Mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbia, South Carolina is proud that his administration has created a pathway to careers during his nearly 12 years in office. “Our greatest contribution to the city has probably been our investment in the infrastructure and the jobs created as a result of it. Not just infrastructure – taking advantage of the low cost of capital offered by the markets the last decade or so – but also our investment in green infrastructure, building infrastructure that lasts the test of time.”
WorkingNation sat down with Mayor Benjamin at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, jobs, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.
“We were able in the wake of the 1,000-year flood in 2015 – the greatest natural disaster we had in our city’s history – to pass the green bond. The largest and maybe only stand-alone storm water green bond in the history of the country that was certified green by the Climate Bonds Initiative.”
That job creation has come with strong efforts to ensure a more inclusive workforce. Benjamin says, “We have a local preference policy putting local people to work utilizing national, international capital to support that growth.”
“You have to be very intentional to try and drive people into the sectors where there will be good jobs and high-paying jobs. We want more jobs. We want high-paying jobs and, if we’re lucky, jobs that also have benefits. We have a very good apprenticeship program in South Carolina, buy usually focused on advanced manufacturing. But (we’re) working closely with our technical college system, driving more and more men and women, particularly those who live in the two bottom quintiles of our economy, into construction jobs.”
Benjamin’s is in his third term and says he is not seeking re-election in November. He credits his time in office as giving his now-teenage daughters the opportunity to participate in and celebrate the American Dream. “What motivated me to run for mayor in the first place, and has served as my foundation in public life, is a recognition that so many children are not as fortunate as the Benjamin girls.”
“If we do what we’re supposed to do, then every child – regardless of where they are from, what zip code, what census track, regardless of who their parents are – will all have the same opportunity that my children have. While opportunity is not universal, talent is.”
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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.
