Supporting Patrons to Obtain In-Demand Credentials That Boost Employability and Career Mobility

Panelists

Emily Felt (she/they) is the adult services coordinator for Sno-Isle Libraries, which includes support for small business and job seekers in Island and Snohomish counties in the state of Washington. Felt has been with Sno-Isle Libraries since 2010, and serves as the primary contact for Sno-Isle Libraries’ participation in the Washington State Library’s Learn, Practice, Certify program.

Haley Glover is the strategy director for state action and equity at Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. In that role, she leads Lumina’s efforts to mobilize states to act in ways that support student success and reduce racial disparities in credential attainment.

Prior to joining Lumina, Glover served as associate commissioner for policy and planning studies at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. She has also served as director of fiscal and administrative policy for the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, and as a fiscal policy analyst for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance.

Early in her career, Glover served as a researcher for the Center for Economic Competitiveness at the Hudson Institute and as a development associate for the National Dance Institute of New Mexico.

Karsten Heise joined the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) in April 2012 initially as technology commercialization director and then continued as director of strategic programs.

He leads Innovation Based Economic Development (IBED) in Nevada. As part of IBED, he created and manages Nevada’s State Small Business Credit Initiative Venture Capital Program. He also leads and overseas the ‘Nevada Knowledge Fund’ to spur commercialization at the state’s research institutions and to foster research and development engagements with the private sector, as well as supporting local entrepreneurial ecosystems and individual startups. In addition, Heise is deeply familiar with the European vocational training system. This experience inspired the development of the ”Learn and Earn Advanced Career Pathway” (LEAP) framework in Nevada, which progressed to becoming the standard template for developing career pathway models in the state. He is deeply passionate about continuously developing new workforce development approaches dealing with the consequences of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

After working in libraries since age twelve, Elizabeth Iaukea received her MLIS from Florida State University in 1999. Her first position as a “professional” librarian was at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a public access computer trainer for the U.S. Library Program. In the twenty years since, she has worked for the Washington State Library and for multiple public libraries in Western Washington. She's currently at the State Library as a workforce development librarian. The dominant theme across her career has been supporting library staff and their communities to gain and maintain the skills needed to remain relevant and competitive in their chosen fields, with a focus on digital skills.

Tammy Westergard has advanced job recovery, STEM learning, career credentialing, and workforce training adapted to Nevada’s economic needs. Her work to modernize workforce programs through deployment of virtual reality resources has led to grant funding for new job seeker services. As project director for the U.S. Department of Education’s Reimagine Workforce Preparation Grant Program, her multiyear charter includes additional integration of 3D and virtual reality content to advance labor market literacy. Through Nevada’s public libraries equitable access to these powerful resources to upskill into living wage jobs is amplified. Prior to this, Westergard served as Nevada State Librarian and division administrator at the Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records. Westergard is a member of the American Library Association, Public Library Association, Nevada Library Association, Association of Records Managers and Administrators, and Beta Phi Mu International Library and Information Studies Honor Society. She also serves as an International Advisory Board member for the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation.