Gov. Jay Nixon has been appointed to a two-year term on the board of directors for Washington, D.C.-based Achieve Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to educational reform.
“It is an honor to join this outstanding group of bipartisan governors and industry leaders as we work toward our shared goal of aligning the education and skills learned in the classroom with the demands of today’s economy,” Nixon said in a news release.
Nixon's administration last week began soliciting applications for $10 million in competitive grants to establish statewide Innovation Campuses, where local colleges and universities would work with area businesses to train workers with specific skills and prepare students for high-demand fields.
“Gov. Jay Nixon’s focus on the importance of an educated work force for economic development makes him an important asset to Achieve’s board of directors,” Achieve President Michael Cohen said in a news release. “Achieve is dedicated to ensuring students have the skills needed to be ready for college and careers. Gov. Nixon has made this a priority in Missouri, and we look forward to his leadership and insight on our board.”
In addition to Innovation Campuses, the release also pointed to four other higher-education programs established by Nixon's administration:
- Caring for Missourians, a $40 million initiative launched in 2009 to train nurses, physicians, dentists and other health professionals;
- Training for Tomorrow, a $12 million grant program to educate Missouri citizens for careers in growing industries;
- Nurse Training Initiative, a $3 million partnership with the Missouri Board of Nursing enacted to increase the number of nurse educators and licensed nurses through fiscal 2014; and
- MoHealthWins, a statewide effort to retrain unemployed workers for health care fields, in which the state's community colleges and Linn State Technical College worked with the Missouri Department of Economic Development to obtain a $20 million competitive federal grant.
Nixon joins several political and business leaders on Achieve's board of directors:
- Board Chairman Craig Barrett, former chairman and CEO of Intel Corp.;
- Mark Grier, vice chairman of Prudential Financial Inc.;
- Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam;
- Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman;
- Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick;
- Edward Rust Jr., chairman and CEO of State Farm Insurance;
- Jeff Wadsworth, president and CEO of Battelle; and
- Chairman Emeritus Louis Gerstner Jr., former chairman and CEO of IBM Corp.
