Virtual

Friday, June 26, 2015 2:00 PM ~ 3:00 PM ET

The LEADERs Kickoff Webinar is the inaugural meeting of leading American apprenticeship organizations to discuss opportunities to support the campaign to expand Apprenticeships across the United States. The Department’s ApprenticeshipUSA initiative engages businesses and organizations across all industries to discuss the value of Registered Apprenticeship, and to encourage it’s greater adoption as a key workforce strategy.

Description

During the State of the Union, President Obama called on more businesses to offer apprenticeship opportunities. The next day, he formally kicked off the LEADERs initiative for companies and organizations to support his goal of expanding apprenticeship opportunities in the United States. Key goals for ApprenticeshipUSA LEADERs include:
  • Transforming the image of Apprenticeship;
  • Recruiting Leaders and Champions to promote Apprenticeship in new industries and advance innovative Apprenticeship models;
  • Creating mechanisms and infrastructure to support industry-based expansion efforts; and
  • Building public-private partnerships and other mechanisms to accelerate apprenticeship adoption and innovation.
Since February, the Department has done outreach to a variety of leading organizations seeking commitments to apprenticeship expansion, and in turn, LEADERs have offered to support the goal in tangible ways, including:
  • Promoting and expanding Apprenticeships within their industry, geographic location, and supply chains;
  • Committing to improving program quality and rigor by supporting registration of work-based learning;
  • Disseminating innovative practices and partnerships; and
  • Increasing access for under-represented and underserved populations in apprenticeship.
The webinar is the inaugural meeting of the LEADERs, an informational follow-up to the President’s call, and a planning meeting to review how businesses, unions, colleges, and others will support our shared apprenticeship goals.

Moderator(s)

John Ladd, Administrator, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Apprenticeship

Presenter(s)

Eric Seleznow, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Apprenticeship

Ken Rigmaiden, President, International Union of Painter and Allied Trades

Joerg Klish, Vice President of Operations, MTU America, Inc.