This first of its kind event will unite ERG leaders from across the industry to learn from one another through sessions professionally facilitated by The ERG Homegirl, Maceo Owens, founder of The ERG Movement. The series will kick off in September and October with virtual learning sessions and culminate with in-person learning, networking, and deep-dive programming on November 18^th, in conjunction with the CEWD Workforce Development Summit. Participation in the September and October programs is highly recommended but not a pre-requisite for attending the November meeting. The schedule for the November ERG Leadership Summit includes:

11:00-11:30       Opening Remarks, Introductions, and Stage Setting

11:30-1:30          Meet Your Match: Building National ERG Learning Communities in Energy

The morning will begin with breakout sessions that group similarly focused ERG leaders together so they can share ideas and initiatives that have been impactful and raise challenges for group discussion and support. Convening groups will include those representing:

• Race/Ethnic Communities
• Women’s and Gender Communities
• Pride/LGBTQ Communities
• Veterans Communities
• Other Communities (Not Represented Above)

1:45-3:45            Increasing Engagement Workshop

Low participation can hinder an ERG’s impact, but re-energizing members is possible. In this interactive session, we’ll explore three key avenues for engagement and equip ERG leaders with actionable tactics to get each one right. ERG Leaders will leave with a toolkit of best practices tailored to their ERGs needs and member interests.

4:00-5:00            Rapid Fire Structure Strengthening and Closing

We will conclude our structured time together with a lightening round of information sharing on strengthening fundamentals of ERG operations and taking successful groups to stronger, sustainable models and then recap some of the most useful lessons learned through the National ERG Learning Communities.

5:00-6:00    Networking Reception

6:30pm – 8:00pm    Dine-Arounds

For those whose travel plans allow them to remain in town, we will arrange a non-hosted dinner that will welcome the networking and idea sharing to continue.

Seperate registration is required. 

Register here.

The consortia gathering is a highlight of each annual Summit as it offers the ultimate in solutioning across state lines. This year’s meeting will again unite State Energy Workforce Consortia for information sharing, and it will also include a facilitated dialogue about how state groups may consider strengthening their engagement with state workforce policy agendas. We offer a special welcome to individuals and organizations considering starting a consortium in their state or region.

Consortia representatives are invited to network with peers from around the country around topics of importance in strengthening statewide workforce development strategies. RSVPs will be collected in October. (This dinner is non-hosted.)

9:00-12:45          The CHRO Forum of CHRO Day

This session is exclusively for CHROs of energy employers (e.g., utilities, contractors, developers, and supply chain companies). In response to the vastly changing narratives and conversations related to developing the energy workforce of the future, CEWD is hosting its first CHRO Day, beginning with this closed-door Forum. While we hope CHROs will remain for the full three days of programming, this day is a consolidated “all-hands call” of sorts to unite the industry’s people leaders for high level discussions around the most relevant and timely workforce development related priorities. The time together will offer:

• Review of the new Workforce Development Maturity Model, being developed for CEWD by Deloitte
• Discussion around Accenture’s soon to be published POV on Understanding How Human Capital Needs Will Change in the AI Era, created in partnership with CEWD
• Dialogues on Priority Actions for 2025 in Workforce Development, including:
  • Registered Apprenticeships
  • Hiring from the Re-Entry Population
  • Sector Strategies
  • Modernizing Training, Upskilling, and Knowledge Transfer
  • New Needs to Collaborate for a Supplemental Workforce
  • Advantaging Benefits from Federal Workforce Funding
  • Enabling Talent Through the New Energy and Natural Resources Career Cluster
• Facilitated Group Sharing and Ideating

1:00-5:00     CHROs Join CEWD Summit Programming

• CEO Speak: How and Why We Are Prioritizing Workforce Development
• Fireside Chat with Secretary Granholm and Acting Secretary Su (Invited)
• How to Measure Workforce Development Activities and Develop a WFD Maturity Model
• Understanding How Human Capital Needs Will Change in the AI Era

5:30-7:00            Networking Reception

Registration for the CHRO Forum is included for CHROs who register for the full Summit program. CHROs who wish to attend the Forum but are not able to attend the Summit may select Day-Pass registration here.

This session, led by Forward March, a leader in military talent solutions, will share unique strategies and insights gleaned from 25 years of experience in developing successful military employment programs. Learn how to construct a robust program that not only ATTRACTS top-tier military veterans and spouse talent, but also HIRES and RETAINS them. The workshop will cover the essentials of creating an effective military marketing campaign, developing a Unit Liaison Program, and leveraging military partnerships to enhance and sustain your pipeline of military and spouse talent. This session, especially for military recruiters and those who want to begin and advance their work to employ more veterans, will help to transform your approach and secure the best in military talent acquisition.

**There is a $50 registration fee for this workshop. Seperate registration is required.

Register Here

If you are new to CEWD or the Summit, please join us for this special welcome session that will offer a quick lay of the land of what to expect at the conference and provide an opportunity to get to know others who are looking to expand their professional network.

This working session is open to anyone supporting state activity to enact what is expected as the new Energy and Natural Resources Career Cluster. Participants will discuss how best to support the inclusion of energy curriculum in classrooms, adopt lessons learned from states that already have energy education in schools, and provide input into CEWD’s proposed framework for common core competencies that should be considered across the country for energy education.

In addition to group brainstorming and ideating, we will dive into details of how best to partner with local educators to maximize the new career cluster structure, embed free energy curriculum into classrooms to build the talent pipeline for the future, and enhance relationships to bring energy careers to life for students.

(Note: This session is designed to be a collaborative, work focused discussion for those who want to engage. There will be a session on the new energy career cluster on Wednesday for those more interested in receiving information, rather than participating in a working group.)

With historic hiring demands, unchartered reliance on contractors for supplemental workers, and dynamic training and upskilling requirements, new scripts are being written on the people part of the energy evolution. It is clear: workforce development conversations now sit firmly on C-suite agendas, and will remain there for the foreseeable future. As the landscape for recruiting, hiring, training, and retaining talent changes, new questions, opportunities, and challenges driving workforce development strategies surface daily. Our Opening General Session will set the stage for all the learning at the Summit as we hear from industry CEOs, including Calvin Butler of Exelon and Justin Driscoll of the New York Power Authority, who are leading differently these days as they work with their teams to ensure a skilled, diverse energy workforce.

The energy evolution is big and so is talent evolution. Combine the two together and you have massive forces at play in how we develop a skilled and diverse workforce. We have invited the Honorable Jennifer Granholm, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy and the Honorable Julie Su, Acting Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor to the stage to share lightening round remarks on what energy employers should be strategically prioritizing in attracting, nurturing, and retaining the people needed to innovate, build, operate, and manage sector operations.

Many business leaders are familiar with or have adopted DE&I Maturity Models to benchmark progression toward diversity-focused objectives. Recently, practitioners have asked for a parallel resource that can support and evaluate the maturity of workforce development practices as the discipline continues to grow in complexity. During the Summit, Deloitte will release a new workforce development maturity model of sorts, developed in collaboration with CEWD, that will respond to this identified need. It will provide essential support to companies that seek to measure workforce development progression objectives, prioritize which investments in talent recruitment are most warranted, and explore new ways of strategic planning for changing people roles. The new model will specifically explore: 

• Change in industry, regulations, leadership, transformational activities that impact how the workforce works
• The need to identify, access, develop, innovate, and retain current & future skills needed by the changing workforce
• Shift of the source, composition, role, & expectations of workers, as well as the influence of external disruptors as the industry evolves
• Increase in organizational efficiency, including opportunities for optimization

In a recent report, The Art of AI Maturity, Accenture identified a small group of high-performing organizations that are using Artificial Intelligence to generate 50% more revenue growth while outperforming on customer experience and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) metrics. Despite proven efficiencies of AI and the demonstrated impact it can offer, few organizational leaders truly understand how to leverage its dimensions or are limited in doing so by a host of factors, including risk management frameworks, regulatory compliance, talent shortage and Responsible AI structure, and lack of clarity on metric management. These threats are particularly pronounced in energy companies. In this session, representatives of Accenture will debut their new POV, developed with CEWD, that explores how energy employers can harness the power of AI within their operations, including projecting impacts on human capital. They will also review a list of conversations people managers should be having within the business to drive talent management, inviting a few energy employers to join them on stage to share how those conversations are going within their companies.

The dine-around dinners offer Summit attendees the chance to check out some of the area’s unique dining spots. They are perfect for those traveling alone eager to expand their network as well as people interested in continuing the day’s conversations in fun, relaxed environments. Sign-ups for dining options will open in October. Individuals will be responsible for their own meal costs.

In their book Power to the Middle, McKinsey thought leaders call for a profound reimagining of managers and their roles. They explain how middle managers are uniquely positioned close to the ground but with a crucial connection to company strategy, enabling them to guide their organizations through periods of rapid and complex change, as well as to help shape the new world of work. They suggest:

• Managers are the key to winning the war for talent, which requires strong people skills to attract and retain the best talent.
• Managers must shift from merely enforcing rules to challenging them, serving as critical stopgaps for rules that are ineffective or obsolete.
• Crucially, good managers must not be promoted out of their jobs. Instead, their title and compensation should reflect their high value and allow them to advance within their roles.

Book co-author, Brian Hancock, will provide an overview of this new model for companies to radically alter the way they hire, train, and reward their midlevel managers—their most valuable asset. CEWD will have copies of Brian’s book available for those who would like to fully capture the offered lessons.

We will take this time together to announce and celebrate the 2024 Impact Awards recipients, those who are leading and doing the work to ensure a skilled, diverse energy workforce. We all work hard. Let’s celebrate and applaud just as hard as we honor these difference makers. Know someone or an organization that should be honored? Nominations will be accepted through September 30^th here.  We will also use this time of celebration to provide an update on CEWD key programs and initiatives.

Join us to hear from energy employers and representatives from the National Governors Association (NGA), the National League of Cities (NLC), and Business Leaders United (BLU) about the importance of partnerships between policy offices and businesses as stakeholders seek innovative solutions around workforce development. We will begin with a look at data collected by BLU that identifies skill demands that must be addressed to support the people side of the energy evolution. We will learn from NGA about states and industries that have been the most impactful in workforce planning, particularly within the sector, and the NLC will round out the voice from policy leaders showcasing how employers can be effective partners. The panel will be led by industry voices sharing examples of how they have found success in their initiatives through state and local collaboration.

Information is coming soon, but rest assured, you won’t want to miss it this night of fun. Separate registration required.

Topics coming soon!

This morning discussion welcomes anyone responsible for recruiting veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses for an unstructured dialogue with those who share similar job responsibilities.

Many of the workforce practices that impact energy employers stem from the Department of Energy’s priorities. Join us for this session to learn about the short, mid, and long-tern workforce objectives they have charted, based on recommendations from the 21^st Century Energy Workforce Advisory Board, which is chaired by CEWD’s Executive Director, Missy Henriksen. This wholistic plan, written in response to a Congressional mandate, focuses on the importance of sector partnerships, equitable pathways to energy careers, creating more Registered Apprenticeship Programs, more support for employers and educators, quality jobs, and a host of other priorities that employers will begin to see and hear more about in the Department’s work and funding opportunities. The report will be released in September, so this will be the first time the industry will have the opportunity to digest its recommendations together.

The Discovery Zone will kick off with brief presentations providing sight to:

• The what, when, and where about energy careers as sector employers focus on a unified approach to supporting the development of a skilled, diverse energy workforce that enable employment in good quality jobs.
• The training and skills that will be in greatest demand and the collaboration that is required from community training partners.
• The most significant challenges employers are facing with workforce priorities.
• Those whose lives have been positively impacted by sector employment.
• Partnerships required to support historic people needs within the industry.

The 2024 Summit will proudly play host to the new Discovery Zone, a forum for experiential learning about energy careers, created for those who influence the people, policies, and practices associated with developing a skilled, diverse energy workforce. It’s for Members of Congress and their staffs, community-based organizations, educators, workforce systems, agencies, philanthropies, and others who need to better understand the historical hiring and training needs facing energy employers and are eager for the chance to learn about the industry’s careers through interactive experiences. While this event is for those outside the industry, Summit attendees are welcome and encouraged to stop by and converse with those who visit. If your company is interested in hosting a learning experience or staffing an industry information station, please contact [email protected].

10:00-10:45       Facts and Figures To Understand About Energy Careers

The Discovery Zone will kick off with brief presentations providing sight to:

• The what, when, and where about energy careers as sector employers focus on a unified approach to supporting the development of a skilled, diverse energy workforce that enable employment in good quality jobs.
• The training and skills that will be in greatest demand and the collaboration that is required from community training partners.
• The most significant challenges employers are facing with workforce priorities.
• Those whose lives have been positively impacted by sector employment.
• Partnerships required to support historic people needs within the industry.

10:45-2:00          Discovery Zone Energy Career Experiences

Come and go throughout the Discovery Zone’s interactive displays and experiences to learn about the jobs you have been hearing about but might not fully understand. The “show and tell” type experiences will enable participants to understand why employers are so eager for students and career seekers to get into energy. Check back in September for a full list of learning opportunities that will be available but know that we are excited about how the industry is showing up to showcase why we are excited about welcoming millions of people to energy careers.

There is no fee to attend the Discovery Zone. All Summit attendees will have credentials for admission. Guests can register here.

Operated by the National Skills Coalition and Business Leaders United

Directly following the Workforce Development Summit, attendees including energy companies, contractors, associations, and education and nonprofit organizations, are invited to participate in coordinated Capitol Hill Visits to talk to Members of Congress and their staff about the needs of the energy workforce. Participants will speak to their local Congressional Representatives and/or Senators about the need to build a skilled, diverse energy workforce and what they can do as leaders to support this workforce. Workforce representatives are encouraged to partner with their DC policy reps for visits, where appropriate. Training will be provided as will talking points and issue preparation. More information will follow.