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NJ Pathways to Career Opportunities Summit

  • June 7-8, 2023
Registration

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  • In Person
  • June 7-8, 2023
  • $49.00
  • Bally's Atlantic City Hotel & Casino
    1900 Pacific Ave
    Atlantic City, NJ 08401
  • njpathways@njccc.org
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NJ Pathways to Career Opportunities Summit
from June 7-8

Given the disruptive forces of technology, globalization, and demographic shifts, New Jersey is rethinking how, when, and where it educates and trains its current and future workforce. Please join us at the New Jersey Pathways to Career Opportunities Summit taking place June 7-8 at Bally’s Atlantic City Hotel & Casino to continue to plot the course for transformation and innovation.

With the New Jersey Pathways to Career Opportunities Initiative (NJ Pathways), New Jersey joins leading states that are transforming their statewide education and workforce training infrastructure and resources to better and more equitably serve students and workers. This transformation includes an intentional commitment to shared goals across the ecosystem of high schools, colleges and universities, employers, unions, nonprofits, the public workforce system, and others. 
 
Building on the momentum of the first year of the New Jersey Pathways to Career Opportunities statewide initiative, we invite you to join us for a day and a half on June 7 and June 8 to hear from national experts on education and training pathways and have conversations with thought leaders about how New Jersey can emerge with a strong, flexible, and sustainable infrastructure of collaboration that engages industry and education partners across the state to align education to build an innovative workforce.
 
Over the course of a day and a half, we will learn about trends and innovations in education and training, and we will all have the opportunity to inform our future work together. 
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Summit Speakers

AARON FICHTNER

President of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges

Michele N. Siekerka, Esq

Michele N. Siekerka, Esq

President and CEO, New Jersey Business & Industry Association

Micheal J. Bzdak

Micheal J. Bzdak

Global Director of Employee Engagement in the Office of Global Community Impact, Johnson & Johnson

Annelies Goger

Annelies Goger

Fellow, The Brookings Institute

Maria Heidkamp

Maria Heidkamp

Chief of Innovation & Partnerships, New Jersey Council of County Colleges

Terence Kelly

Terence Kelly

Manager, External Affairs at Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC

Rachel Lipson

Rachel Lipson

Former Director, The Project on Workforce at Harvard

Dr. Micheal McDonough

Dr. Micheal McDonough

President, Raritan Valley Community College

Iris Palmer

Iris Palmer

Deputy Director of Community Colleges, New America

Catherine Starghill, Esq

Executive Director, NJ Community College Consortium for Workforce & Economic Development

Holly Zanville

Holly Zanville

Research Professor and Co-Director of the Program on Skills, Credentials & Workforce Policy at George Washington University

Summit Program

10:30 AM Registration and Networking


11:30 AM Lunch
Opening Remarks:
Dr. Michael McDonough (President, Raritan Valley Community College)
Michele Siekerka, Esq. (President and CEO, New Jersey Business & Industry Association)


The Importance of Pathways and the NJ Pathways to Career Opportunities Initiative
Aaron Fichtner, Ph.D. (President, New Jersey Council of County Colleges)


America’s Hidden Economic Engines

Speaker: Rachel Lipson (Co-Author, America’s Hidden Economic Engines) (Former Director, The Project on Workforce at Harvard)
Moderator: Aaron Fichtner, Ph.D. (President, New Jersey Council of County Colleges)


1:00 PM Networking Break


1:15 PM Pathways in a Changing World: Session 1
Stackable Credentials
Speaker: Holly Zanville (Co-Lead, Credentials As You Go) (Research Professor and Co-Director, Program on Skills, Credentials & Workforce Policy, George Washington University)
Moderator: Catherine Starghill, Esq. (Vice President, New Jersey Council of County Colleges)


2:30 PM Networking Break


2:45 PM Pathways in a Changing World: Session 2
Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeships
Speaker: Annelies Goger (Fellow, The Brookings Institution)
Moderator: Maria Heidkamp (Chief, Innovation and Partnerships, New Jersey Council of County Colleges)

4:00 PM Break


 5:00 PM Reception / Dinner


 9:00 AM Opening Remarks:

  • Catherine Starghill, Esq. (Executive Director, NJ Community College Consortium for Workforce & Economic Development)
  • Michele Siekerka, Esq. (President and CEO, New Jersey Business & Industry Association)

Breakfast: Delivering High Quality Non-Degree Workforce Community College Programs

Speaker: Iris Palmer (Deputy Director, Community Colleges, New America)
Moderator: Maria Heidkamp (Chief, Innovation and Partnerships, New Jersey Council of County Colleges)

 


10:30 AM Networking Break

10:45 AM Pathways in a Changing World: Session 3

One-on-One with NJ Employers

Speakers:

  • Michael J. Bzdak (Global Director of Employee Engagement in the office of Global Community Impact, Johnson & Johnson)
    Terence Kelly (Manager, External Affairs, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC)
    Moderator: Christopher Emigholz (Vice President, Government Affairs, New Jersey Business & Industry Association)


11:45 AM Networking Break

12:00 PM
Lunch: The Future of Work and Where We Go From Here
Aaron Fichtner, Ph.D.(President, New Jersey Council of County Colleges)

Event Registration

Please use our official Eventbrite registration page to register yourself and any other individuals you are planning on registering. You will be able to add multiple attendees during one session.

Register Now

Lodging at Bally's Atlantic City Hotel & Casino

Please make your room reservations through Bally’s Atlantic City’s website here. You can also inquire about a reservation by calling 609-340-200.

Reservations for rooms accessible to guests with disabilities may be made in the same manner.

Directions & Parking

1900 Pacific Ave.
Atlantic City, New Jersey 08401

Google Map Directions

The Summit will be located on the sixth floor of the hotel in the Rotunda, the program will begin in the Traymore B/C conference rooms on the same floor.

609-340-2000 – Call to Book Your Room Now!

Dietary Restrictions

Please email Kate Conroy (kconroy@njbia.org) and Megan Hutton (mhutton@njbia.org) if you have any dietary restrictions. 

Aaron Fichtner, Ph.D.

President, New Jersey Council of County Colleges

Aaron Fichtner, Ph.D. is the President of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges, a nonprofit organization, enshrined in state law, that supports and strengthens the state’s 18 community colleges. 

Fichtner served as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development from September 2016 to January 2018. He joined the Department in 2010, serving as Assistant Commissioner for Labor Planning and Analysis and Deputy Commissioner.

Before joining state government,  Fichtner  was the Director of Research and Evaluation at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. Fichtner earned a Ph.D. in Planning and Public Policy from Rutgers University, a master’s degree in City Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in History from Vassar College.

Michele N. Siekerka, Esq

Michele Siekerka, Esq

President and CEO, New Jersey Business & Industry Association

Michele N. Siekerka, Esq., President and CEO of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), leads the nation’s largest, most influential employers’ organization, advocating on behalf of New Jersey’s large and small businesses for policies that will make New Jersey more affordable and regionally competitive.

Under Siekerka’s leadership, NJBIA’s award-winning research on outmigration documented the loss of $20.7 billion in wealth from New Jersey over 11 years and set the agenda in Trenton for the enactment of a series of important pro-business reforms, including the recent repeal of the estate tax, and the adjustment of the state income tax threshold for taxing retirement income.

Siekerka has been at the forefront of efforts to build more effective workforce development alliances in New Jersey between academia, business and government. The NJBIA Postsecondary Education Task Force’s yearlong study of New Jersey’s highest-in-the-nation millennial outmigration produced a 13-point action plan in 2018 that is driving policymakers’ discussions on how to retain our future workforce by enticing more young adults to pursue education and careers in New Jersey.

Siekerka came to NJBIA in 2014 from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), where she served as Deputy Commissioner, following her service as Assistant Commissioner for Water Resources Management. During her time at DEP, Siekerka was a principal player in the state’s charge to restore New Jersey after Superstorm Sandy with the responsibility of coordinating funding, outreach and resources for rebuilding environmental infrastructure.

An attorney by trade, Siekerka’s background includes serving as President and CEO of the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce, senior legal counsel and vice president of human resources with the Automobile Association of America, and as a partner in a Mercer County law firm.

Siekerka is the Co-founder and Co-chair of Opportunity New Jersey. She serves on the Board of Directors of Investors Bancorp; Choose New Jersey; the New Jersey Innovation Institute; Junior Achievement of New Jersey; Young Audiences of NJ; and Better Choices Better Care.

Siekerka’s leadership has been recognized through her inclusion in Power and Policymaker list rankings by Insider NJ, Politicker NJ and NJBIZ. She was cited as one of the 17 People to Watch in 2017 by The Record. She was also among the NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business in 2015.

A Robbinsville resident, Siekerka holds a BA in Political Science and German from Rutgers University, and a JD from Temple University School of Law.

Micheal J. Bzdak

Dr. Michael McDonough

Global Director of Employee Engagement in the office of Community Impact at Johnson & Johnson

As the Global Director of Employee Engagement in the office of Community Impact at Johnson & Johnson, Michael Bzdak manages the Corporation’s efforts to engage employees in social impact. He continues to manage a volunteer support program as well as philanthropic support of K-12 education, including a signature school-to-career program as well as a global STEM education initiative. Michael has been an employee of Johnson & Johnson since 1990.

He serves on the advisory board of the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers University as well as the New Jersey’s Governor’s Advisory Council on Volunteerism and Community Service and, additionally, he has served on the Council on Foundations Corporate Committee; the New Jersey AIDS Partnership Advisory Committee; the board of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation as well as the New Jersey Council for the Humanities where he completed a term as chairman of the board of directors. Michael was named an Aspen Institute First Mover Fellow in 2018.

He received a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MA and Ph.D. from Rutgers University. He is a visiting part-time lecturer in the School of Communications and Information Studies at Rutgers University and formerly an adjunct faculty member at New York University.

He has authored and co-authored a number of articles related to the role of business in society including, “The Collaboration Challenge: Global Partnerships to Achieve Global Goals,” published in World Health and Population in January of 2018. With co-author with Mark Aakhus, Michael published “Revisiting the Role of ‘Shared Value’ in the Business-Society Relationship,” in the Business and Professional Ethics Journal in 2012; this article’s “Research Interest” is higher than 98% of research items on ResearchGate.

Annelies Goger

Annelies Goger

Fellow, The Brookings Institute

Annelies Goger is an economic geographer focused on developing innovative policy solutions to address rising inequality and increase access to economic opportunity. Dr. Goger’s recent work investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the hospitality industry in the U.S., how to fix the unemployment insurance safety net, and how to increase access to quality jobs and investments in talent to foster ongoing learning and innovation. She is an expert in U.S. workforce development policy, global supply chains, and inclusive economic development. Dr. Goger’s work has been prominently featured in CNN, NPR, Washington Monthly, the Hill, and a number of local outlets and podcasts.

Dr. Goger’s work has challenged the dominant “skills gap” narrative, arguing that building stronger education and labor market institutions and making long-term investments in talent development are the key to unleashing regional innovation and addressing racial and gender inequities in the labor market. Her vision is to build an education and training ecosystem with multiple paths to a quality job that is designed around the needs of a diverse set of learners, workers, and employers. Dr. Goger has outlined state policy frameworks to scale earn-and-learn opportunities such as apprenticeship and other forms of employer-based training.

Dr. Goger’s current research focuses on digital transformation in labor and education data systems, the employer role in talent development, state credentialing policies that recognize diverse forms of learning, and closing the opportunity gap for displaced hospitality workers and returning citizens. She is a member of the Better Employment and Training Strategies task force, a coalition of more than 40 workforce experts and practitioners that focuses on modernizing America’s outdated and inequitable workforce policies.

Before coming to Brookings, Dr. Goger spent more than 10 years conducting field research to evaluate American workforce development and food security programs at Social Policy Research Associates and IMPAQ International. Her doctoral research focused on the links between global supply chains, ethical trade initiatives, production processes, and inclusive growth. Dr. Goger was a Fulbright scholar in Sri Lanka and Social Science Research Council Fellow. She has published in peer-reviewed journals and edited a book of case studies on values-based food procurement called Institutions as conscious food consumers: leveraging purchasing power for systems change with Dr. Sapna Thottathil (Elsevier, 2019).

Maria Heidkamp

Maria Heidkamp

Chief of Innovation & Partnerships, New Jersey Council of County Colleges

Maria Heidkamp is New Jersey Council of County College’s new Chief of Innovation and Partnerships, where she is leading the Council’s efforts to promote community college innovation through the sharing of best practices, the holding of convenings, and the delivery of professional development. She is working to develop and expand state and national partnerships in support of community college priorities, including the engagement of adult learners. Among her current projects, she is overseeing a NJ Department of Labor-funded partnership with JFF and AIR to build an Apprenticeship Technical Assistance Collaborative (A-TAC). She is also facilitating the NJ team of eight community colleges and OSHE participating in the Institute for Higher Education Policy’s Degrees When Due initiative in support of adults with some credit and no degree. She is the lead staff to the Council’s Economic Mobility, Student and Alumni, and Racial and Social Justice committees.

Before joining the Council, Ms. Heidkamp was the Director of Program Development and Senior Researcher at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, where she focused on dislocated workers, long-term unemployed job seekers, older workers, and job seekers with disabilities. She was the founding director of the Heldrich Center’s New Start Career Network, an initiative that assisted over 6,000 older, long-term unemployed New Jerseyans. She was Co-Chair for New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s Labor and Workforce Development Policy Transition Committee and a subject-matter expert for the National Governors Association’s Good Jobs for All Americans initiative under Montana Governor Steve Bullock.

Previously, Ms. Heidkamp worked overseas for the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Agency for International Development as the Director of the Labor Market Transition Project in Hungary, helping the Hungarian government develop policies and programs to respond to the mass layoffs caused by privatization and restructuring during the post-communism transition years. She has worked as a Policy Analyst for the National Governors Association on workforce issues and served as Director of the Wisconsin Labor-Management Council. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Government from Cornell University and a Master’s degree from New York University, where her thesis topic was The Role of Public Libraries in Assisting Job Seekers During and Since the Great Recession.

Terence Kelly

Terence Kelly

Terence Kelly Manager, External Affairs at Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC

Terence Kelly is Manager, External Affairs at Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC.

Atlantic Shores is 50:50 partnership between Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables, dedicated to delivering its 5+ GW portfolio and strategically positioned to support markets meet their offshore wind procurement goals throughout New York and New Jersey.

Terence joined Atlantic Shores from Con Edison, where he served as Corporate Affairs Manager for Government, Regional and Community Affairs for one of the largest and high-profile energy delivery companies in the United States.

At Con Edison, Terence led stakeholder engagement for clean energy infrastructure investments across the service territory, including the $1b Brooklyn Clean Energy Hub offshore wind interconnection and the $800m Reliable Clean City Projects transmission upgrade program.

Prior to Con Edison, Terence worked in real estate development and helped open Barclays Center in Brooklyn, serving as owner’s rep for the arena and community affairs lead for BSE Global, parent company of the Brooklyn Nets and all affiliate teams/venues.

He has also worked in the nonprofit sector, directing outreach and advocacy campaigns in support of emergency food programs across New York City.

Terence received his BA in Politics from NYU and is an MPA candidate at the CUNY Baruch College Marxe School of Public & International Affairs.

Rachel Lipson

Rachel Lipson

Former Director, The Project on Workforce at Harvard

After serving as the Project on Workforce’s founding director, Rachel Lipson will be joining the U.S. Department of Commerce as a Senior Policy Advisor in the CHIPS Program Office. In this new role, Rachel will be focused on securing robust commitments to workforce development to support the growth of the U.S. semiconductor industry.

In Fall 2019, Rachel joined the Kennedy School to help launch and lead a new interdisciplinary and cross-sector hub at Harvard on the U.S. education, training, and employment ecosystem, alongside David Deming (HKS), Joseph Fuller (HBS), and Robert Schwartz (HGSE). During her leadership tenure, the Project has grown from an early idea to a mature initiative and growing community at the university that now counts hundreds of study group and fellowship alumni as well as many collaborations across state and federal government, higher education, business and the social sector. Over her time as Director, she has also led policy-relevant research on topics ranging from community colleges to apprenticeship to the landscape of workforce development providers, featured in publications including the Boston Globe, Newsweek, The Hill, C-SPAN, Bloomberg, NPR, the Economist, and CNBC. She has served on the Steering Committee of the Project on Workforce’s research collaboration with the American Enterprise Initiative and the Brookings Institution, as well as a National Academies of Sciences Committee on STEM workforce.

Rachel holds an A.B., MBA, and MPP from Harvard and is a recipient of the Harvard Certificate of Distinction and Excellence in Teaching and the Kennedy School’s Frederick Fischer Prize for outstanding social policy research. In June, she and Project on Workforce Senior Advisor Bob Schwartz will release a co-edited Harvard Education Press volume America’s Hidden Economic Engines: How Community Colleges Can Drive Shared Prosperity.

Dr. Micheal McDonough

Dr. Michael McDonough

President, Raritan Valley Community College

A native of Preston in Northwest England, Dr. Michael J. McDonough now resides in Hunterdon County with his wife, children, and three dogs (Jersey Girl, Quincy, and Ponyboy). The father of three and Buffalo Bills fan is an aficionado of golf, reading, travel, and theatre. He’s also a trivia buff and has a passion for classic rock, especially from the 1960s and ‛70s. 

Dr. Michael J. McDonough is Raritan Valley Community College’s eighth president. He has served in that role since June 2014. Prior to joining RVCC, McDonough served as provost and vice president of academic services at Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY (2011-2014); as dean of Liberal Arts at Monroe Community College (2007-2011); and as professor of English at Alfred University in Alfred, NY (1987-2007). He also has taught at Pennsylvania State University and Oklahoma State University. 
 
McDonough holds leadership positions in a number of academic organizations, both on the national and state level. These include the College Board, as a member of the Board of Trustees and as the chair of the Academic Assembly Council; American Association of Community Colleges, member of the Commission on Research, Technology & Emerging Trends; New Jersey Presidents’ Council, member of the Academic Issues and Transfer committees; and New Jersey Council of County Colleges, member of the Course Review Committee and as vice chair of the NJCC Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development. 
 
McDonough received his B.A. in Film and Drama and a Post Graduate Certification of Education from Reading University in England; an M.A. in English from Oklahoma State University; a Ph.D. in English from Pennsylvania State University; and an I.E.M. from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. 

Iris Palmer

Iris Palmer

Deputy Director of Community Colleges, New America

Iris Palmer is deputy director for community colleges with the Education Policy program at New America.

Palmer is a member of the higher education team and also works closely with the Center on Education & Labor. She provides research and analysis on community colleges, adults enrolled in higher education, apprenticeship, and the ethical use of predictive analytics in higher education.

Palmer previously worked at the National Governors Association on postsecondary issues, where she helped states strengthen the connection between higher education and the workforce, support competency-based systems, use data from effectiveness and efficiency metrics, and improve licensure for veterans.

Prior to joining NGA, Palmer worked at HCM Strategists on the Lumina Foundation’s initiative to develop innovative higher education models, including new technologies and competency-based approaches.

Before joining HCM Strategists, Palmer worked at the U.S. Department of Education in all of the offices related to higher education: the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education; the Office of Postsecondary Education; the Policy Office; and the Office of the Undersecretary.

Palmer received her master’s of public policy from George Mason University and her undergraduate degree in political science from Goucher College.

Holly Zanville

Holly Zanville

Research Professor and Co-Director of the Program on Skills, Credentials & Workforce Policy at George Washington University

Dr. Holly Zanville joined the GW Institute of Public Policy in January 2021 as a Research Professor and Co-Director of the Program on Skills, Credentials & Workforce Policy. She is also Co-Lead of the national initiative, Credential As You Go; and lead of the prototype Learn & Work Ecosystem Library initiative. She serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Council on Badges and Credentials (ICoBC).

Holly is a former strategy director at Lumina Foundation, where she focused on the work-and-learn ecosystem, including the future of work; networks and partnerships; collective action initiatives; and research to increase awareness of and solutions related to workforce-education alignment, credentialing, and quality assurance. In her near-15 year tenure at Lumina, Holly focused especially on adult students and non-degree, workforce-relevant credentials, leading national initiatives such as Connecting Credentials, Credential Engine, and Credit When It’s Due. She also led research on how industry certifications are embedded in college programs, and was the architect of the Learn-and-Work Ecosystem Guide. Holly has a substantial history of speaking and writing about the meaning and value of credentials beyond high school. Her publications include a book chapter (Credentials for a New era of Work and Learning, Wiley, 2020), and many blogs, interviews, white papers, reports, and research briefs.

Prior to joining Lumina in 2006, Holly served as senior administrator/chief academic officer for the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs in the Oregon University System, state coordinator for Oregon Joint Boards K-20 Redesign Initiative, and director of economic development and regional internship programs for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). She has held academic appointments in teaching, assessment of prior learning, grants management, and higher education policy and practice at colleges and universities in Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, and Oregon.

Holly holds a BA from Lindenwood University (Missouri), MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and PhD from the University of Minnesota. She received the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development for “bold efforts across the educational spectrum to modernize and optimize the structures, systems, and processes that impact student success.” She has also served on the Board of Directors for the Humane Society for Hamilton County, Indiana.

NJ Pathways to Career Opportunities Summit

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Date:

June 12 2024

Time:

Beginning at 9:00am EST

Location:
Bally's Atlantic City & Casino 1900 Pacific Ave.
Atlantic City, NJ 08401

NJ Pathways Summit

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