SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Lili Allen, Director of Back on Track Designs
at Jobs for the Future, leads the
organization’s work with communities that
are building portfolios of quality pathways
to college-ready graduation and
postsecondary success for out-of-school
youth. She oversees strategic consultation
to communities as diverse as Chicago,
Denver, New York City, and Pharr-San JuanAlamo, Texas in developing schools and
programs for off-track and out-of-school
youth characterized by rigorous instruction,
accelerated learning, and strong student
supports, with clear pathways into
postsecondary education. In New York City,
she oversees JFF’s partnerships with
transfer schools and high school
equivalency programs on improving
postsecondary and career outcomes for
their students.
Ms. Allen directs Jobs for the Future’s
partnership with the Aspen Institute
Opportunity Youth Incentive Fund and the
provision of technical assistance to all 21
communities in that initiative, and leads
JFF’s Social Innovation Fund initiative that
will select 12 communities for more
intensive technical assistance and
evaluation. Ms. Allen also directs JFF
product and tool development addressing
effective strategies to re-engage and
support these populations. Her
publications include: “How to Help
Struggling Students Meet Common Core
Standards: New York City Department of
Education’s Comprehensive Approach;”
“Back on Track to College: A Texas School
District Leverages State Policy to Put
Dropouts on the Path to Success” (with
Rebecca Wolfe); “Mobilizing a Cross-Sector
Collaborative for Systemic Change: Lessons
from Project U-Turn;” and “Bringing OffTrack Youth into the Center of High School
Reform: Lessons and Tools from Leading
Communities.” Ms. Allen holds a Master’s
in Education from Harvard University.
Steven Baker is Jobs for the Future’s vice
president of marketing and
communications, leading strategies to
maximize the impact of our services and
advance our vision for improving education
and workforce development in America. Mr.
Baker has more than 25 years of
management and operational experience
across the fields of marketing and
communications. Before joining JFF, he
served as both a director and a vice
president of marketing and
communications at Partners HealthCare in
Boston, one of the nation’s leading health
care systems. While at Partners, he led a
two-year rebranding strategy for its nonacute division and developed numerous
marketing and communications campaigns
for Partners hospitals. Mr. Baker also served
as director of membership services for the
Massachusetts Medical Society, publishers
of The New England Journal of Medicine.
During his tenure, membership in the
organization grew by 18 percent and
significantly increased in diversity. He began
his career in Chicago, where he held
marketing and communications roles with
several professional associations. Mr. Baker
has been actively involved as a volunteer
with a number of AIDS service organizations,
most recently serving in development roles
for Community Servings and the AIDS
Action Committee of Massachusetts. He
also founded the Chicago Chapter of the
Names Project and helped organize the first
national tour of the Names Project AIDS
Memorial Quilt. Mr. Baker holds a
Bachelor’s degree in journalism from
Indiana University.
Capri Bell, Manager of the Certified Nursing
Assistant program at JVS, provides program
management and organizational leadership
to the skills team. Capri spearheaded the
development of this program in July 2010
and continues to support the success of the
program through forging employer &
funder partnerships, and overseeing its
daily operation. Additionally, Capri conducts
outreach, recruitment, assessment,
admission, retention and completion of all
program participants. Capri is a
Massachusetts native with 10 years of
experience in the nonprofit sector and four
years of experience in workforce
development. She has a Bachelor’s of
Science in Psychology from Bridgewater
State University and is currently pursuing a
Masters of Education in Counseling and
Psychology. All of these experiences have
served to form Capri's passion for giving
back to the community, working with
diverse backgrounds and helping those in
need.
Michael Collins is an associate vice
president on JFF's Policy team. He develops
and advocates for state policies on behalf of
national initiatives, such as Achieving the
Dream, the Developmental Education
Initiative, and the Completion by Design
project. A policy researcher, analyst, writer,
and strategy consultant, Mr. Collins helps
states to develop and implement public
policies designed to increase the number of
low-income and minority students who
successfully transition from high school into
college, persist, and earn credentials and
degrees. Mr. Collins regularly convenes
education thought leaders and collaborates
with public policy decision makers, state
and national intermediary organizations,
philanthropic organizations, academic
researchers, and nationally recognized
policy experts to develop policies that
support innovative blends of high school
and college, and to design and execute onthe-ground policy/action agendas for
dramatically improving the rates at which
students reach their individual education
goals, and at which states reach their
statewide education attainment and
workforce goals. Before joining JFF, Mr.
Collins served as assistant commissioner for
participation and success at the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board. In
that capacity, he worked with K-12, higher
education, the business community, the
Texas Legislature, and community-based
organizations to increase college access and
success.
Lori DeBiasi is the Bridges to College
Program Manager. She designs solutions to
empower students through higher
education with a keen understanding of
their needs and concerns. Under her
leadership, the program has grown through
strategic partnerships with Bunker Hill
Community College (BHCC) and Quincy
College. Thanks to these partnerships,
Bridges to College has evolved to include a
Biotechnology pathway and the opportunity
for students to earn BHCC credit as they
sharpen their English and math skills during
the free Bridges to College program. Lori
holds a BA from Providence College in
Humanities and English.
William S. Durden serves as the Basic
Education for Adults I-BEST Policy Associate
for the Washington State Board for
Community and Technical Colleges, where
he is engaged in scaling-up I-BEST system
implementation. He also supports
Accelerating Opportunity-affiliated states
with training and technical assistance in
developing integrated and contextualized
college and career pathways for adult
learners. William earned his MA in English
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 2
Studies from Western Washington
University and his BA in English from
Washington State University. Prior to his
position with the board he served as faculty
at Clark College in Vancouver, WA, where
his teaching spanned the pathways of
college-level, developmental, and I-BEST
courses.
Scott Ellsworth directs Business Leaders
United for Workforce Partnerships (BLU), an
employer-led project of National Skills
Coalition, National Fund for Workforce
Solutions, and Skills for America’s Future. In
this role, he supports a diverse national
network of employers working to
strengthen the business voice in skills policy
discussions. Scott assumed leadership of
BLU in 2014. Prior to leading BLU, Scott was
Vice President of U.S. Operations and
General Manager of Tipco Punch, Inc., in
Hamilton, OH. He also served as Chairman
of BLU and on the Partner Council of
Partnership for a Competitive Workforce,
an affiliate of the National Fund for
Workforce Solutions, which serves the
Greater Cincinnati region. Scott holds a
bachelor's in Industrial Engineering with
Honors from the University of Louisville. He
is based in Hamilton, OH.
John Emerson is the Postsecondary
Education Advisor for Casey Family
Programs, a Seattle-based national
foundation that serves children, youth, and
families in the child welfare system. John
currently oversees postsecondary education
practice and policy advocacy. He also
administers the national Casey Family
Scholars Program, a scholarship program
for college students from foster care that
provides scholarships and support services.
He provides technical assistance to states,
higher education systems, and
organizations regarding improving the
delivery of support services and financial
aid to their students. He has coauthored
Supporting Success: Improving Higher
Education Outcomes for Students from
Foster Care. He has authored many articles
on improving college access and success for
students from foster care including From
Foster Care to College that appeared in
NASPA’s Leadership Exchange.
Maria Flynn is the senior vice president and
the head of Jobs for the Future’s Building
Economic Opportunity Group. She leads
JFF’s work to help low-skilled adults
advance to family-supporting careers, while
enabling employers to build and sustain a
productive workforce. Ms. Flynn also leads
JFF’s federal policy and advocacy strategies,
which are focused on advancing the
educational needs of low-skilled Americans
and developing a skilled workforce.
As a leading expert on issues such as career
pathways, employer engagement, and
sector strategies, Ms. Flynn guides the
activities of several key JFF projects and
partnerships, including Accelerating
Opportunity, Credentials That Work, and
JFF's role as implementation partner for the
National Fund for Workforce Solutions. Ms.
Flynn is also leading JFF's role as a key
partner in JPMorgan Chase’s New Skills at
Work initiative. Her team provides technical
assistance, coaching, documentation, labor
market analysis, and evaluation support to
a wide range of projects supported by
public and private funders.
Ms. Flynn has over 20 years of experience in
the workforce development field. Prior to
joining JFF in 2007, she was a member of
the federal government’s Senior Executive
Service and was the Administrator of the
Office of Policy Development and Research
in the U.S. Department of Labor’s
Employment and Training Administration. In
that role, she oversaw development of
employment and training policies, managed
the agency's research and evaluation
strategy, and supported agency budget and
appropriations activities. Ms. Flynn also
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 3
coordinated the agency’s legislative,
regulatory, and international affairs
agendas and outreach to philanthropic
organizations.
Within the Employment and Training
Administration, Ms. Flynn previously led the
Division of One-Stop Operations, where she
developed the policy and technical
assistance framework necessary to enable
states and local communities to establish
comprehensive One-Stop delivery systems
designed to provide quality services to
jobseekers, workers, and employers. She
also served as team leader for the
interagency policy group charged with
implementing the Workforce Investment
Act of 1998. In the 1990s, Ms. Flynn played
key roles in the National School-to-Work
initiative and in the launch of the
Secretary’s Commission on Achieving
Necessary Skills (SCANS) Initiative.
Ms. Flynn earned her Bachelor’s of Arts in
international relations and economics at
Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and
a Master’s of Government Administration at
the University of Pennsylvania. She is the
proud mom of two young daughters.
Sandy Goodman is the Director of Career
Pathways at the National College Transition
Network and a member of the Accelerating
Opportunity professional development
team. Her work includes designing and
leading college transition and career
pathways initiatives. She provides technical
assistance and professional development to
individual programs and state adult
education systems on national, state, and
local initiatives. Recent work includes
delivering online and face-to-face training
for college and career navigators and
supporting the strengthening of Prior
Learning Assessment policies and their
broader implementation as a postsecondary
acceleration strategy for adult learners.
Marissa Guananja is the director of
CONNECT and of Resident Asset
Development at The Neighborhood
Developers. She joined The Neighborhood
Developers in 2005 and established the
organization’s first financial education
programming and has stewarded TND’s
expansion of asset development services.
This has culminated in the establishment of
CONNECT – a 6 party collaboration that colocates income and housing stabilization;
financial products and services; skill
development and training; and workforce
development under one roof.
In launching CONNECT, Marissa was
responsible for leading the strategic and
business planning processes that brought
together various provider, policy and
funding stakeholders. Currently, Marissa is
responsible for program administration and
management, program implementation and
ongoing stakeholder engagement.
Prior to joining The Neighborhood
Developers, Marissa conducted research for
The National Committee for Responsive
Philanthropy and the Local Initiatives
Support Corporation in DC as well as for a
Ford Foundation project to understand the
role collective remittances play in
development projects in El Salvador. She
has a Master’s of Public Policy from The
George Washington University and a
Bachelor’s in Psychology and Sociology from
Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles,
CA.
Rusty Hartley is an independent consultant
focused on the intersection of business and
education. He works with colleges and
universities, foundations, workforce
development organizations, nonprofits, and
vendors to the education industry. Rusty
has over 20 years of experience providing a
range of strategic advisory services and is
particularly adept at introducing business
concepts into academic environments, and
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 4
vice versa. He was recently with
Eduventures, a Boston-based research and
consulting firm, where he helped grow the
firm’s educational technology and
consulting practice. His private sector
experience also includes serving as a
cofounder of an internet services firm, a
strategy consultant with
PricewaterhouseCoopers, and an
investment banker with JP Morgan Chase.
Rusty has an MBA from Columbia Business
School and a BA from Washington and Lee
University.
Laurie Heacock is Director of Data Services
for Achieving the Dream (ATD). In this role,
she is responsible for managing the design,
delivery, and evaluation of data services for
Achieving the Dream Institutions. Prior to
joining ATD, Laurie was the District Director
of Institutional Research at Broward College
and a course mentor for the AIR Data and
Decisions Academy. In addition to her
current role at ATD, Laurie served as a Data
Coach for four years and coached six ATD
Colleges in six states. Laurie began her
career at the College of Southern Maryland
then spent nearly two decades at Anne
Arundel Community College where she
worked in institutional research, academic
advising, applied research and IT. She is a
graduate of the Leadership Anne Arundel
flagship program and served as president of
the Maryland Community College Research
Group. Laurie holds a B.S. and M.A. in
Psychology from James Madison University
and has completed the coursework for a
doctoral degree in Policy Sciences from the
University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Carrie E. Henderson, Ph.D. is the Associate
Director of Programs at Achieving the
Dream, Inc., where she is engaged in all
aspects of the organization's program and
policy division, especially the institutional
change work at Leader Colleges. She
coordinates support to Leader Colleges and
manages Achieving the Dream’s re-granting
program, which provides resources to
colleges to scale innovative practices and
disseminates lessons to the Achieving the
Dream Reform Network. Carrie also serves
a teaching assistant in Florida State
University’s Higher Education program for
three graduate-level courses. Carrie earned
a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration
from Florida State University. She earned a
Master of Public Administration degree
from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill and Bachelor of Arts degree in
History and Political Science from the
University of Central Florida. She also holds
a Certificate in Institutional Research from
Florida State University.
Amparo Hernandez-Folch has served as a
faculty member in the Math department at
Bunker Hill Community College for over 27
years. Her mentoring of full-time and
adjunct faculty has been critical in the
enactment of curriculum reform
and teaching innovation, including the
design and implementation of the Math
Space - a learner-centered space supporting
success in math, particularly developmental
mathematics. She has held various
leadership positions at BHCC, the state and
national level such as Achieving the Dream,
the Statewide Developmental Task Force
and Learning Communities.
Professor Hernandez-Folch is the recipient
of the following awards:
 New England Board of Higher
Education Excellence Award.
Learning Communities, 2013
 Excellent in Teaching, National
Institute of staff and Organizational
Development (NISOD), 2013
 Citation of Outstanding
Performance to the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, 2012
 Recognition Bunker Hill Community
College Chelsea Campus. Hispanic
Heritage Week Celebration, 1998
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 5
Ellen Hewett is the Director of the National
College Transition Network (NCTN) at World
Education, Inc. Her experience includes
providing system-wide professional
development to support the design and
implementation of college and career
readiness programming and increasing the
visibility of postsecondary education
transition-related policy and practice. Ellen
is a skilled facilitator with the ability to build
organizational learning and capacity within
a system. Prior to joining NCTN, Ellen
worked as an administrator and faculty
member at Springfield College. While at
Springfield she led the development of the
graduate program in Organizational
Management and Leadership (OML) and
taught within this program. Among the
OML courses she taught are: Program
Evaluation, Leadership: A Life-long Journey;
Action Research, and Building Multicultural
Organizations. Ellen was a trainer from
2005 to 2008 with the New Hampshire
Bureau of Education’s Certified Public
Managers program. Also, she has provided
organizational development support to
college-level programs for adults in Sweden,
Mexico, China, England, and Brazil.
Damien Howard is the Vice President of
Business Development at Per Scholas and is
responsible for the Employer Engagement
team as well as the Corporate Asset
Recovery service. Throughout his 13 years
at Per Scholas, Damien has been
responsible for developing strategies that
has kept various departments at pace with
emerging technology and market trends
and has a demonstrated record of success
in building productive and sustainable
relationships with Corporate America and
nonprofit organizations.
Damien manages the day-to-day needs of
the Business Development department and
provides transformational leadership that
keeps the company’s social ventures
competitive and relevant. In this role he has
identified fresh earned income
opportunities as well as conceptualized and
developed new marketing strategies for the
Business Development department.
Damien has studied at Baruch College and is
a successful graduate of the Columbia
Business School INM program for nonprofit
executives.
Malcom Jackson is a Federal Project Office
in the Atlanta Regional Office for the
Employment and Training Administration –
U.S. Department of Labor. He is a State
Federal Representative that also is response
for special initiatives such as Registered
Apprenticeship, Rapid Response and other
state assignments.
Prior to joining the Atlanta Regional Office,
Malcom was a Federal Project Officer in the
Chicago Regional Office where he
spearheaded an Urban Strategy Team,
made significant contributions to the
Detroit Registered Apprenticeship Pilot
Program and served as regional lead for
Rapid Response. Malcom is currently
assisting the agency to develop strategic
technical assistance strategies for states
and he is participating in regulation writing
for the Workforce Innovation Opportunity
Act (WIOA).
Prior to joining ETA, Malcom served as
Program Manager for the YES! Father’s
Program at Goodwill Industries in Chicago.
The program served at-risk young men who
were also fathers. Malcom holds a B.A.
degree from the University of the District of
Columbia in Political Science and a M.A.
degree from Spertus College-Chicago in
Human Services and Urban Development.
Ranita Jain joined the Aspen Institute’s
Workforce Strategies Initiative in March
2014. Ranita has 15 years of experience in
research design and evaluation, with
expertise in supportive employment
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 6
programs and mainstream services for lowincome individuals.
Over her career, Ranita has worked in the
private, public and nonprofit sectors and
has extensive experience working with
agencies and programs providing benefits
and services to low-income populations.
From 2010 to 2014, Ranita was a Senior
Study Director at Westat, where she
managed multi-site, multi-year evaluation
projects focused on assessing the impact of
programs serving vulnerable populations.
Prior to Westat, Ranita worked at Building
Changes, an intermediary organization in
Washington State that supports the delivery
of social and economic opportunity services
for homeless families, where she conducted
research and facilitated community
processes leading to systems-level work
across agencies.
Ranita served as a researcher for New York
City’s Human Resources administration/
Department of Social Services where she
assessed the impact of agency programs in
providing services to TANF, food stamp, and
Medicaid recipients. Ranita also worked in
the private sector with
PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a Management
Consultant.
Denise Kennedy, founder and president of
Anthology Communications, LLC, has over
13 years of communications, outreach and
marketing experience. She incorporates
industry best practices to ensure that
marketing and communications efforts are
strategic, message-driven and measurable.
Denise's approach combines practicality
and problem solving with communications
planning and diligence. Prior to founding
Anthology, Denise spent four years
managing communications and outreach
programs for the U.S. Department of Labor,
Education and Commerce. Additionally, she
has worked as a marketing manager for a
technology company and extensively with
government and Fortune 500 clients at
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. Denise
brings knowledge and experience in public
relations, crisis communications, web, social
media, writing, advertising, promotions,
editing, branding and graphic design to all
clients.
Jon Kerr, Director of Adult Basic Education
at the Washington State Board for
Community & Technical Colleges (SBCTC),
administers several innovative adult
training and education programs effectively
serving immigrant and low-income
populations and aimed at accelerating their
pathways to living wage jobs.
In his 22 years in Adult Basic Education, Jon
has worked as an ELL instructor,
coordinator, director, and college dean of
instruction in addition to his current role of
Adult Basic Education Director for
Washington State. He has been a teacher or
administrator in elementary and secondary
education, private language institutes,
community colleges, and university
graduate programs. Jon started his basic
skills career as an ELL instructor at
International House Lisbon where he was
also co-owner and artistic director of
International English Theatre (IET), which
presented educational theatre productions
for ESL students and numerous workshops
for English teachers throughout Portugal
and Spain.
Jon joined SBCTC after his tenure as the
Dean of Instructional Programs and Library
Director at Lower Columbia College in
Washington State. There he pioneered the
first Academic I-BEST program as well as
administering ELL, ABE, and GED programs,
all aimed at moving under-skilled adults and
non-native English speakers into familysustaining jobs.
His initial work with Integrated Basic
Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) was as
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 7
founding Director of I-BEST for the Pierce
College District. Building upon that
experience, Jon has become a champion for
accelerated educational pathways and he
has been active at state and national levels
in promoting the initiative and providing
trainings. He worked with the
comprehensive I-BEST pathway teams at
Lower Columbia College to pilot the first
academic I-BEST program and one of the
first four On-Ramp to I-BEST programs in
the nation as well as an I-BEST for
Developmental Education pilot in
Washington. He holds undergraduate and
graduate degrees in theatre and education
from Central Washington University.
Irene Lee is director of the Family Economic
Success in the Center for Community and
Economic Opportunity. She has been a
member of the Foundation’s Committee of
Managers since 2004. Lee has more than
two decades in philanthropy – including at
the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation
and The Cleveland Foundation. She has
developed expertise in housing and
community development, community
capacity building, adult education and
workforce, children of immigrants and
immigrant economic integration.
Lee serves as chair of the Maryland Adult
Learning Advisory Council and on the task
force for performance-based funding in
adult education for Maryland and as an
appointee by Gov. Martin O’Malley on the
Maryland Council for New Americans. She is
a member of the executive committee of
the “Accelerating Connections to
Employment” evaluation project, which is a
multistate effort measuring the impact of
the I-BEST (Integrated Basic Education and
Skills Training) model through a third-party
evaluation. In the past, she also served on
the Task Force on Remittances of the InterAmerican Dialogue, the National Advisory
Council for the “We Are New York” project
of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office of
Adult Education, the Advisory Board of the
Foundation Center in Washington, D.C., the
National Advisory Committee for the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation’s New Routes to
Community Health Program and the
Investors Advisory Board of Market Creek
Plaza in San Diego.
Lee is a founding member of Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders in
Philanthropy, and former board member of
Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants
and Refugees and the Washington Regional
Association of Grantmakers. She also served
on the selection committee of the Fred
Rogers Leadership Award in Philanthropy
for Children, Youth and Families and on the
Advisory Committee on Strategies for Portal
Neighborhoods for CEOs for Cities.
Lee holds a B.A. in history from Michigan
State University, an M.A. in anthropology
from the University of Michigan and an
M.P.A. from Baruch College in New York as
part of the National Urban Fellows
program.
Eileen McCaffrey began working with
Foster Care to Success (FC2S) during its
inception in 1981. She joined the board of
directors shortly after, and in 1990 became
executive director. Under her leadership,
FC2S has grown into the largest provider of
college funding and support services for
foster youth in the nation, as well as a voice
for foster youth on Capitol Hill. Ms.
McCaffrey is a graduate of The Catholic
University of America. She also served on
the board of directors for the National
Independent Living Association, Our House
and CharityWorks.
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 8
Darlene Miller has served as the Executive
Director of the National Council for
Workforce Education since 2010.
Dr. Miller has over 20 years experience
working in community colleges with
expertise in workforce and economic
development. Prior to joining NCWE, she
served as President of Manchester
Community College (MCC) in New
Hampshire. As president, she led the
college through a name change, a
rebranding marketing campaign, the
implementation of a new strategic plan and
a successful accreditation visit. Prior to
directing MCC, Dr. Miller served as Vice
President of Workforce and Economic
Development at Shoreline Community
College in Shoreline, WA.
Dr. Miller chose to focus her professional
career on community colleges because of
her commitment to opportunity, access,
and life-long learning. She is firmly
committed to ensuring that higher
education and life-long learning are readily
and widely accessible to persons across a
broad range of abilities, backgrounds,
interests, circumstances, and ages. As such,
she has served on numerous local and
national boards that support community
colleges, workforce and economic
development, workforce policy, and job
training. She also shares her knowledge and
expertise by publishing articles and
presenting at national conferences.
Dr. Miller started in higher education as a
faculty member at Vermont Technical
College teaching mathematics, computer
science, and engineering. As a tenured
associate professor, one of her proudest
professional accomplishments occurred
when she started the first Rehabilitation
Engineering Technology associate degree
program in the nation. She moved into
academic administration in 1994 as Dean of
Business, Math, and Technology at
Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland,
OH. Additionally, she served four years as
Executive Dean of Workforce Education at
Green River Community College in Auburn,
WA.
Dr. Miller has a Master’s degree in
Biomedical Engineering from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY and a
Doctorate in Higher Education, Policy,
Research and Administration from the
University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA.
Lydia G. Pelliccia has more than 20 years of
strategic communications and media
relations experience. She has successfully
led national marketing communications
initiatives for a range of organizations and
institutions. With more than 10 years of
senior level direct client and account
management experience at leading public
relations agencies, Pelliccia has provided
strategic counsel and communications
leadership to clients including The First Five
Years Fund, The College Board, the
Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on
Education Policy, the National Governors
Association, the University of Miami and
numerous other colleges and universities,
advocacy organizations, think tanks and
government agencies.
Nan Poppe currently serves as a consultant
specializing in workforce development,
employer, community, and k-12
partnerships, designing career pathways,
and improving completion rates for all
community college students. She currently
serves as a coach for the Accelerating
Opportunity national initiative.
Nan retired from Portland Community
College in 2010 as a Campus President.
Previous to serving for many years as
Campus President she served in various
roles including Dean of Adult and
Continuing Education, Dean of Instruction,
and District Vice President for Academic
and Student Affairs. After retiring from PCC,
Nan worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 9
Foundation in designing their national
Completion By Design initiative and
coordinated the technical assistance to the
four states and 21 colleges selected for the
initiative during the planning year.
Nan received her Ed.D. in Community
College Leadership from Oregon State
University. She currently serves on the
Board of Directors for Gateway to College
(GTC).
Les Range is the Regional Administrator for
the United States Department of Labor’s
Employment and Training Administration
Region Atlanta. He started his Federal
career on October 21, 2013.
Located in Atlanta, Georgia, Les leads a staff
of 42 employees who provide leadership to
national, state and local leaders to develop
workforce solutions which meet the needs
of employers, workers, and communities;
including working with communities to
identify and develop the potential of every
citizen to become a skilled worker and
engage in the growth of their regional
economy. He oversees almost $4 billion in
federal grant resources to state and local
grantees in the states of Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North
Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Prior to joining the Atlanta in 2013, Les
served in various capacities with the
Mississippi Department of Employment
Security for 10 years. He served as the
Unemployment Insurance Director, Deputy
Executive Director and Executive Director
for the agency.
Les is an experienced executive and
manager. In addition to having been a
business owner, he has worked for colleges,
universities, and regional and local
economic and community development
organizations.
He is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank
of Atlanta, Health and Education Advisory
Committee. Other past involvements
include: Member of the Mississippi’s Team
Leader for the National Governors
Association Policy Academy on State Sector
Strategies; Member, Southern Growth
Policies Board Council for a New Economy
Workforce; and Board member, National
Association of State Workforce Agencies,
Region IV Director.
He attended Northeastern University in
Boston, Mass. where he earned a B.A. in
English/Journalism. He later earned an
M.B.A. from Delta State University in
Cleveland, Mississippi.
He is an accomplished writer and recently
had a professional publication "Regional
Cooperation Focused on Key Industry
Sectors Can Help States Recover and
Rebound," February 22, 2012, Southern
Growth's 40th Anniversary Commentary
Series, Copyright © 2012, Southern Growth
Policies Board.
Josephine Reed-Taylor is the Assistant
Commissioner for the Office of Adult
Education at the Technical College System
of Georgia. Prior to this position, she served
as the Senior Vice President for Academic
and Student Affairs at Minneapolis
Community and Technical College. For the
past 20 years at MCTC, she held a number
of administrative positions, including
Interim President, vice president for
academic affairs, dean of instruction, and
dean of students. She holds a doctorate in
educational administration from the
University of Minnesota, and a bachelor's
degree from Spelman College in Atlanta,
Georgia. Other educational experiences
include the completion of educational
management institutes at Bryn Mawr
College and Harvard University. She has
been active in the American Council on
Education's Network of Women
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 10
Administrators since 1987 including serving
as Chair of the Executive Board. Josephine is
an active member of the network of state
directors of adult education and is a
member of the Technical Work Group
Advisory Board for the National Reporting
System for Adult Education. She has served
on many boards and commissions in
support of access, education, and economic
development for those in communities in
which she has lived.
Prior to joining the Foundations' staff in
April 2005, Lizzy was with the fundraising
consulting firm of Coxe Curry & Associates
for over seven years. In her role as
Campaign Director, she provided consulting
services on capital and annual campaigns
for numerous metro Atlanta non-profit
organizations. Prior to Coxe Curry &
Associates, Lizzy was director of special
events for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in
Raleigh, N. C.
David J. Rosen was the was the Director of
the Adult Literacy Resource Institute at the
University of Massachusetts Boston from
1986 to 2003.
A native North Carolinian, Ms. Smith is a Phi
Beta Kappa graduate of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B. A. in
economics. Lizzy is a Trustee of the
Southeastern Council of Foundations and
also serves as chair of the Atlanta Advisory
Board for the Foundation Center.
As an independent consultant since 2003,
he has recently provided consulting and
professional development services to:
Teknimedia Corporation, and the Canadian
Literacy and Learning Network, to design,
facilitate and report on roundtables on
Problem Solving in Technology Rich
Environments, a domain of the
International PIAAC assessment of adult
literacy, numeracy and technology skills;
Jobs for the Future; the Philadelphia Youth
Network, Youth Essential Services and the
Center for Literacy in Philadelphia for
workshop presentations on GED2014® ; and
The Massachusetts System for Adult Basic
Education Support to offer technology
training and professional development
modules on integrating technology, and to
introduce Massive Open Online Courses
(MOOCs).
Lizzy Smith serves as Grants Program
Director for the Robert W. Woodruff
Foundation, Joseph B. Whitehead
Foundation, Lettie Pate Evans Foundation
and Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation.
Although each is governed by a separate
charter and self-perpetuating board of
trustees, the Foundations share a common
office and administrative staff.
Lisa Soricone serves on Jobs for the
Future’s Building Economic Opportunity
Group, helping low-skilled adults advance
to family-supporting careers, while enabling
employers to build and sustain a productive
workforce. Specifically, she helps evaluate
the success of programs that help adults
succeed in community college, such as
Accelerating Opportunity and the Adult
Degree Completion Project. Before joining
JFF, Dr. Soricone was a research and
evaluation analyst at Commonwealth
Corporation where she evaluated workforce
development programs in Massachusetts,
including the Workforce Competiveness
Trust Fund and the Massachusetts Learn at
Work Program. Before that, she served as
research associate for the National Center
for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy,
where she coauthored a series of guides for
training adult education practitioners on
how to integrate health literacy skill
development into ABE/ESOL. Dr. Soricone
has a doctorate in Community Education
and Lifelong Learning from Harvard
University, a Master’s in International
Education (also from Harvard), a degree in
literature, linguistics, and French as a
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 11
foreign language from Université Paul
Valery in France, and a Bachelor’s in French
and political science from Hobart and
William Smith Colleges.
Christopher Spence specializes in
evaluation, strategic planning, economic
development, and workforce development.
Current projects include five TAACCCT
evaluations. For the last 15 years, he has
worked with a wide range of clients, in both
the public and private sectors, as well as
regional collaborative partnerships. His
work has included strategic planning,
evaluations, and grant writing with over 100
colleges, workforce agencies, state agencies,
philanthropies, and community-based
organizations in 20 states. Chris earned a
Master's in Urban Planning and a Master's
in Program and Policy Evaluation, both from
New York University's Wagner School of
Public Service. He holds a bachelor's degree
in Economics and Political Science from
Case Western Reserve University. Early in
his career, Chris was a captain in the United
States Army 10th Mountain Division.
Winston Tompoe is Chief of the Division of
Workforce Investment at the US
Department of Labor – Employment &
Training Administration (ETA), in Atlanta,
Georgia. He oversees federal Workforce
Investment Act (WIA), Wagner Peyser Act
programs, National Emergency Grant (NEG),
and other discretionary projects in the
Southeastern Region. Winston previously
served as Federal Project Officer providing
technical assistance to states on WIA and
Wagner Peyser. In addition to state
assignments, Winston was regional lead for
special programs and initiatives, including
One-stop operations.
Prior to joining ETA, Winston worked for
Colite Industries, a private manufacturing
corporation; served as staff to the Midlands
Workforce Development Board, Columbia,
S.C.; and assisted the Director in program
oversight/management, and policy
development. Winston has a B.A. degree in
Business Administration and Masters in
Public Policy.
Randall Wilson leads several JFF projects
designed to help low-skilled adults advance
to family-sustaining careers, while enabling
employers to build and sustain a productive
workforce. He has more than 20 years’
experience in research and program
evaluation in the areas of workforce
development and urban community
development. He conducts research and
provides technical assistance for
CareerSTAT, a national initiative that
encourages and enables hospitals to
advance the skills and careers of frontline
health care workers through work-based
learning. CareerSTAT employs best
practices learned through Jobs to Careers, a
six-year initiative that Dr. Wilson also comanaged. He also currently provides
technical assistance and peer learning for
New Paths to Professional Nursing, an
initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation that assists frontline hospital
workers succeed in attaining Bachelor’s
level nursing credentials. Dr. Wilson also
manages evaluations in several national
initiatives that offer pathways integrating
basic skills instruction with attainment of
postsecondary credentials, including
Accelerating Opportunity. Dr. Wilson has
authored numerous studies on labor
market issues and career-advancement
strategies for lower-skilled adult workers.
He was a research associate in the Center
for Social Policy at the University of
Massachusetts, Boston, as well as a
consultant to a variety of public and
nonprofit organizations. He has taught at
UMass Boston’s College of Public and
Community Services and served as planning
data manager for the Cambridge
Community Development Department. Dr.
Wilson has a Ph.D. in public policy from the
University of Massachusetts, Boston. His
dissertation, Finding the Will and the Way:
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 12
Applying the Framework of Commitment
and Capacity to the Implementation of
Career Ladders in the Long-Term Care
Sector, focused on the role of workforce
intermediaries in supporting career
advancement for workers in long-term care.
He earned his B.A. in politics and
environmental studies from the University
of California Santa Cruz, and a Master’s in
regional planning from Cornell University.
2014 Fall Technical Assistance Institute • Speaker Biographies • Page 13