Thank you to all who attended!
Thank you for attending our Inaugural CareerRise Workforce Excellence Summit! Together, with our workforce, funder, and industry partners from across the Metro Atlanta region, CareerRise celebrated its 10-year anniversary and envisioned regional workforce strategies for the future. The event was a great success and your presence was the biggest highlight.
The CareerRise Workforce Excellence Summit is a day of celebration and learning as we recognize people and partnerships doing great work, explore workforce equity and job quality, and examine industry partnership strategies. The inaugural event, held on May 19, 2022 at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, celebrated the accomplishments of our workforce development partners and provide an opportunity to bring together Industry and Workforce Partners from across the Metro Atlanta region to advance economic mobility and promote regional prosperity.
CareerRise Celebration Video
Hear from CareerRise’s executive Director, John Helton, United Way of Greater Atlanta’s President and CEO, Milton Little, Jr., and CareerRise Board Member and Community Advocate, Ann Cramer, as they highlight CareerRise’s foundation, present, and future.
CareerRise: Building the Foundation for a Skilled Workforce
PANELISTS
CareerRise President & CEO
With a Kennesaw State University public and social services degree fresh in hand, a very green John Helton began his career as a DFCS child protective services investigator, ultimately learning the ins and outs of human services by serving in progressive roles managing childcare, volunteer, and community development programs before being appointed deputy director of Cobb County Department of Family and Children Services. Discovering his passion for helping create opportunities for people, John then spent 19 years as the founding president and CEO of CobbWorks, Inc. and WorkSource Cobb, the local workforce development board, until assuming leadership of CareerRise, Inc. in June 2019. John has served on boards of numerous workforce development and civic organizations at the local, state, and national levels including president of the Southeastern Employment & Training Association (SETA). John currently serves as chair of the Metro Atlanta eXchange (MAX) for Workforce Solutions as well as president of his neighborhood association in the historic Summerhill neighborhood of Atlanta. John is an avid traveler, but when home, he enjoys cooking a good meal for family and friends and caretaking his often neurotic and frequently aggressive rescue poodle, Duncan.
“In another life, I’m pretty sure I was a creative writer of anything other than policy memos.”
The Cinda Herndon-King Award for
Excellence in Workforce Partnerships
Cinda Herndon-King founded and led CareerRise from its inception in 2011 until her retirement in 2019. In partnership with the National Fund for Workforce Solutions and local funders, Dr. Herndon-King began supporting and cultivating industry partnerships in the metro Atlanta region. She helped metro Atlanta workforce practitioners understand how these partnerships could benefit the region, break down silos, increase access to opportunity for local workers and resolve employer workforce needs. During her tenure, CareerRise made investments in healthcare, maintenance, manufacturing, construction, transportation, distribution and logistics, hospitality, and information technology; enrolling nearly 800 individuals resulting in over 2,000 industry recognized credentials. She was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the network that CareerRise now refers to as its Industry Partnership Network. Thanks to her hard work and dedication, CareerRise has become a trusted and critical partner to all workforce development practitioners in the metro Atlanta region.
The Cinda Herndon-King Award for Excellence in Workforce Partnerships award reflects the excellence of Cinda’s work and honors an organization that has demonstrated innovation in creating collaborative, employer-driven career training programs in our metro Atlanta region. The organization we honor creates family-sustaining wage opportunities and career pathways, and champions economic mobility. This recognition will be awarded annually based on criteria and evaluation established by the CareerRise Funder Council.
Awardee of the 2022 Cinda Herndon-King Award for
Excellence in Workforce Partnerships
Equity@Work: Strengthening the Foundation
PANELISTS
Director, Workforce Policy
Vice President and Community Affairs Officer at Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Karen Leone de Nie is vice president and community affairs officer in the community and economic development (CED) group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. She is responsible for building partnerships and leading research efforts related to community and economic development issues with the objective of improving the policy environment and facilitating sustainable community development practices. She works with colleagues in the Sixth District (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) and throughout the Fed system to study a variety of community and economic development issues, including foreclosure, small business development, and unemployment.
Prior to joining the Atlanta Fed, she was a researcher at Georgia Tech’s Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development, which does applied research to help communities achieve sound and equitable development through planning and policy. Leone de Nie also worked for the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan planning organization, focusing on real estate development and environmental resource management.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and son.
Metro Atlanta Chamber
The Doug Hooker Award for
Excellence in Workforce Equity
Doug Hooker was the executive director of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) until his retirement in March 2022. As head of the official planning organization for the 10-county, 70-city Atlanta region, he oversaw regional planning programs in the areas of transportation, community development, land use, water and natural resources, aging services, workforce development and more. During his career, Doug served on boards and councils almost too numerous to count; he continues his community service in retirement, including service on the board of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and a recent appointment to the board of the Atlanta Housing Authority. Doug has been a leading voice in pushing for systemic and institutional changes for increased equity.
The Doug Hooker Award for Equity in Workforce recognizes businesses, organizations and partnerships bringing together employers, education and workforce development entities, and economic development organizations as a key economic driver to achieve a more equitable workforce. This recognition will be awarded annually based on criteria and evaluation established by the CareerRise Funder Council.
Awardees of the 2022 Doug Hooker Award for
Excellence in Workforce Equity
Building Our Future: Quality Careers + Workplaces
PANELISTS
Epi Breads
Wellstar Health System
National Fund for Workforce Solutions
The Mike Kenig Award for
Excellence in Quality Careers
A man of many hats, Mike Kenig dedicated his career to making a difference in the construction industry and in workforce development advocacy. Prior to his retirement at the end of 2021, Mike Kenig was the Vice Chairman of Holder Construction Company. Outside his work at Holder, Mike has served in a leadership position in several components of the regional workforce development system including: Business Leaders United (BLU) for Workforce Partnerships, the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Educated Workforce Council, the Georgia High Demand Career Initiative Construction Industry Task Force, TradeFive Advisory Council, the GaDOE CTAE Advisory Committee, Atlanta College & Career Academy, GaDOE School Counselors Advisory Council, WorkSource Atlanta, NCCER, and the Associated General Contractors of Georgia. Additionally, Mike served on the CareerRise Leadership Council. In short, Mike has been “Mr. Workforce” and a tireless advocate for our work for many years.
The Mike Kenig Award for Excellence in Quality Careers recognizes high performing businesses that have risen to workforce challenges by implementing innovative practices and strategies in support of their employees to create high quality jobs and workplaces. The employers recognized with this award have a track record of strong engagement and interest supporting workforce initiatives through partnerships, career pathways, and professional development. This recognition will be awarded annually based on criteria and evaluation established by the CareerRise Funder Council.
Awardees of the 2022 Mike Kenig Award for
Excellence in Quality Careers
