Shaping CT's Future: Workforce Development Velocity | May 2026

We’re not just exploring today’s business landscape—we’re spotlighting the bold ideas shaping tomorrow. Step into the future. Make your mark.

Connecticut has strong workforce institutions, but the journey from career decision to paycheck can still take months. This panel examines where the timeline slows—training programs, hiring cycles, credential recognition, and onboarding—and what it would take to dramatically accelerate the path to employment.

Even when workers find jobs, instability can derail careers. Childcare disruptions, leave policies, transportation barriers, and unclear advancement pathways can push talent out of the workforce. This panel explores how employers, educators, and public systems can create the stability and mobility that allow workers to remain employed and grow into higher-earning roles.

Artificial intelligence is transforming how organizations operate, how skills are developed, and how workers prepare for the future. But the pace of change is creating what many leaders describe as “skills whiplash,” a constant need to update capabilities as technology evolves.

This panel brings together leaders from business, higher education, and workforce development to explore how organizations can respond. From microcredentials and continuous learning to cross-sector partnerships, the discussion will focus on how Connecticut can build a workforce that is not only AI-capable, but AI-confident.

Workforce pipelines do not begin at hiring—they begin in communities, schools, and mentorship programs. This conversation explores how local partnerships and nontraditional programs help prepare people for emerging careers.

Many workers struggle to understand how to move from entry-level roles into stable middle-income careers. As technology continues to advance it looks like entire rungs are missing from the career ladder. This session explores how employers and education systems are designing clearer pathways and stackable credentials.

Despite widespread investment in workforce development, many employers still struggle to find talent while many workers struggle to access opportunity. Bridging this gap requires stronger alignment between education systems, employers, and workforce organizations.

This conversation explores how cross-sector partnerships can better prepare students and workers for in-demand careers. Panelists will discuss innovative approaches to career readiness, employer engagement, and skill development that help ensure today’s workforce—and tomorrow’s—can succeed in a rapidly changing economy.

Artificial intelligence, automation, and new business models are transforming the nature of work. This session explores how companies, educators, and workforce leaders are adapting to a rapidly evolving skills landscape.

Across industries, employers are navigating a rapidly shifting labor market shaped by technology, demographic changes, and evolving employee expectations. Hiring pipelines look different, retention strategies are evolving, and skill needs are changing faster than traditional training models can keep up.

This candid roundtable brings together leaders from manufacturing, construction, technology, and professional services to discuss what employers actually need right now. From workforce pipelines and training partnerships to workplace culture and retention strategies.

The conversation will focus on practical insights and real-world experiences that can help employers, educators, and policymakers better align talent development with industry demand.

Despite record workforce investment, many employers still struggle to hire. This panel explores where hiring pipelines break down and the unexpected points of friction that can keep jobs unfilled. From expectations and credential requirements to recruitment strategies and retention challenges.

People are finding new ways into the workforce, and not all of them follow traditional paths.

This conversation features individuals who pursued non-credit training programs to upskill or reskill into fields like IT, healthcare, cannabis, and AI. They’ll share why they chose this route, what the experience was actually like, and how it translated into real work.

Alongside these firsthand perspectives, we’ll explore what these pathways reveal about how workforce systems are evolving and where they still fall short.

This session is designed to bring together a small group of leaders working across different parts of the workforce ecosystem—data, employers, education, and system-level strategy—to step back and look at the system more holistically.

Rather than focusing only on how things work today, this conversation will explore where the current system breaks down so that we can really talk about what new models, partnerships, or approaches could better support both workers and employers.