SOF Forum: Working in America, Making America Work
During this half-day, multiple-panel forum, we will examine how the meaning of work in America has significantly shifted in the last half-century. The panels will explore the many forces and issues impacting America’s workforce, including new technologies and the role of artificial intelligence, equity and inclusion in the workplace, work in different geographic areas, and the varying nature of job quality across the United States. We will explore what it means for different individuals and groups to work in America now and how the future of work will look differently. We hope that you will join us for this stimulating and thought-provoking program.
Speakers
Byron G. Auguste was inspired by a diverse set of experiences to conceive and co-found Opportunity@Work in 2015. Prior to co-founding Opportunity@Work, Byron served for 2 years in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, where his policy portfolio included job creation and labor markets, skills and workforce policies, innovation, investment, infrastructure, transportation and goods movement.
Until 2013, Byron was a senior partner at McKinsey & Company in Washington DC and in Los Angeles, where he was elected Principal in 1999 and Director in 2005. Over 20 years at McKinsey, he worked primarily in the fields of technology & communications, information & media, services-based businesses, education, economic development, and innovation, leading McKinsey’s High Tech Services sector from 2002 to 2006, and its global Social Sector from 2007 to 2012. He was also co-author of several McKinsey Global Institute reports, including “Changing the Fortunes of America’s Workforce (2009),” “Growth and Renewal in the United States: Retooling America’s Economic Engine (2011),” and “An Economy That Works: Job Creation and America’s Future (2011),” and “Help Wanted: the Future of Work in Advanced Economies (2012).” His professional experience prior to McKinsey was as an economist at LMC International, Oxford University, and the African Development Bank. He is the author of “The Economics of International Payments Unions and Clearinghouses (MacMillan Press, 1995).”
Harry J. Holzer is the John LaFarge Jr. SJ Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University and an Institute Fellow at the American Institute for Research in Washington D.C. He is a former Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Labor and a former Professor of Economics at Michigan State University. He received his B.A. from Harvard in 1978 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard in 1983. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Brookings, a Research Affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Affiliated Scholar with the Urban Institute, and an Affiliate of the Stanford Institute on Poverty and Inequality. Holzer has authored or edited 12 books and several dozen journal articles, mostly on disadvantaged American workers and their employers, as well as on education and workforce issues and labor market policy.
Sarah S. Keh is a vice president of corporate social responsibility at Prudential Financial. In her current role, she oversees Prudential’s efforts to expand economic opportunity and create inclusive communities through financial resources and skills-based volunteering. This includes leading early talent and workforce initiatives, inclusive economic growth strategies, global emergency response and recovery efforts in disasters and humanitarian crises, nonprofit capacity building, pro bono and board service programs.
Sarah currently serves on the Partners Council of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, the Inclusion & Diversity Committee of the Society of Actuaries, the board of JerseyCAN, and is co-chair of the Newark Education Funders Group. She was also selected as a Presidential Leadership Scholar in the 2015 inaugural class.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wellesley College and a master’s degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Dr. Manuel Pastor is a distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He currently directs the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) at USC and USC’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII). Pastor holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC.
Pastor was the founding Director of the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has received fellowships from the Danforth, Guggenheim, and Kellogg foundations, and grants from the Irvine Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the W.T. Grant Foundation, The California Endowment, the California Air Resources Board, and many others. Pastor speaks frequently on issues of demographic change, economic inequality, and community empowerment and has contributed opinion pieces to such outlets including the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sacramento Bee, the Huffington Post, among many others.
Kristin Sharp directs New America’s Initiative on Work, Workers, and Technology. In 2016, she co-founded and ran Shift: The Commission on Work, Workers, and Technology, a joint project of New America and Bloomberg
Prior to launching SHIFT, she had an extensive career in technology, innovation, and national security policy in the U.S. Senate, most recently serving as deputy chief of staff to Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), and the architect of his initiative examining the impact of the on-demand economy and contingent workforce on capitalism.
In the Senate, Sharp also held positions as legislative director for Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). In addition, she held a variety of senior staff roles on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and was an advisor to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
In addition to her work at New America, she is a frequent speaker on the future of work and advises a variety of private start-ups and venture capital firms. Sharp is a member of the board of the Herbert Scoville Peace Fellowship. She has an M.A. from Duke University in Political Science, and a B.A. from the University of Michigan. Go Blue!
Matt Sigelman is CEO of Burning Glass Technologies, a leading labor market analytics firm. For more than a decade, he has led Burning Glass in harnessing the power of data and artificial intelligence technologies that have cracked the genetic code of the job market. Powered by the world’s largest and most sophisticated database of jobs and talent, Burning Glass delivers real-time data and breakthrough planning tools that inform careers, define academic programs, and shape workforces. Burning Glass has helped to fill millions of jobs and its data drive initiatives for more than a dozen state and national governments. Matt is consulted frequently by national media, by researchers, and industry leaders. He served previously with McKinsey & Company and Capital One. He holds an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard.
Liz Simon is the Vice President of Legal & External Affairs at General Assembly, a global educational company that specializes in the most in-demand skills, where she leads GA’s legal and public affairs, government relations, and social impact efforts. In this role, Simon works directly with policy makers to help develop policies and education models that put students first and addresses the dynamic requirements of employers. She also works directly with a range of partners to expand access to tech training and close persistent skill and diversity gaps among employers. Simon joined GA from the Obama Administration, where she served as Counselor to the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In that role, Simon worked on policy issues at the nexus of immigration and entrepreneurship and helped launch the predecessor to the Presidential Innovation Fellows program. Simon also worked in several capacities on President Obama’s primary and general election campaigns in 2007-2008. Prior to that, Simon was an attorney at Hogan Lovells, a Washington D.C.-based law firm. Simon holds a bachelor’s degree in Government from Cornell University and earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.