Karen Elzey, associate executive director, Workcred, an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) affiliate, will be a panelist at the Jobs for the Future's (JFF) 2018 summit, Horizons, where experts will focus on solutions to advance American education and talent development. Elzey will help lead the session entitled Competency Mapping: A Process to Bridge the Education-Industry Divide, at the event on June 13, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

While there are more job openings than people out of work in the U.S., the American workforce is still suffering from a mismatch of supply and demand. Employers are often tasked with the challenge of finding candidates armed with the skills that match their company demands. Educators also need to be in-the-know about employer needs to better prepare students for the workforce.

Ms. Elzey will join experts Laura Faulkner, partnership solutions lead at Credential Engine, and Andrea Messing-Mathie, deputy director of education systems center at Northern Illinois University, who will share national, state, and regional strategies to create a shared vision between industry and education. The session is intended to strengthen relationships among industry by defining and systematically improving outcomes for both students and employers.

The experts, moderated by Leah Moschella, senior program manager at JFF, will also discuss how they have led initiatives to map, define, and evaluate competencies related to higher education credentials, work-based learning experiences, and industry certifications. They will share tangible resources and best practices to support active industry engagement and collaboration with educational stakeholders.

Elzey helps advance Workcred's mission to strengthen workforce quality by improving the credentialing system, ensuring its ongoing relevance, and preparing employers, workers, educators, and governments to use it effectively. Read more about Workcred.

JFF is a national nonprofit that collaborates with national leaders in education, workforce development, business, technology, government, and philanthropy to accelerate the alignment and transformation of the American workforce and education systems to ensure access to economic advancement.

Access JFF's Horizons summit agenda on JFF's website.