Apprenticeships in Action: The Ultimate Win/Win!
Historically, apprenticeships were the primary path to build a career for many trades, and they are still more common outside of the United States than stateside. That said, the DOL reported that the number of apprentices registered with the DOL grew 64% from 2012 to 2021, and in 2021, 27,000 registered apprenticeship programs were active in the US (including 2,879 added just in 2021). What’s behind this trend, what’s the benefit to employers and what does it take to get started?
Bernadette Jones
Bernadette Jones is a trailblazing HR leader with over 20 years of experience crafting "Culture-First" solutions across diverse organizations. As Human Resource Committee Chair at Richmond Art Center and Professional Development Chair for SHRM Northern California, she champions intentional inclusion and culture-first practices. Bernadette's innovative "Respect in the Workplace Starts With Me®" workshop series addresses crucial compliance and cultural issues. With SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications, she brings deep HR expertise to her roles. Bernadette's leadership in Visionova's participation in SHRM's National HR Registered Apprenticeship Program demonstrates her commitment to nurturing HR talent and enhancing workplace environments. Her work connects over 27,000 HR professionals across 16 SHRM chapters in Northern California.
Mike Hill
Mike is currently the Senior Director of Talent and Organization Development at Applied Materials, a semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer headquartered in Santa Clara, California. He has extensive experience in high tech organizations and several functions including Manufacturing, R&D and Human Resources. He currently focuses on organization development and has been involved in startups, mergers & divestitures. He has traveled extensively to Europe and Asia and has lived abroad on an expatriate assignment in Dresden, Germany. His current focus has been developing talent pipelines for critical technician roles. He has a Masters in Education, MBA and Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University. He is also currently an adjunct professor at San Jose State University in their Business School.
April Treece
April Treece has represented business interests with K-12 education for well over two decades. During that time, she set education policy for eight years as a trustee for one of the largest school districts in the East Bay leading the effort to transition career technical education to career pathways believing every child should be college ready and work ready—that it is one in the same.
Leading the nonprofit, Bay Area LEEDS, Treece is proud that the organization is one of the few business/education intermediaries in the Bay Area that brings long-term talent development solutions to workforce shortages by engaging STEM career pathway educators (K-16) and employers who have high-demand, difficult-to-fill STEM jobs. Through innovative programming, her team develops, plans and executes industry-supported approaches that build a more diverse, inclusive and equitable talent base assuring economic vitality in our local communities.
Treece blends her 25-year Fortune 500 public relations work with leadership experience, and has managed STEM-related intermediary efforts in the East Bay since 2001.
Treece has a distinguished career—the highlight having received the Presidential Award for Private Sector Initiatives at White House ceremonies while working at AT&T.
She is a 33-year resident of Clayton and resides there with her husband of 41 years.
Demetrius Norman
Demetrius Norman is Senior Specialist of Academic Initiatives at the Society for Human Resource Management, where he works with universities to incorporate SHRM’s curriculum to prepare the next generation of Human Resources leadership. He has over 20 years of non-profit and private sector experience in program, project, and database management. He holds a Master of Science in Management degree in Leadership & Organizational Development from The Catholic University of America and a Bachelor of Music degree from Fisk University.