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As the nature of work continues to change with advancements in technology, so are the expectations of educators to prepare students for the jobs of the future. In response, many cities are taking it upon themselves to transform their community’s education system to give their citizens a leg up in today’s economy and level the playing field for everyone.

Over the past couple of days, WGBH, Boston’s local NPR, has been examining college completion efforts and higher education innovation in and around Dayton, Ohio.

Part One: How Dayton Is Banking on Its Community College

Kirk Carapezza from WGBH’s Higher Education Desk visits Sinclair Community College in the post-industrial city of Dayton, Ohio to profile one of the most affordable community colleges in the country that has adopted a specialized education format to help train its students for good-paying jobs that are available in their community.

The result: 96 percent of its students stick around after graduation and more than double their income.

Click here to read the full story.

Part Two: Ohio Bets Big On ‘Early College’ For Underprivileged Students

Kirk Carapezza visits Jefferson Township in Ohio to profile Jefferson High School’s “early college” program, which gives its low-income students the opportunity to earn college credits, even two-year degrees, for free.

The result: While it’s hard to tell if it’s working since the program is only two years old, its mission and impact on those who take advantage of it is undeniable. It provides “hope for the hopeless,” as Jefferson Superintendent Richard Gates puts it. This spring, when Monteia Smith graduates from Jefferson, she will be the first in her family to earn any kind of college degree.

Click here to read the full story.

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.