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Denise Bissonnette |
After completing her Masters Degree in Multicultural Education at the University of San Francisco, Denise began to work in ESL programs. Her early literacy work with political refugees drew her to the difficulties that they faced in trying to establish themselves in American workplace. In response, she made a career change and became a Job Developer – working with employers to secure jobs for people from groups that were not traditionally part of the workforce.
Her extraordinary success as a job developer led to requests for her to share her expertise with other practitioners and organizations. Soon, as a partner in the firm of Milt Wright & Associates, Denise was in demand throughout North America - delivering seminars to Job Developers and Employment Specialists throughout the Employment and Training field.
Denise's job search curriculum, Pathways, became a cornerstone for the placement services of many social service agencies and educational systems. Her book Beyond Traditional Job Development stands as the definitive text for job development professionals throughout the continent. Denise's early program Crossroads and the later Cultivating the Spirit to Work respond to the “motivational” issues encountered in clients of placement services. Her revolutionary concept of “activity-based placement” led to the development of the comprehensive Cultivating True Livelihood curriculum. Denise's new 30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee is a proactive response to emerging job retention issues.
Concurrent to her work in the arena of Human Services, Denise has worked closely with the Corporate sector. Companies like Oracle, EDS, Hyatt Hotels and the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) have drawn on her expertise to enhance their Workforce Diversity efforts.
In recent years, Denise has also been called upon to design training programs and manuals to enable companies to effectively engage the talents of employees emerging from welfare-to-work initiatives. These are primarily tools for Managers and Supervisors to skillfully deal with the diverse backgrounds and experiences that these individuals are bringing to the workplace. Developing the New Employee (training curriculum) and Helping the New Employee Succeed (supervisor handbook) are exciting products that have emerged from this work.
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Jane Oates |
Jane Oates was nominated by President Barack Obama to join Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis’ leadership team at the Department of Labor in April, 2009. Confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training on June 19, 2009, she now leads the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) in its mission to design and deliver high-quality training and employment programs for our nation’s workers.
Prior to her appointment, Ms. Oates served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and Senior Advisor to Governor Jon S. Corzine. In that position Oates worked to strengthen the connections among high school, post-secondary education and the workforce.
Ms. Oates served for nearly a decade as Senior Policy Advisor for Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy. She worked closely with the Senator on a variety of education, workforce and national service legislative initiatives, including the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
Ms. Oates began her career as a teacher in the Boston and Philadelphia public schools and later as a field researcher at Temple University’s Center for Research in Human Development and Education. She received her BA in Education from Boston College, and an M.Ed in Reading from Arcadia University.
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SPONSORED BY :
THE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT NETWORK FOR MARYLAND
THE MARYLAND INSTITUTE FOR WORKFORCE EXCELLENCE
THE MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, LICENSING AND REGULATION