Eric joined Reach from Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, where he served as the vice president for Workforce and Economic Development for over five years. There he led the launch of two new campuses, cultivated $30 million in philanthropy and grants, co-created innovative apprenticeships in health care, technology, and business, and co-created responsive career-ready programs for displaced workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior, Eric served as regional director for Oregon State University. Eric currently serves on the Colorado state apprenticeship board. At Reach, he co-founded and launched NCAD, the university’s center dedicated to technical assistance and collective impact advancing adoption of the Apprenticeship Degree across the United States.

Tom Bewick has three decades of experience establishing and leading apprenticeship and workforce development initiatives. He was a policy adviser in Tony Blair’s first-term UK government (1997-2002), responsible for setting up the country’s network of employer-led sector skills councils. As the chief executive of the skills council for the creative and cultural industries, Tom launched the first apprenticeships in the creative industries. It led to thousands of opportunities for young people and adults from entry to degree level. As a visiting professor in skills and workforce policy at the University of Staffordshire, England, Prof. Bewick’s expertise continues to be in demand throughout the UK, US and globally. He has published extensively on skills policy, campaigning actively for stronger earning and learning pathways – such as Apprenticeship Degrees – to be made more widely available.

Libuse Binder provides strategic and analytic insights to federal and state policymakers, nonprofits, advocates, and businesses that include her expertise in pathways development, apprenticeships, state and federal policy, community engagement, student supports, coalition building, strategic communications, policy implementation, and data analysis. She was the Executive Director of an education advocacy organization that championed policies that gave more students opportunities to earn dual credit, gave students more time with counselors, and funded free college for many of Washington state's students. She is a former middle school teacher, as well as the author of the book Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties.

Dr. Nicholas D’Antonio is an experienced professional and researcher in workforce development with a specific focus on apprenticeship and industry-education partnerships. Holding a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University, he has spent his career leading workforce initiatives across the private sector, publishing on apprenticeship, and building programs across industries. He has also provided extensive technical assistance and implementation support for U.S. registered apprenticeship programs. Dr. D’Antonio’s dedication to the field earned him the Nexus Award from the University Council for Workforce & Human Resource Education and a previous fellowship with Jobs For the Future. He is currently a Workforce Development Post-Doctoral Fellow at Old Dominion University. He resides in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, Emily, and two cats, Buna and Wonk.

Joe E. Ross brings extensive education, technology and entrepreneurial leadership to Reach University. Joe previously led a statewide education advocacy association, California County Boards of Education, and served for over ten years as an elected trustee of the San Mateo County Board of Education. Earlier in his career, he served on active duty in the U.S. Navy, and later as a deputy district attorney. The son of a U.S. Postal Service labor custodian, Joe received his B.A. from Yale College and his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was President of the Stanford Law Review. Ross has been published in Inside Higher Education, Work Shift, the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and Forbes.