WIRED In The Piedmont Triad Region

 Promoting Innovation in Regional Economic Development 

Create-high-skill, high-wage jobs across the Piedmont Triad region

and significantly strengthen the Region’s global competitiveness

Project Leadership and Administration  

Don, Kirkman, President & CEO

Penny Whiteheart, Executive Vice President

Michael Staley, Vice President Finance and Administration

Theresa Reynolds, Senior Vice President - WIRED Project Manager

Leadership, Communication & Regional Integration  

Build visionary leadership capacity and the broad community engagement necessary to transform the Region’s economy and sustain the transformation beyond the three-year WIRED project.

• Engage and support collaboration among the multiple workforce training and development and economic development assets of the Region in unprecedented ways.
•  Provide a region-wide leadership development initiative focused on building leadership capacity and fostering regional collaboration.
•  Establish an integrated leadership communication and public information plan to support the WIRED project.
• Create leadership and funding capacity to sustain the goals of the WIRED project beyond the three-year grant period.

Economic Growth & Competitiveness

Focus attention and significant support on four targeted industry clusters in the Region which have the potential for creating new, high quality jobs and growing the Region’s economic competitiveness.

·  Advanced Manufacturing

·  Creative Enterprises and the Arts

·  Health Care

·  Logistics/Distribution  

   Outreach and Innovations 

Leadership for the entrepreneurship, innovation and outreach-related strategies and activities of the WIRED project.

Higher Education Innovations Council (HEIC) to enhance research and the capacities of the region’s two- and four-year colleges and universities and to increase commercialization of technology and knowledge.

Engage Region’s rural areas and underserved/minority populations are fully engaged in and benefit from the WIRED Project.

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Education & Workforce Investment

WIRED FOCUS Grants address foundational training needs on which cluster roundtables can build and offer future training after they have identified skills gaps in the targeted cluster areas of Advanced Manufacturing, Logistics and Distribution, Creative Enterprises/Arts and Healthcare.

Focus Talent Development Grants 

Demonstration projects in curriculum development, identification and dissemination of career information and supply chain education.  Individuals, businesses, trade associations, educational institutions, community–based organizations, and Workforce Development Boards may submit an application for a project impacting one of the identified target clusters.

Focus Entrepreneurial Job Creation/Training Grants

Made available to entrepreneurs with high growth potential who can create high skill/high wage jobs in the identified cluster areas and offer training to new employees. 

Focus Workforce Training Grants

Grantees utlize ACT WorkKeys system to profile jobs, assess workers and provide remedial training necessary to prepare incumbent workers for future high skill/high wage training. Businesses in the identified targeted industry clusters are invited to work with their local Workforce Development Board to submit an application for these grants.

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Establish school-to-work forum to enhance programs in the Region’s K-12 systems and make them more responsive to future workforce needs of business and industry.

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