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It’s the first Monday of the new year and, for many, it’s time to resume their search for new work or programs that can help them gain new skills. According to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6.9 million people are currently out of work and millions more are underemployed and looking for better-paying jobs.

WorkingNation is always checking out where the local opportunities might be in your state. Here’s some of what we found this week.

From Arizona: Arizona Republic reports a modular home manufacturer has struck a deal with the Navajo Nation and is locating a new facility on the site of a former coal plant – bringing about 100 jobs to the area.

From Colorado: The Gazette reports a Denver restaurant is providing training for immigrants and refugees who want to work in the food industry.

From Hawaii: University of Hawai’i News reports federal funding will boost community college career and technical education programs for Native Hawaiian students.

From Louisiana: Mass Transit reports the transit authority in New Orleans is creating a job training program for people who have records for non-violent offenses.

From North Carolina: Textile World reports a children’s wear manufacturer is expanding its production in Greensboro – creating 116 new jobs.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

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.