Insights
Reading the future of work — so you can act on it.Analysis and field notes on workforce policy, AI and emerging technology, economic mobility, and the craft of leading change — written by practitioners who do this work, not just watch it. Signal from noise, so you can move first. First up: what the new Workforce Pell landscape means for colleges, workforce boards, and the students and employers they serve.
What Working in Phoenix, Syracuse, and Columbus Taught Me About the Austin Semiconductor Workforce Ecosystem
I live near the Samsung site in Taylor, Texas. I've watched the cranes go up, the roads widen, and the conversations change at the coffee shop. So when I started benchmarking how other semiconductor regions are building their workforce ecosystems, it wasn't academic...
Austin’s Built the Training and On-Ramps. Now Comes the Harder Work: Moving the Needle on Awareness, Accessibility, and Action
I live a few minutes from the Samsung site in Taylor. Over the last couple of years, I’ve watched cranes give way to cleanrooms, and this spring the first EUV lithography tools (the machines that etch features smaller than a virus) started testing inside that fab, on...
Your Degree Didn’t Lie to You. It Just Got Lonely. Workforce Pell Is the Plus-One.
8 - 15 weeks. A few hundred dollars of federal aid you don't pay back. A credential employers are actually begging for. Starting July 1, 2026, this is (FINALLY!) real. My past twenty years in education, workforce, and economic development taught me an uncomfortable...
The Workforce Innovation Bottleneck: Why (and how) Economic Developers Should Lead the Alignment Conversation
Workforce development has changed dramatically in recent years. Just since the time I left technical higher education in 2021, there’s been myriad of federal programs, the revival of registered apprenticeship, Workforce Pell, and more. Even the stoic WIOA remains a...
Registered Apprenticeship Is 90 Years Old and Still Kicking For One Reason…It Works!
It is National Apprenticeship Week, and next week I officially begin my new executive fellowship with #AustinEconomicDevelopment, focused on expanding economic opportunity through advanced manufacturing career pathways in Austin. The timing feels meaningful. For much...
Workforce Innovation Comes with a Learning Curve, and Why Many Organizations Still Feel Stuck
America’s workforce and education landscape is moving in the right direction, and it’s happening with real momentum. Across the country, employers, educators, and public partners are building better systems to connect people to opportunity. The conversation has...