Chike Aguh serves as a Senior Advisor at the Project on Workforce at Harvard. His research and work focuses on and includes the future of work, US competitiveness, economic mobility, supplying workforce to critical needs industries (infrastructure, cleantech, emerging technologies like AI, care economy, etc.), connecting workers from underserved communities to hard-to-fill jobs, job quality and the impact of emerging technologies like AI on the workforce.

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Previously, Chike was appointed by President Biden on day one of his administration to serve as Chief Innovation Officer at the US Department of Labor, the first black person to do so. Reporting to Deputy Secretary and later Acting Secretary Julie Su, he led efforts to use data, emerging technologies (AI, quantum computing, cybersecurity, etc.), and innovative practice to advance/protect American workers. Additionally, Chike has also worked as an education policy official and teacher in America’s largest school system; Fulbright Scholar in Asia; director of corporate strategy and performance technologies at education technology company EAB; founding leader of the Community College Growth Engine Fund; and Director of Strategy and Future of Work Lead at the McChrystal Group, a business advisory firm founded by Gen. (ret.) Stanley McChrystal.

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Chike holds degrees from Tufts University (B.A.), Harvard Graduate School of Education (Ed.M), Harvard Kennedy School (MPA), and University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (MBA).

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. With over a decade of industry experience, he has led workforce initiatives at major organizations including Lockheed Martin, Amazon Web Services, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the National Association of Manufacturers. Dr. D’Antonio previously served as an industry fellow at Jobs for the Future and has extensive experience in providing technical assistance and implementation support for registered apprenticeship programs through the Institute for American Apprenticeships. His dedication to the field earned him the Nexus Award from the University Council for Workforce & Human Resource Education. He currently is 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.

John Pallasch is Founder and CEO of One Workforce Solutions. He was previously the Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training at the US Department of Labor. The mission of the Employment and Training Administration is to contribute to the more efficient functioning of the U.S. labor market by providing high-quality job training, employment, labor market information, and income maintenance services primarily through state and local workforce development systems.
 

Assistant Secretary Pallasch's appointment marked his return to the Department where he previously served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
 

Prior to his return to DOL, Pallasch served as the Executive Director of the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Office of Employment and Training where he led initiatives to improve outcomes for workforce education programs, increase accountability and performance of the unemployment insurance program, and consolidate job training and workforce development programs in a single cabinet agency.
 

An Illinois native, Pallasch earned a Bachelor of Science degree from The Ohio State University and a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law. He currently lives in South Carolina with his girlfriend, six dogs, and too many horses.

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.