With a tight labor market in Wisconsin, where the unemployment rate is at 3.3%, many area employers in recent years have been struggling to find the talent they need to grow their businesses. This challenge is expected to get bigger in upcoming years as demographic trends show the size of the metro Milwaukee labor force is going to shrink dramatically.
Therefore, the vibrancy of the region’s economy and the success of the region’s businesses will increasingly become dependent on the metro Milwaukee area’s ability to maximize its human capital, educating its youth to prepare them to become part of the region’s workforce.
To help business leaders find opportunities to get engaged and partner with Milwaukee schools to help them and their students thrive, BizTimes Media is hosting its second annual Milwaukee Education Spotlight event on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 2:30 p.m. at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee. Click here to register.
The program will begin with a keynote conversation with Dale Kooyenga, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and Allison Wagner, executive director of college completion program All-In Milwaukee who will answer questions from BizTimes Milwaukee managing editor Arthur Thomas on the state of education in Milwaukee, what it means for the region’s workforce and how the business community is supporting Milwaukee schools and how others can get involved.
Following the keynote conversation there will be a pair of panel discussions with educators and business leaders discussing their partnerships.
The first panel will include: Andy Stith, president of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School; Angie Sandoval, community involvement analyst for Johnson Controls; Blanca Gonzales, executive director of i.c.stars and Sarah Dollhausen-Clark, assistant director of talent partnerships and pipeline for Northwestern Mutual.
The second panel will include: Hank Kohl, president and CEO of MPE Inc.; Amy Levek, principal of Whitefish Bay High School; Danny McCormick, director of career programs and partnerships at Carmen Schools of Science & Technology; and Kari Conradt, president of Amplify Graphics & Branding.
After the panel discussions there will be a number of roundtable discussions featuring more business leaders and educators to talk about how they partner. Attendees will be able to sit in on up to three 15-minute roundtable sessions. The roundtable participants will include:
- Abby Andrietsch of Augustine Preparatory Academy and Julie Tolan of Lauber Partners
- Anthony McHenry of Milwaukee Academy of Science and Bill Reitman of Briggs & Stratton
- Chris Her-Xiong, Hmong American Peace Academy and Jason Handal, Northwestern Mutual
- Marikris Coryell of Joan Antida High School and Tim Anheuser of Kapur and Assoc. Inc.
- Karen Hunt of Tenor High School
- Blanca Gonzales of c.stars and Sarah Dollhausen-Clark of Northwestern Mutual
- Jeremy Joecks of GPS Education Partners, Amy Levek of Whitefish Bay High School and Hank Kohl of MPE Inc.
- Lynda Kohler of SHARP Literacy
- Allison Wagner of All-In Milwaukee and Ray Manista of Northwestern Mutual
- Marco Morrison of College Possible
- Andy Stith of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and Angie Sandoval of Johnson Controls
- Danny McCormick of Carmen Schools of Science & Technology and Kari Conradt of Amplify Graphics
- Erin Cherney of Milwaukee Public Schools youth apprenticeship program
- Al Keith of Milwaukee College Prep and Leslie Dixon, Milwaukee College Prep board member and former chief human resources officer of Robert W. Baird & Co.
- Brian Couch of Seton Catholic School
- Krysta DeBoer for the Center for Urban Teaching, Craig Shuler and John Mullins of DigiCOPY
- Michael Frohna of 3DE By Junior Achievement of Wisconsin
- Cheryle Rebholz of Northshore Classical Academy
Click here to register for the event or for more information, including the opportunity to be a table captain, which includes a table for 10, logo recognition and more.
The Milwaukee Education Spotlight event is sponsored by Northwestern Mutual. Supporting sponsors are Catholic Financial Life and We Energies.
