tnAchieves was launched as knoxAchieves. It began as a workforce development initiative in Knox County. Since then, tnAchieves has grown to become a nationally recognized college access and success program. One of the main components we’re known for is the launch and partnership of the TN Promise scholarship statewide. Along the way, we’ve learned lots of lessons about what works and what...

If you’re talking about the higher education landscape in the state of Tennessee, you can’t do it without talking about THEC/TSAC. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission/Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (THEC/TSAC) is the layer between higher education and the state government that thinks through the needs of higher education and the policies needed to support it. THEC serves as that ce...

The Lumina Foundation is a private philanthropy foundation that is devoted to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to everyone. One of the things it’s best known for is setting a goal for the nation around post-secondary attainment. That includes Tennessee’s Drive to 55 goal which aims to increase the percentage of working age Tennesseans with a college degree or certific...