Mike Lawrence

Mike is a senior workforce director with nearly 45 years of experience in workforce development and executive leadership. He provided executive oversight, project and contract management, and counsel to Restoring Futures, a National Dislocated Worker program; Lead Project Manager for the U.S. Virgin Islands Registered Apprenticeship Program; and the National Project Director of the Cybersecurity Youth Apprenticeship Initiative.

Mike served as the executive director of the North Central PA Workforce Development Board and interim director of the South Central PA and Bucks County PA Workforce Development Boards. He also served as interim executive director of the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals.

Previously, Mike worked at Penn State University as the director of workforce development Initiatives in the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. In this position, he helped local boards with various planning activities focused on developing online learning. He also delivered statewide staff professional development for Pennsylvania's One-Stop system and facilitated a state-wide U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Plastics Industry Initiative.

As a consultant, Mike assisted numerous local boards, nonprofit and community-based organizations, community colleges, and other key stakeholders in prioritizing and aligning staffing and resources under the public workforce system. He recently led a team that completed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) strategic planning activities for five of the eight workforce regions and 21 of the 23 local workforce boards in Pennsylvania.

Mike also led and managed two DOL National Emergency Grants for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, emphasizing on-the-job training and other educational opportunities.

Mike assisted post-secondary education with integrating the public workforce system related to adult college completion and prior learning assessment through the support of various foundation resources. He also assisted the DOL with H1B and Reentry Employment Opportunities. Mike recently completed the first WIOA bistate planning initiative for the Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana Region 10 Workforce Areas.

Mike holds a B.S. in Education from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and completed coursework at Penn State University in the Masters of Science in Workforce Education with an emphasis in Human Resources and Training.