My professional identity is very much a change agent, bringing my academic research background as well as my practical knowledge in marketing, sales, and consulting to a variety of innovation initiatives in education and workforce environments. I look for opportunities to use my high level of energy, skills and expertise to address critical challenges facing our country. I firmly believe my educational background and career experiences can become a major asset to any organization. A major theme in my career has been innovation, focusing on starting new programs that address critical needs in a systemic manner. My current work with Innovate+Educate in New Mexico very much echoes this theme of creating new and more effective alignment between education and employers. My more recent goal is to integrate work ethics-- the major concern among employers-- into educational and workforce programs that are designed to connect certified individuals to the workforce. This goal evolved from my work in launching of statewide work and career ready certificate programs in numerous states and communities across the country. Much of my work has been at the state level, using a “partnership” model among legislatures, governor offices, educational entities, public workforce organizations, and private industry. The goal is to create a “common language” for improving and certifying work ethics as well as cognitive skills that are meaningful to the entire education and training system as well as the business community.Specialties: Consulting, training, and business development in the education and workforce arenas