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Inclusive apprenticeships benefit everyone, so why are there so few for people with disabilities?

A WorkingNation panel discussion from SXSW EDU with Josh Christianson, Zariah Cameron, Mike Hess, and David Fazio
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In this episode of Work in Progress, we share a WorkingNation panel discussion on apprenticeships for people with disabilities from the SXSW EDU conference in March in Austin, Texas.

Moderated by WorkingNation Advisory Board member Josh Christianson, project director for the Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeships at the U.S. Department of Labor and senior specialist at the Cadmus Group, the panel examined apprenticeships as a rarely-tapped source of employment for people with disabilities.

Joining him on the panel were Mike Hess, founder & CEO of The Blind Institute of Technology, David Fazio, founder and president of Helix Opportunity, and Zariah Cameron, an equity UX strategist.

The distinguished group of panelists discuss the importance of inclusive apprenticeships, the benefits for both apprentices and employers, and the need for accessible technology and workplace environments.

They also address challenges such as outdated job descriptions, the lack of support from vocational rehabilitation programs, and the discrimination faced by individuals with disabilities.

The panelists provide resources and suggestions for creating more inclusive apprenticeships and vetting employers to ensure fair treatment of individuals with disabilities.

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

WorkingNation is a proud media partner with SXSW EDU.

Episode 312: Josh Christianson, Zariah Cameron, Mike Hess, and David Fazio
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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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.