1200 18th Street NW • Suite 200 • Washington, DC 20036 • p (202) 906.8000 • f (202) 842.2885 • www.clasp.org
2
April 6, 2009 Kwame Holman joined The NewsHour in 1983 as a producer/correspondent and became a congressional correspondent in 1992. Prior to joining The NewsHour, he was a reporter and producer for the CBS affiliate WTOC in Savannah, Georgia. He has also served as a public relations consultant to the National Summit Conference on Black Economic Development and as a special assistant to the president of the Children's Defense Fund. During 1980, Holman was acting press secretary to the Mayor of the District of Columbia.
Holman's reporting for The NewsHour has earned him two national awards for journalistic excellence: a George Polk Award for National Television Reporting in 1984 for his reporting on violence and abortion clinics and, in 1985, an Emmy Award for his reporting on the nation's farm crisis.
William E. Brock is founder and senior partner of The Brock Group, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm specializing in international trade, investment, and human resource and labor-management issues.
A former member of the United States Senate from Tennessee, Sen. Brock served in Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet as the U.S. Trade Representative from 1981 to 1985 and Secretary of Labor from 1985 to 1987. As Secretary of Labor, he was instrumental in initiating the landmark study of workforce and workplace demographic trends entitled "Workforce 2000." He was widely credited with restoring the department’s mission and morale, reinvigorating its role in advancing labor-management cooperation, and achieving the passage of landmark pension reforms.
Among his educational and workforce development leadership roles, Senator Brock co-chaired the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce (with former Secretary Ray Marshall), the Secretary’s Commission on Necessary Skills (SCANS Commission), the Wingspread Group on Higher Education, and served as a member of President Bush’s Advisory Committee on Education. In recognition of these and other initiatives, the National Academy of Human Resources awarded him its’ highest Award for “lifetime achievement in human development.” He is Senior Counselor and Trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he chairs the International Policy Roundtable.
Steve Gunderson is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Foundations, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit membership association of about 1,800 grant making foundations and corporations. Prior to joining the Council, Gunderson served as the Senior Consultant and the Managing Director of the Washington office of The Greystone Group, a Michigan-based strategic management and communications consulting firm.
During his 16 years in the U.S. Congress and three terms in the Wisconsin State Legislature, he focused on preparing America’s citizens, and indirectly the organizations supporting them, for the 21st century global economy. Gunderson retired from public service in 1996. During his tenure, Gunderson was a recognized leader on agriculture, education, employment policy, health care and human rights issues. Gunderson’s distinguished career also included leadership roles on AIDS policy, modernization of our nation’s employment policy, lifelong learning, community learning centers, and job training policies for a
1200 18th Street NW • Suite 200 • Washington, DC 20036 • p (202) 906.8000 • f (202) 842.2885 • www.clasp.org
3 global hi-tech economy. He served as the Co-Chair of the bipartisan Rural Health Care Coalition and on the boards of Gallaudet University, the Mary Fisher Family AIDS Network and the Human Rights Campaign. April 6, 2009
As a recognized expert on workforce policy, Mr. Gunderson has lectured widely from Harvard University to The Brookings Institution. He recently served as the lead author for the book, The Jobs Revolution: Changing How America Works.
Kathryn O’Leary Higgins served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor in the Clinton administration from 1997 to 1999 and in the White House as Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet from 1995 to 1997. She also served Acting Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts and Vice Chair of the Presidential Commission on U.S. Coast Guard Roles and Missions.
In her capacity as Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet, she worked closely with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, and Coast Guard on a number of matters, including the 1996 ValuJet 597 and TWA 800 accidents, formulation and implementation of hazardous materials regulations, increasing inspector staffing, FAA reauthorization, and creation of the NTSB Office of Family Assistance. She was awarded Distinguished Service medals by the FAA and Coast Guard for her work. In 2006 she was appointed as a member of the NSTB.
From 1993 to 1995, Ms. Higgins served as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Labor. She prior served as Chief of Staff to Congressman Sander Levin for seven years and Senior Legislative Associate and Minority Staff Director with the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee for five years. From 1978 to 1981, Ms. Higgins was with the White House Domestic Policy Council as Assistant Director for Employment Policy.
Ms. Higgins began her career in 1969 as a Manpower Specialist with the Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.
Roberts T. Jones served Presidents Reagan and Bush as Assistant Secretary of Labor. In this capacity, he was responsible for federal workforce development and training policy addressing the significant changes in work and the workplace. He played a key role in the Hudson Institute’s landmark research project and report, Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Century, and was responsible for the Department of Labor’s SCANS Commission, which for the first time spelled out the skills necessary for success in the workplace. Jones is widely credited with helping make personnel development a top priority of the nation’s public policy agenda.
Jones has also served as the President and CEO of the National Alliance of Business, has held senior positions in two major U.S. corporations and was Chief of Staff to two U.S. Congressman. He has been engaged in part with every major advance in education, training and workforce legislation for the past 40 years.
Jones serves on the Boards of the ACT (American College Testing), the Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF), the UAW-LETC, Jones International University, and the Board of Advisors for the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources at the University of Texas. He is a Commissioner on
1200 18th Street NW • Suite 200 • Washington, DC 20036 • p (202) 906.8000 • f (202) 842.2885 • www.clasp.org
4 the Senior College Accreditation Commission of the Western Association of Colleges and Universities (WASC) and a member of the AAC&U National Leadership Council for Liberal Education & America's Promise (LEAP). He recently completed serviceApril on 6, the2009 Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) 10th Anniversary Commission and the board of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).
He co-authored The Jobs Revolution: Changing How America Works, which brings a unique perspective to the public policy trends that impact our nation’s education and training systems. He often serves as a commentator on economic and workforce issues on CNN, CNBC and National Public Radio.
Jones is currently the President of Education & Workforce Policy, LLC, a consulting firm whose singular focus is the advancement of education, training and workforce policy. He also serves as the President of the MTC Institute, the policy and research arm of the Management and Training Corp.
Ray Marshall was appointed U.S. Secretary of Labor by Jimmy Carter. During his tenure, the Department of Labor played a major role in Carter's economic stimulus program, instituting major expansions in public service and job training programs. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) programs were strengthened and "common sense priorities" led to focus on major health problems. Mine Safety and Health Administration was moved into the Labor Department and strengthened to protect the nation's miners. Many federal equal employment opportunity programs were consolidated under Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, and women's programs were strengthened. The Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy was created and employment-based immigration programs were strengthened.
Marshall was a member of the Clinton administration's National Skills Standards Board and the Advisory Commission on Labor Diplomacy. In addition, he co-chaired the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce with Bill Brock, is a founder and member of the board of the Economic Policy Institute, and a member of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy. He is also co-chair of the board of the National Center on Education and the Economy and is the President Emeritus of the International Labor Rights Fund.
Marshall is author of more than 30 books and monographs, including Thinking for a Living: Education and the Wealth of Nations, and Back to Shared Prosperity. A member of the UT Austin faculty since 1962, he joined the LBJ School of Public Policy in 1981 He retired from teaching in 1998.
1200 18th Street NW • Suite 200 • Washington, DC 20036 • p (202) 906.8000 • f (202) 842.2885 • www.clasp.org