Highlights - Day 1

 

GSSC’s Board of Directors met the morning of the 11th. The meeting convened with lunch and a 10th anniversary video, a look back at GSSC's history and accomplishments, followed by the opening keynote by Emily DeRocco, CEO and founder of E3–Engage Educate Employ, a consulting practice focused on linking education, workforce and economic development assets for competitive advantage. DeRocco is the immediate past president of The Manufacturing Institute and served as the assistant secretary of Labor under the Bush administration. DeRocco’s remarks, Building a Strong and Steady Maritime Workforce is Both an Economic and a National Security Imperative, emphasized the critical need of a skilled workforce, discussed the challenges facing the industry, and advocated for a national workforce system. Setting the tone for the meeting, sessions that followed featured best practice models from state workforce systems in Alabama and Mississippi and regional and employer-driven initiatives designed with a singular focus–to work together to build the talent pipeline for the maritime industry.

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Following Emily on Tuesday were: 
 

• Nancy Martin, Training Specialist at Electric Boat. Nancy was instrumental in developing Electric Boat’s Pipeline Programs with local secondary and community colleges, as well as working with state leaders to secure funding to execute the strategic initiatives associated with the program. Her session, Bridging the Needs of Industry and Education: The Electric Boat Model, showcased how Electric Boat worked with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training and state education leaders to establish the Pipeline to Manufacturing Careers in Shipbuilding,  to address the shipbuilder’s talent shortages.
   

• John Laney, Senior Director for Workforce Development for the Alabama State Department of Education, introduced the group to the Simulated Workplace model during his session, Employabiity Skills Initiatives in Career and Technical Education.
   

• John Havlik, Senior Workforce Development Manager with NCCER updated the group on NMEC’s national maritime workforce system and introduced the Hard Hat Heroes program, which is working to give veterans credit for training they received in the military and providing them with industry-recognized credentials, allowing employers to tap into this valuable talent pipeline in his presentation, NCCER Developments and Updates.
   

Highlights - Day 2
 

• Curt Eyesink, Executive Director for Workforce Solutions for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, discussed the Louisiana’s award-winning workforce initiatives in his presentation, Good to Great: When Industry’s Needs Drives Workforce Training.
   

• NMEC and the Talent Imperative, Executive Director of the National Maritime Education Council (NMEC), discussed NMEC and the Talent Imperative. With calls for a 350-ship Navy, an aging workforce, and competition among industry sectors for workers with the same skill sets, a perfect storm is brewing in terms of the future talent pipeline.
   

• Mark Scott, Manager of Resource Development for Training at Ingalls Shipbuilding along with representatives from participating schools and school systems in Mississippi showcased the Shipbuilder Academy, a pilot Career Tech program designed to expose high school seniors to the career pathways available in shipbuilding and repair in his session, The Importance of Local Partnerships: The Shipbuilders Academy.