Career Readiness Working Group

Working Group Purpose

The Career Readiness Working Group brings together CEOs, educators, and workforce leaders to define what career readiness should look like and identify the actions needed to achieve it across the region.

Led by employers, the group works to establish a shared, demand-driven vision of career readiness aligned with current and future workforce needs. Members review data, study leading practices from across the country, and develop recommendations that help schools, postsecondary institutions, employers, and policymakers work toward common outcomes.

Goal: Prepare Every Student For Career Success

Strategies

  • Define a shared, employer-led standard of career readiness.
  • Benchmark leading practices from high-performing districts, regions, and states.
  • Align K-12, postsecondary, and workforce systems around employer expectations.
  • Expand access to career exploration and exposure to high-demand industries.
  • Increase meaningful work-based learning opportunities.
  • Support pathways that lead to industry-recognized credentials and postsecondary success.
  • Establish common success measures and accountability metrics.
  • Identify and scale career readiness models that demonstrate measurable outcomes.
  • Strengthen employer engagement in pathway design and student experiences.
  • Advance policy and systems changes that improve alignment between education and workforce demand.

Membership

Shane Napper

President & CEO

Rockford

Rhonda Huismann

Founder/Co-CEO

First Rule

Mike Clover

President

Lacks Enterprises

Lisa Hungerford

Director of Education Innovation

TalentFirst

Kim Bode

Founder

8ThirtyFour

Casey Lowery

President

Applied Innovation

Headshot of Brian Kraus

Brian Kraus

Chief Supply Chain Officer

Amway

Brad Hilleary

CEO

Webb Chemical

Ashley Bauer

Founder

Center for Medical Training

Headshot of Amy Kraal

Amy Kraal

President

HR Solutions Group

CEO Working Group Information

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