Regional Alliances Are the Key to National Competitiveness

 There is a unique energy that emerges when you bring together leaders who are "closest to the problem". In October 2023, the National Talent Collaborative (NTC) met in New Orleans.

Under the theme Building NTC Together: Raising Our Aspirations, CEOs and regional leaders from across the country came together to review our work and challenge ourselves to think bigger about what business-led collaboration can achieve.

As I stood among the leaders of over 20 regional impact groups, I was reminded that while the talent and opportunity gap is a national crisis, the solutions are decidedly local. The future of America’s workforce and economic success will be shaped by networks of leaders committed to shared outcomes.

The Crux of the Matter

Across the country, regions are confronting the same reality. Employers struggle to find talent while workers struggle to access opportunity. Too often, the systems designed to connect the two operate in parallel rather than in partnership.

NTC exists because business leaders understand that workforce challenges go beyond local inconveniences. They are national constraints on growth, competitiveness, and mobility.

In New Orleans, we showed up with a clear purpose: to strengthen our coalition so it can operate at the scale the moment demands.  

The Uniqueness of the NTC

One of the most important conversations we had in New Orleans was about what makes NTC unique and why that uniqueness matters.

Our coalition is built on regional roots and national reach, operating at the intersection of local impact and national scale. We represent a diversity of regions, each with its own economic DNA. Yet, we are united by a singular "collective voice".

Each member organization is embedded in its local economy, with trusted relationships across business, education, government, and the nonprofit sector. At the same time, together we represent a national footprint that spans industries, geographies, and labor markets.

This dual identity gives us leverage. We can surface what is working on the ground and get it into national conversations. We can translate business needs into policy insights. And we can ensure that federal and state workforce strategies reflect the realities of modern regional economies.

In other words, we are living the realities of the workforce.  

A Community of Practice

Another key focus of the gathering was strengthening NTC as a community of practice, where best practices are shared, pressure-tested, and adapted across the country.

Too often, regions reinvent solutions that already exist elsewhere. One of NTC’s most powerful roles is facilitating peer-to-peer learning that is practical, action-oriented, and grounded in results.

In New Orleans, we realized that members share resources, case studies, best practices, implementation challenges, and lessons learned. This openness is intentional because it accelerates learning, reduces duplication, and increases the likelihood that effective models can be adapted and scaled across different regional contexts.

As a community of practice, we build trust, accountability, and momentum.

The Power of a Collective Voice

Perhaps the most important outcome of the New Orleans gathering was reaffirming our commitment to acting as a collective voice of business.

Individually, regional business leaders influence local systems. Collectively, we can shape national attention.

When employers across regions speak together about the talent and opportunity gaps limiting economic growth, policymakers listen differently. When we align around evidence-based solutions, funders gain confidence. Ultimately, resources follow when we champion models that work.

In New Orleans, NTC members committed to advancing our national policy recommendations while also building a state-level policy exchange. This dual approach recognizes that workforce systems operate across multiple layers and that alignment matters at every level.

To drive U.S. competitiveness, we committed to several key next steps:

• Facilitating Peer-to-Peer Learning: Our learning is action-oriented. We are exchanging case studies and resources that emphasize models ready for adaptation in any region.

• Driving National Attention: We are using our collective voice to shed light on effective talent models that can unlock resources. We want to ensure that the talent gap is seen as a major hindrance to our national growth.

• Advancing Policy Exchange: We are building a state-level policy exchange to complement our national recommendations. This will ensure that we continue innovating locally while also clearing the path for progress in state houses across the nation.

We believe that business leadership is most effective when it is coordinated, credible, and persistent.

Raising Our Aspirations for Systems and People

The phrase raising our aspirations came up repeatedly during the gathering.  

Are we aiming merely to improve existing systems or to redesign them for a changing economy? Are we satisfied with incremental gains or committed to outcomes that expand opportunity at scale?

For CEOs, raising our aspirations means recognizing that talent strategy is both an HR function and a growth strategy. It is a competitiveness strategy and an increasingly moral imperative.

Regions that align business leadership with inclusive talent development will attract investment, retain workers, and build resilience.  

Alignment in Action 

The New Orleans gathering marked an inflection point for the National Talent Collaborative. We are moving from formation to focus and aligning ourselves in action.

In the months ahead, NTC will continue to strengthen its role as a connector of regions, translator between business and policy, and a platform for scaling what works. However, none of this will happen without leadership. We were reminded in New Orleans that leadership is about responsibility.

The work of building talent systems worthy of today’s economy is complex. However, we believe that it is also achievable when leaders commit to doing it together. That is the promise of the National Talent Collaborative.  

A CEO’s Responsibility: Creating Opportunity for All

"Change a life, change a community, change a country.” As CEOs, we have a unique responsibility to create an environment where opportunity is a matter of design.

The American Dream is still alive, even though the path to achieving it is changing. It is now rooted in skills and regional pathways. By working together through NTC, we are building those pathways, one step and one region at a time.

New Orleans was a reminder that our aspirations should be high. The challenges are many, but the caliber of leadership in this collaborative gives me great confidence that we will get the job done.

 We would like to thank the leaders from all the organizations that participated, including the Charles Koch Foundation, the Kay Family Foundation, and the Walmart Foundation.

Business Must Lead America’s Talent and Workforce Strategy

Every few years, moments arise when it becomes clear that incremental change is no longer enough. Our systems have shifted and the economy has evolved. The workforce we need today, and the one we will need tomorrow, looks fundamentally different from the one our policies were built to support.

That recognition was at the heart of the National Talent Collaborative’s Spring Gathering in Washington, D.C., where leaders from across the country came together with a shared conviction: the future of America’s workforce must be led by business.

As Chair of the National Talent Collaborative (NTC), I left Washington encouraged because the alignment among leaders is growing stronger. CEOs, regional executives, policymakers, and philanthropic partners showed up to build solutions grounded in real markets and real people.

 A Rare Moment of Alignment

 The National Talent Collaborative is a CEO-led alliance of more than 20 regional impact organizations spanning nearly every corner of the country. Our regions differ in size, industry mix, demographics, and political perspective. But in Washington, what stood out was how aligned we were on the core issue:

America has a talent and opportunity gap, and business has both the responsibility and the leverage to help close it.

This is an economic imperative. Employers across industries are struggling to find skilled workers, even as millions of Americans remain disconnected from opportunity. The paradox persists because our workforce systems were not designed for today’s economy, let alone tomorrow’s.

As former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker noted during the gathering, the scale of the challenge demands leadership that can move faster than traditional policy cycles. That leadership must come from those closest to the labor market: employers and regional economies.

 From Conversation to Action

 This gathering was different because of its focus on outcomes. We convened to make decisions, rather than to simply share updates or best practices. Four clear priorities emerged, each reflecting the belief that business leadership must inform policy.

 1.     Building a Unified Voice for Business

One of the most powerful moments of the gathering was recognizing just how rarely business speaks with a coordinated voice on workforce policy, despite being the primary consumer of talent.

During our discussions, NTC members engaged regional leaders, CEOs, government leaders, and foundations. We agreed on four federal policy recommendations that will now be developed into a practical, evidence-based playbook. This playbook is a guide rooted in what regions are already doing successfully and what federal systems must enable at scale.

As Alejandra Castillo, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, reminded us, “Those closest to the problem are closest to the solution.”  

Regional employers see in real time where systems break down. Our responsibility is to translate that insight into actionable policy.

 2.     Unlocking the Power of Regional Data

If we want to change outcomes, we must first measure what matters.

Across NTC regions, vast amounts of workforce and education data already exist. However, they are fragmented, inconsistent, and often underutilized. A shared data platform would allow regions to align metrics, track progress, and identify what truly moves the needle.  

This platform will create a common language that helps employers, educators, and policymakers make better decisions as well as direct funding toward strategies that work.

 3.     Funding and Scaling a Pilot Program  

Our host, the Greater Washington Partnership shared a compelling examples: the Employer Signaling System.

At its core, employer signaling aligns businesses around shared skill requirements, credentials, and career pathways. It also sends clear messages to education and training providers about what the labor market actually needs. The result is less guesswork, faster alignment, and better outcomes for both employers and workers.

This model needs to be portable. With the right support, it can be adapted and scaled across regions with very different economic profiles. NTC’s role is to help make that happen by connecting regions, sharing infrastructure, and accelerating adoption.

 4.     Strengthening the Collaborative Itself

Finally, we reaffirmed that this work cannot happen in isolation.

The National Talent Collaborative exists because no single region or sector can solve these challenges alone. Our decision to continue quarterly virtual convenings and gather again in New Orleans this fall reflects a simple truth: sustained collaboration is what turns good ideas into durable systems change.

 The Role of CEOs in Creating Opportunity

 The one thread running through every conversation in Washington was that CEOs have a unique role to play in shaping an economy that works for more people.

That role goes beyond hiring and also includes signaling demand, investing in partnerships, advocating for smarter policy, and helping redefine what opportunity looks like in a changing labor market.

Business has always been a driver of economic growth. Today, it must also be a driver of economic inclusion.

The National Talent Collaborative is proving that when CEOs lead. When they think systemically and engage regionally, progress accelerates. The goal of business should be to help align government and education around real outcomes.

 Looking Ahead

 Our work in Washington was a milestone. The coming months will be focused on translating our shared priorities into action: developing policy playbooks, advancing shared data infrastructure, and supporting regions as they scale proven solutions.

I’m optimistic because of the quality of ideas and the seriousness of commitment. Nearly every region in the country was represented, across industries and ideologies, and united by the belief that talent is the defining economic issue of our time.

If we get this right, we will strengthen our businesses and expand opportunity, mobility, and prosperity for millions of Americans.

And that is work worth doing together.

 We would like to thank the leaders from all the organizations that participated, including PSP Partners, the Charles Koch Foundation, the Kay Family Foundation, the Greater Washington Partnership, the US Economic Development Administration, Intel, AWS, and Google.