News and Events

Corporate Voices 9th Annual Meeting: Growing New Jobs/Growing the Workforce: What Will It Take?

Event Date:

May 5, 2010 - May 6, 2010

Corporate Voices for Working Families was very pleased to welcome its corporate partners and guests to the Ninth Annual Partners Meeting on May 5-6, 2010. The theme of the meeting was: Growing New Jobs/Growing The Workforce – What Will It Take? Experts, high-level speakers in the Administration and Congress, and the business community had the opportunity to discuss how to grow the economy and workforce in a sustainable way. Speakers also talked about what policies are necessary to meet the needs of increasingly important sectors of the workforce.

We were fortunate to welcome Mark Milliron, Ph.D, deputy director for postsecondary improvement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Patricia Harris, global chief diversity officer at McDonald’s Corporation, and Martha Smith, Ph.D, president of Anne Arundel Community College. They discussed the importance of training and workforce readiness, as well as the positive role the business community and community colleges can play in creating opportunities for practical training in the workforce. Christina Tchen, executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, also presented at the annual meeting, and discussed the work of the Council on Women and Girls and praised Corporate Voices’ leadership and work on workplace flexibility. She said, “Corporate Voices brings corporate America together to share a voice for women, girls, and families.”

Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Martha Coven, special assistant to the president for mobility and opportunity on the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Jane Oates, assistant secretary of the Employment and Training Administration at the Department of Labor, joined us on the second day to discuss their priorities and the priorities of the executive branch in workforce development, and modernizing the workforce to meet the needs of 21st century families. In the domestic policy-making process, Martha Coven commented on the value of Corporate Voices, saying, “It’s terrific to have a group like Corporate Voices working on these issues—they represent a voice from across the aisle and from business to weigh in with a credible voice.”

Senator Michael Enzi gave the closing keynote speech and highlighted the important work of Corporate Voices in these areas.

Photos, presentations, the agenda, and handouts from the annual meeting are available using the links below.