Since becoming CEO of EmployIndy in December 2025, I’ve committed to getting out into the community and seeing the work in person whenever possible. At one of our neighborhood community centers, I walked through their child care space and watched kids run up to hug the executive director. At Warren Adult Education Center, I saw how helping someone earn their high school equivalency or learn English can change the opportunities they see for themselves. Each visit and conversation with EmployIndy’s partners came down to the same simple truth. When people are looking for support, they want someone they can trust and a clear path forward.

When someone knows your name and cares what happens to you, you feel it. Many of us remember a teacher, counselor, or neighbor who helped us see new possibilities or guided the decisions about our future. Incredible people across Indianapolis offer that support every day.

Over these first several months, I’ve had a lot of lunches, coffees, and conversations with employers, educators, community partners, funders, and our staff. I wanted to deepen my understanding of EmployIndy’s place in Indianapolis and how we could better help our city’s residents and employers. Those conversations have made me more excited about this job and clarified what we need to do next.

Our partners bring tremendous expertise and commitment to this work. Yet residents and employers often struggle to find their way through disconnected resources or even an entry point. We need to help our partners build on each other’s strengths, make services more accessible, and make our network of workforce partners easier to navigate.

I remember getting out of college and finding that I didn’t like the job I’d prepared for. My degree and social network helped me find another direction. I had room to try again. I was lucky. Someone with fewer resources or connections has to weigh those decisions much more carefully. For someone working and raising a family, earning a credential can mean finding child care and making time for training while keeping up with the bills. And after making that investment, will an employer hire them at a wage that makes it worth it?

I know Indianapolis residents have the talent and work ethic to succeed. We need to help them find a path that fits their reality. The more time I’ve spent with our partners, the clearer our direction has become. We need to build on the relationships people already trust and make it easier for residents and employers to find the right help. Those conversations, along with input from more than 610 residents and stakeholders, have helped shape EmployIndy’s next strategic plan, which will guide our work through 2029. We will share the full details of our plan soon, but in summary, it is about making choices about where to invest our time and resources.

We need to strengthen what we do well and recognize where a partner brings the expertise and relationships to lead. The community organizations I visited know their neighborhoods and have earned residents’ trust. We can build on those relationships by connecting our community partners with employers, training opportunities, and resources that help them reach more people and expand their support.

Listening has shaped how I think about leadership, too. We need each other to do this well. I need to help our staff and partners succeed and keep us focused on the people we’re serving. I also need to hold us accountable for delivering what we promise. As we advocate for better wages and greater economic mobility, we also have to act on the things we can influence now.

I’m a data guy, so I’ll be watching what changes. As more people enter the workforce, are they finding jobs? Are we able to hold the unemployment rate down? Are household incomes growing? Many factors beyond EmployIndy’s work influence those measures, but they help us gauge whether our community is moving in the right direction. We also need to follow the progress of the people we support, including whether they earn more and advance in their careers over time.

In the next few years, I want residents to find thoughtful career guidance at WorkOne Indy, in their neighborhood community center, or on their phone. There should be no wrong door for workforce services in our community, whether a resident or an employer. Wherever someone starts, they should reach people who understand their goals and help them take the next step. I want our partners to feel confident telling someone, “They’ll take good care of you there.” And I want employers to know they can turn to us for help finding and developing local talent.

We need each other to make that happen. If you’re an employer with a talent challenge or a community organization helping residents move forward, I want to hear from you. Tell us where you’re getting stuck and where we can help. Indianapolis has the talent. Our job is to help people prepare that talent for careers that support them and their families.