Two trends are of note, according to education investor Ryan Craig, managing director of Achieve Partners. Tech investing and education to employment.
Even with the growing focus on improving digital skills for all, many are still being left behind in the digital economy. Achieve Partners invests in technologies and business models “to bolster skill development and secure the future of work for millions of Americans.”
Says Craig, “We have a fund that we’ve just launched where we’re building apprenticeships into business services companies that operate in skill gap sectors of the economy.”
“But with all of these sorts of intermediaries that help bridge the gap between the education ecosystem and employers, and employment, we’re seeing a ton of interest in those companies and companies similar to ed tech companies that have achieved some scale in that space are trading at a significant premium.”
He continues, “Last mile training is the term that we’ve coined to reflect what we think the gap is between what employers are currently demanding and what our education ecosystem is providing. It’s primarily a combination of specific tech skills, tech stacks, platform skills that really colleges and universities don’t train on much, if at all.”
“And the second element is understanding the landscape of business and business processes and how these companies and industries work, which is not something that even business schools do a very good job.”
Click here to learn more about Achieve Partners.
WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—spoke with Craig in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.
Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.
Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard
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Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.
Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.
Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.
Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.
Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.
Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.
