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October 21, 2024 45 mins

We discussed a few things including:

1. Their career journeys  

2. AI and education

3. AI and talent/workforce

4. Amber's book  

5. Trends, challenges and opportunities re AI and education/talent


Alex Swartsel is managing director of Jobs for the Future (JFF) Labs' Insights practice, a growing team that helps decision-makers across the  education-to-career landscape understand and prepare for the emerging trends, technologies, and innovations shaping the future of work and  learning.  

JFFLabs’s rapid insights process and transformative trends research agenda focus on core areas impacting the future of work and learning—including AI, the metaverse, climate resilience, lifelong learning, aerospace, robotics, and other emerging fields. Alex is also leading the launch of JFF’s new Center for Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Work.

Before joining JFFLabs, Alex served as chief of development, finance, and external affairs for Teach for America’s Washington, DC, region and as a senior advisor to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, co-designed global strategic planning at the Motion Picture Association, and built and led the communications team for then-first-term U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

Alex chairs the board of directors of Capital City Symphony and is also a longtime member and former chorus president of the Choral Arts Society of Washington. She holds a BA summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

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Amber Ivey “AI” is currently a Vice President at a non-profit where she leads a team that helps governments drive impact. In her prior role, as the Senior Director for the Bloomberg Philanthropies Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, she led a team that assisted governments in utilizing data and performance management for decision-making.  

Furthermore, she played a key role in the design and launch of the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance. The program aims to train 100 mayors and their senior leaders throughout the Americas on utilizing data to achieve better outcomes.  

Formerly, she worked at The Pew Charitable Trust—a nonprofit focused on solving today's challenges by using data-driven, nonpartisan analysis. Here, Amber led the data collection and organization efforts of a first-of-its-kind research study on how all 50 states and the District of Columbia use data to solve complex problems, improve the delivery of government services, manage resources, and evaluate effectiveness.  

Before joining Pew, Amber served at Maryland StateStat, a performance-measurement and management office established by former Governor Martin O'Malley (D). Following the change in administration, she helped facilitate the transition by demonstrating the effectiveness of data-driven decision-making through StateStat. Additionally, she played a key role in the establishment of the Governor's Office of Performance Improvement under Governor Larry Hogan (R).  

Before joining the State of Maryland, Amber was a logistics manager for a Fortune 50 company where she used data to drive efficiency, productivity, and profits. She switched from private to the public sector to use her skills in service of government efficiency. She has her MPA and J.D. and is excited to serve at the intersection of data, technology, public policy, and law.  

She is also the creator of the AI for Kids podcast–which breaks down AI for kids–and the author of "AI... Meets...AI."

#podcast #afewthingspodcast 

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