Katie Adams is the CEO and Founder of ASG:Apprenticeship Services Group. As a U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL)-contracted national subject matter expert in apprenticeship and workforce development she has helped companies, organizations and community colleges across the U.S. develop, market and sustain successful apprenticeship programs. She is currently leading Safal Partners’ USDOL national industry intermediary contract to expand registered apprenticeship in cybersecurity. Previously she helped lead South Louisiana Community College’s USDOL TransPORTs contract to expand registered apprenticeship in the transportation, distribution and logistics industry. In that role she assisted more than 50 organizations in creating new or expanded apprenticeship programs that provided more than 2,300 Americans with paid “learn and earn” opportunities to meet critical occupational. She has extensive experience aligning industry occupational needs and credentials with post-secondary academic programs.

Over the past decade Katie has worked extensively with community college-based National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) Centers, helping develop academic programs and pathways that provide employers with sustainable talent pipelines for critical middle-skill occupations and put more American adults on a linked career and academic pathway. She wrote the winning proposal and served as communications and engagement director for the NSF ATE Southeast Maritime and Transportation (SMART) Center, managed the development of an online learning hub for the LIFT Manufacturing USA Institute in partnership with the MatEd-U NSF ATE Center, and contributed to the NSF ATE National Center for Supply Chain Automation textbook used by community colleges nationwide.

Prior to her work at the SMART Center she co-led the Securities and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Foundation’s development and 10-year execution of a suite of consumer financial literacy websites which had more than 1 million visitors annually and was awarded a Forbes’ “Best of the Web” award. She was tapped by the American Red Cross (ARC) to develop and implement training for ARC staff in Manhattan to use the website in serving 9/11 victims’ families.

She began her career at Fannie Mae, the world’s largest non-bank financial services company, where she last served as Director of Regional Communications, responsible for directing a nationwide corporate communications plan involving over 1,000 media events and public announcements including 30 new office openings and multi-billion dollar community investment plan initiatives. She was the lead coordinator for Fannie Mae regional offices and the Fannie Mae Foundation’s work with the National Basketball Association (NBA) for neighborhood revitalization work nationwide.

Delaney serves as Melton’s Driver Services Manager which encompasses the support, engagement and retention of Melton’s driving employees. In her 6 years at Melton, she has served in several Human Resources roles including Recruiting, Veteran Resource Management, Training and Development and Analytics. Delaney has represented Melton Truck Lines in the Tulsa Chamber, Mosaic (a diversity and inclusion group through the Tulsa Chamber), and the Oklahoma Veteran Alliance in addition to serving as Interim Chair on the Workforce Tulsa Board.

Delaney is a proud Northeastern State University alumna and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a dual focus in Finance and Human Resource Management. She is passionate about creating space for everyone’s voices to be heard, mentoring others to rise to their desired potential, and identifying how, through our workforce, we can build more successful companies and communities.

Lydia Dishman is Fast Company’s senior editor for growth and engagement. She has also written for CBS Moneywatch, Fortune, The Guardian, Popular Science, and the New York Times, among others.

Nick Curry, who spent 20 years as an enlisted Navy submarine sailor (both active duty and Reserves), is the Manager of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Military, Initiatives & Apprenticeships. The mission of military programs at AWS is to provide access and opportunities to in-demand technical roles for transitioning service members, veterans, and military spouses. Since 2017, Nick accomplished this by establishing career programs in partnership with external and internal stakeholders that build skills and pathways to enable alternative talent pipelines like the military community to benefit from careers in cloud computing technology. During his time with AWS, Nick has successfully negotiated agreements with private businesses, government, and education institutions to facilitate training programs built for outcomes including internship, apprenticeship, and employment across all technical job families in Amazon. To date, well over 750 members of the military community have received job offers because of Nick’s programs. Prior to AWS, Nick ran global customer escalations for the family of travel companies  of Expedia Group form 2014-2017 and was the President of Expedia’s veteran business resource group, EMVA. From 2007-2014, he held a variety of roles from Sales to Senior Operations Analyst at financial services company USAA while also leading their local veteran resource group, VETNET. Nick graduated with a Business Management degree from the University of Phoenix in 2012 and currently sit on the board of directors for Amazon’s Business Resource Group, the Warrior@Amazon.