OUR BOARD

From Our Co-Chairs

Detroit is in the midst of robust recovery and growth. We agreed to serve as co-chairs of the Mayor’s Workforce Development Board because we know that Detroiters want to work, and we are thrilled to support the City-wide effort to remove the systematic barriers that prevent all Detroiters from finding employment.

Our board unifies leaders from industry, education, government, philanthropy, labor, and community organizations around a common mission to:

  • Ensure that Detroiters are able to gain the skills and support required to obtain jobs and enter career pathways; and
  • Ensure that Detroit employers can locate City residents with the skills they need to fill jobs.

Our Board has set an audacious goal to employ 40,000 more Detroiters. Our work centers on assembling a portfolio of investments and strategies that will help us to reach this goal. Our efforts to date have included: revitalizing the Randolph Technical Career Center as a hub for developing construction-related skills for both youth and adults, employing over 8,000 young people every summer through Grow Detroit’s Young Talent program, and supporting accelerated and targeted training initiatives that provide Detroiters with career pathways into the skilled trades, manufacturing, information technology, healthcare, and other high-growth, high-demand industries.

Detroiters are building skills that give them access to careers in a rapidly changing Detroit landscape through new and expanded training initiatives. Our success with these training programs shows current and future Detroit employers they can grow in Detroit, and should provide them with confidence that the City is developing a talent pool to sustain their growth.

We have an enormous opportunity to support our City’s economy, and the long-term commitment across every constituency on our board is both unprecedented and impressive. We are honored to work side by side with so many dedicated and talented people in improving our City and the lives of Detroiters.

Cindy Pasky
CEO and President, Strategic Staffing Solutions

Dave Meador
Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer, DTE Energy

Mike Aaron
Business Manager
Laborers’ Local 1191

Dr. Colleen Allen
President & CEO
Autism Alliance of Michigan

Secretary Jocelyn Benson
Secretary of State
State of Michigan

Rick Blocker
President
Metro AFL-CIO

Kofi Bonner
CEO
Bedrock

Bruce Dall
President
Motor City Casino & Hotel

David Dauch
CEO
American Axle Manufacturing

Alessandro DiNello
Chief Executive Officer
Flagstar Bank

Dr. Darienne Driver-Hudson
President & Chief Executive Officer
United Way of Southeast Michigan

Jeff Donofrio
President & CEO
Business Leaders for Michigan

John Fox
Chief Executive Officer
Beaumont Health

Mark Gaffney
Business Agent
Teamsters Local Union 214

Mike Haller
President
Walbridge

Dr. Curtis Ivery
Chancellor
Wayne County Community College District

John James
CEO
James Group International, Inc.

Wright Lassiter, III
CEO
Henry Ford Health System

Conrad Mallett, Jr.
Deputy Mayor
City of Detroit

Mike McLauchlan
Vice President of Government Relations
Illitch Holdings

David Meador
Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer
DTE Energy

Alycia Meriweather
Deputy Superintendent
Detroit Public Schools Community District

Jean Meyer
Chief Operating Officer
Ascension Michigan

Faye Nelson
Director of MI Programs
W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Cindy Pasky
President and CEO
Strategic Staffing Solutions

Mark Reuss
President
General Motors

Andra Rush
Chief Executive Officer
Dakkota Integrated Systems

Calvin Sharp
Executive Vice President, Retired
Penske Corporation

Bill Robinson
Director
Bureau of Services for Blind Persons

Dave Robson
Group Vice President
Walbridge

Michelle Sourie-Robinson
President & CEO
Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council

Toney Stewart
Executive Director
Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights Local 687

Scott Thiele
Chief Procurement Officer
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

Alice Thompson
President and Chief Executive Officer
Black Family Development

Bishop Edgar Vann
Bishop
Second Ebenezer Church

Frank Venegas
Chief Executive Officer
Ideal Group

Carla Walker-Miller
CEO
Walker-Miller Energy Services, LLC

Steven White
CEO
Energy Infrastructure Solutions

Dr. Nikolai Vitti
Superintendent
Detroit Public Schools

Roy Wilson
President
Wayne State University

Nia Winston
President
Unite Here Local 24

Maria Woodruff-Wright
Interim President & CEO
Skillman Foundation