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LAEDC CCW releases its inaugural report on workforce development

An analysis of the workforce needs of Los Angeles County and Orange County indicates a shortage of skilled workers, but area community colleges can close this gap.
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The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation’s Center for a Competitive Workforce released its first report on the state of the workforce Tuesday morning at its Future Forum.

The CCW report, entitled L.A. & Orange County Community Colleges: Powering Economic Opportunity is the initial step in developing the future workforce for Los Angeles and Orange County, an economic region home to millions of residents. Today’s report is the foundation for more collaboration between the region’s community colleges and the LAEDC to identify workforce development solutions aligned with the needs of employers.

The study’s authors found that the LA Basin’s community colleges, the largest supplier of skilled workers, may not meet the demands of local industries in the near future. This is leading to a skills gap where workers are increasingly disconnected from growth industries and employers are deprived of skilled workers.

“This report offers great information for the colleges and will spur partnerships with local businesses, and I think this report will also help inform students, who ultimately drive demand for programs and classes in the community college system,” said Bill Scroggins, President of Mt. San Antonio College.

The CCW identified 20 middle-skilled occupations in growth industries (e.g. bioscience, advanced manufacturing, health care) and how the community college system is preparing students to enter these careers. By 2021, the CCW said, only 58 percent of the workforce needs of employers will be met because current students are not within pathways for the jobs of the future.

They found that only 7,800 awards awarded during the 2014-2015 academic year – comprised of graduate degrees or certifications – were for careers within these key occupations. At this rate, there will be a workforce shortage for the approximately 67,450 job openings for these occupations over the next five years, the study said.

“This report is filled with valuable data and we hope that post-secondary institutions and businesses utilize this information in meaningful ways, Gary Toebben, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce said. “This data can guide decisions on investments necessary to fill existing skills gaps and help build better systems that tightly align workforce development with local business/industry need.”

To read the entire report: click 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.