Upskilling and Retaining Talent in the Increasingly Competitive Market

Coming off a great Golf Outing, we are excited for this months event. Join us as we welcome Kathy Henrich from Milwaukee Tech Hub, Jim Draeger from WCTC, Maureen Carley from University of Wisconsin Extended Campus and Oliver Degnan from MoreTalent as we dive into battling the “talent shortage.” As our organizations grow and modernize the need for additional staff and/or skills are needed. We welcome all areas of organizations to attend, interact and pick the minds of these panelists on what they are seeing to be parts of the solution.

Watch Live on our You Tube Channel      October 21, 2021   2:00 PM CDT  -5UTC      https://youtu.be/eN_qhQLbsog

 

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Kathy Henrich is currently the CEO of the Milwaukee Tech Hub Coalition whose goal is to double the tech talent in Milwaukee. Kathy brings a unique blend of experiences which covers the broad objectives of the Coalition. She has over 25 years in the technology industry, including executive leadership of sales and partnership organizations, including a start-up between large corporate partners. In 2017, she dedicated herself to ensuring individuals and organizations have the skills to succeed in the era of AI and automation by pursuing her masters in Workforce and Talent Development from LSU. Most recently, Henrich served as the senior manager of the Future of Workforce at Accenture where she leveraged her line executive experience to help clients with organizational design, talent planning, and change management required by digital transformation. In addition, she’s been involved in many tech and talent non-profit projects in Wisconsin.

 

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliverdegnan 

Oliver is the founder and Chief Information Officer of MoreTalent.com, an AI-powered platform to help organizations engage and retain key employees long-term.

Previously, Oliver led the product development at IBM Watson Health for patient and consumer engagement offerings. Oliver was directly involved in product envisioning and implementation with cognitive and A.I. computing support via Watson artificial intelligence.  

As part of his responsibilities at IBM Watson Health, Oliver also provided technology leadership on massive significant merger and acquisition activities to produce a combined technology stack from acquired companies such as Truven, Explorys, Phytel, Curum, and Merge. 

Over the past 20 years, Oliver served as Chief Information Officer for a fast-scale Medicare primary care provider network based in Florida, as CIO for a healthcare insurance payor, and as Chief Technology Officer at Marshfield Clinic, WI. Prior to entering the healthcare industry, Oliver worked as the Chief Architect at Intuit Quicken Health in Silicon Valley and a number of commercial SaaS companies. 

Between Silicon Valley and Wisconsin, Oliver produced a large number of innovative healthcare and commercial software products. He enjoys building motivated teams and relentlessly partners with customers to find new pathways of leveraging impactful technology for the betterment of humanity. 

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Jim Draeger’s career is rooted in business development, education, training, supervisory management, and customer service. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, a Master of Arts in Communications from University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and a graduate Certificate in Rhetorical Leadership.

Jim is currently the Director of the Corporate Training Center (CTC) at Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) in Pewaukee, WI. His mission at CTC is twofold: to provide accessible and affordable professional development opportunities to area businesses and organizations and to connect the resources of WCTC and the Wisconsin Technical College System to industry partners. Prior to his role at CTC, Jim managed the WCTC Bookstore for 8 years, where he continuously innovated business operations to meet the demands of an ever-changing marketplace.

Before WCTC, Jim managed various nonprofits and independent retail bookstores. He also instructed Public Speaking, Small Group Communication, and Ethics in various colleges throughout southeastern Wisconsin including UW-Milwaukee, ITT, and Herzing. Jim was also a certified corporate trainer for a national chain restaurant for which he travelled across the country to conduct training programs for up to 60 new employees. Customer service, training, and business development are not foreign to Jim as his career is based on anticipating and meeting the needs of internal and external stakeholders.

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Maureen Carley is currently the Program Manager for the MS IT Management and MS Cybersecurity programs at the University of Wisconsin (Extended Campus). Prior to coming to WI and the UW in 2019, she led the development, implementation, and growth of a MS-Information Systems Management degree for Virginia Commonwealth University. This program was a direct collaboration with academia and high-level technology executives from the Richmond VA metropolitan area. Academic – industry collaboration in higher education is huge area of professional interest for Maureen. “Academic excellence is a given. Having access to industry leaders who have traveled the path you wish to go is a tremendous value-add.” In addition, Maureen studies customer service and customer experience – both from a customer and provider side – as a side interest. Maureen is passionate about empowering others’ success – and cats! She has a BS-Marketing, and a MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University.

 

 

 

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Throughout my 17 years as a co-owner of C2, a successful creative staffing firm, I’ve ardently championed inclusion, diversity, equity and access in Milwaukee’s creative industry. As the creative industry became increasingly interdependent on tech, I learned that the tech industry has also faced persistent, structural and institutional barriers to entry into tech education and career opportunities for marginalized and underrepresented communities – including women, BIPOC & LGBTQ+. My professional awards include 2008 Business Journal 40 Under 40, the Milwaukee Press Club’s 2010 MKE Six Pack – recognition of the six most-connected professionals in MKE and 414digital’s 2018 Advocate Award for C2’s consistent leadership and advocacy for increasing diversity and access in the local creative industry as well as tireless support for the professional organizations and non-profits that support those efforts within the industry.