SPEAKERS

Stephanie Steffens

Director, Colorado Workforce Development Council

Stephanie Steffens is the Director of the Colorado Workforce Development Council (CWDC), a business led collaboration of industry, state agencies and their local system partners that strive to align education, training and workforce development efforts to meet the needs of Colorado’s economy.

In her role as Director of the CWDC, Stephanie appreciates the opportunity to work with great volunteers and business leaders throughout Colorado in implementing solutions for our future. The vision of the CWDC is that every Colorado business has access to a skilled workforce and every Coloradan has access to meaningful employment, resulting in statewide economic vitality. To accomplish this goal, all stakeholders must work together to face the always changing challenges of our labor and economic markets, and convening these collaborative partnerships is the role of the CWDC.

 

 

Dean Barber

President/CEO of Barber Business Advisors, LLC

Barber Business Advisors is a corporate site selection/economic development consulting firm based in Plano, Texas.  www.barberadvisors.com

Dean has worked with start-ups and major multi-national corporations that have created thousands of jobs with capital investment exceeding $1 billion. Dean’s professional experience has included key positions for economic development organizations at both the state and local level. Prior to establishing his BBA, Barber was the Vice President, Business Development at Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, a 10-county regional economic development organization, based in Fort Wayne, Ind.  Dean was the director of international development at the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, assisting numerous U.S., Canadian, German, Japanese, Korean manufacturers establish manufacturing operations in Alabama.  Prior to his career in economic development, Dean was the business editor of The Birmingham News. The business journalist still lives in Dean, as he writes a weekly business blog entitled “Barberbiz.”

Dean and his wife, Tera, enjoy travel and can be described as “foodies.” Dean plays banjo as a member of the Lone Star String Band, which plays old-time music, the precursor to bluegrass.

 

Casey Sacks, Ph. D.

Project Manager, Colorado Community College System (CCCS)

Casey Sacks has been at the Colorado Community College System (CCCS) office in Academic Affairs for the past five years. The CCCS comprises the state’s largest system of higher education, serving more than 162,000 students annually. CCCS oversees career and academic programs in the 13 state community colleges and career and technical programs in more than 160 school districts and six other post-secondary institutions.

Sacks specializes in special projects with an emphasis in grant program management. Her project portfolio includes programs in developmental education, career and technical education, analytics, immersive learning, and credit for prior learning. Through the TACT round 1 project, Sacks led Colorado’s efforts for statewide reform in developmental education. Her team has also received national recognition for their work with OPEN educational resources. In the TACT round 3 initiative her team is leading statewide reform efforts with credit for prior learning.

Sacks completed her doctorate in higher education administration at Bowling Green State University in Ohio specializing in institutional planning and finance. She regularly teaches for the community colleges in the psychology department.

 

Mike Sullivan

Director of Human Resources, City of Colorado Springs

Mike Sullivan and his family have lived and worked in Colorado Springs for the past 30 years.  He is certified with the Human Resource Certification Institute as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), is a graduate of Six Sigma training, and is a member of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM).  Mike is a practicing Human Resources professional with 36 years of experience;  he has held senior positions in the Aerospace industry and currently serves the Colorado Springs community as the City’s Director of Human Resources.  The City HR Director is responsible for the full array of HR services in support of a workforce of 2,200 employees, which includes Police and Fire Sworn Personnel.  In addition Mike is responsible for the City’s Risk Management programs, the City employee Medical Clinic and the City Pharmacy.  Some of Mike’s industry specific skill sets include; strategic HR, workforce planning, organizational development, international relation and security, and deferred compensation.  All of which make him a valuable asset to the City of Colorado Springs.

Mike is especially proud of his work under Mayor Steve Bach’s leadership.  Mayor Bach set goals for each of the City’s departmental directors, with a laser focus on three key elements;  goal number one; Jobs, goal number two; Transformation of City Government i.e., to become the most business and citizen friendly city of our size through new and innovative approaches to all City business processes, and goal number three; Building Community.  Under Mayor Bach’s leadership, Mike and his team have made great strides in all of these areas.  He is especially proud of the completion of the City’s first Comprehensive Total Compensation Study in 15 years; the result of which allows the City to ensure that it is paying its employees fairly and competitively.

Martin Simon

Director, Workforce Development

National Governors Association

Washington, DC

As the director of the workforce development at the National Governor’s Association, Center for Best Practices, Martin Simon is responsible for managing the Centers’ analysis, research, and technical assistance services to governors and states related to workforce development policy and programs.  In this position, he has directed numerous projects including the Center’s state sector strategies, adult postsecondary education, youth with disabilities, and incumbent worker projects. Simon has authored and co-authored numerous NGA Center publications including: State Sector Strategies: Innovative Policies to Address Worker and Employer Needs; A Governor’s Guide to Creating a 21^th Century Workforce and A Sharper Focus On Technical Workers: How to Educate and Train for the Global Economy.

He currently serves on the U.S. Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, the National Advisory Panel on Employment and Training Research, and the Career Readiness Partners Council.  Before joining NGA, Simon was the Associate Director for Policy and Program Development with the Governor’s Office in Michigan.  In this position, he managed the Governor’s initiative on integrating Michigan’s human resource investment systems; directed the Governor’s Human Resource Investment Council; and advised key policymakers on workforce development policy. Prior to this work, he managed adult and youth development programs at the state and local levels.  He holds a B.A. in political science and public administration and a M.A. in counseling psychology.