National Work Readiness Council | Board of Directors

NWRC Board of Directors

The National Work Readiness Council is governed by a Board of Directors. The National Work Readiness Council brings together research, ideas, and perspectives from education, workforce development, economic development, business and industry, and other foundational career readiness champions nationwide.

Reecie Stagnolia, Executive Director

Reecie Stagnolia joined the Advisory Council in 2021 as the NWRC voice for adult education. Mr. Stagnolia was elected by his peers to two different terms as Chairman of the National Association of State Directors of Adult Education (NASDAE), four two-year terms on the Board of Directors, and 18 years on the Policy and Strategic Partnerships Committee. During his tenure, NASDAE launched a new Leadership Institute and partnered with the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) on several national campaigns highlighting the importance and value of adult education including Educate & Elevate: Adult Education, an Investment in America’s Future and Success Files, hosted by actor and adult education advocate Rob Lowe. Mr. Stagnolia simultaneously served 27 years in leadership roles with the Kentucky Adult Education System. He led the rebranding of the system as Kentucky Skills U and supervised an annual budget of $25 million in state and federal funding, 600 adult educators, and the delivery of education and career readiness services to more than 22,300 adult students statewide. Mr. Stagnolia is credited with dramatically reducing the number of Kentuckians without a high school diploma/GED® by 39 percent. Retiring in 2020 as Executive Director of Kentucky Skills U, Mr. Stagnolia continues to network and consult nationally on adult education policy, programs, and funding.

Joseph (Joe) Mizereck, Executive Director Emeritus

Joe Mizereck began his career readiness journey teaching high school in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he was named Pinellas County Teacher of the Year. He eventually moved to Tallahassee, Florida, where he served as Executive Director of the Southern Scholarship Foundation, Executive Director of the Florida Community College System Foundation, and Director for Grants Development for the Florida Department of Education. After spearheading the fundraising effort in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to create the National Work Readiness Council, Joe became the first NWRC Executive Director in 2007 and continues to serve in that role today. In 2020, Joe assumed dual responsibility as the NWRC Interim President to champion the reimaging and resurgence of the organization as the nation's leading foundational career readiness convener and advocate. Joe works remotely from his home office in Port St. Joe, Florida, where he lives with his wife Kathy and two dogs, Murphy and Tiger.

Karen Coleman

Karen Coleman is a founding partner of the National Work Readiness Council. After 14 years of service on the NWRC Board of Directors, she transitioned to the Advisory Council in 2020. As New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) Deputy Commissioner for Workforce Development and Governor's Office Advisor on Workforce Policy and Innovation, Ms. Coleman brings state workforce development experience and perspective to the NWRC. At the NYSDOL, Ms. Coleman supervises the development of policy and the delivery of training and employment services to hundreds of thousands of New York jobseekers. She has oversight responsibility for more than $250 million in state and federally funded training and employment programs, notably the newly authorized Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and Wagner-Peyser. Under her leadership direction, the NYSDOL collaborates with public, private, nonprofit, and academic organizations to create jobs, build careers, match workers with business needs, and stimulate economic development in New York State. Among her top priorities is developing stronger partnerships and coordination at the federal, state, and local levels, thus brokering additional resources and services for jobseekers and business customers. Ms. Coleman is also executive staff to the State Workforce Investment Board and Apprenticeship Training Council. Ms. Coleman has a master’s degree in educational administration from the University at Albany and a bachelor’s degree in education from the College of Saint Rose.

Dr. Allen Pratt

Joining the Advisory Council in 2021, Dr. Allen Pratt brings a unified voice for rural schools and communities to the NWRC. A former high school science teacher and coach, high school principal, and assistant superintendent/curriculum director, Dr. Pratt serves as Executive Director of the National Rural Education Association and Executive Director Tennessee Rural Education Association, where he is focused on achieving high quality rural education at all levels and advancing instructional and leadership capacity at both the school district and building levels. Dr. Pratt also serves as Executive Director of the East Tennessee Center of Regional Excellence for the Tennessee Department of Education and Rural Outreach Liaison for Lincoln Memorial University.

Dr. Ben Boggs

Appointed in February, 2023, Dr. Ben Boggs serves as the Commissioner of Missouri’s Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development. In 2019, Missouri integrated its traditional Department of Higher Education with the state’s Office of Workforce Development, creating an usual combined and blended model. Prior to his appointment, Ben served the Colorado Department of Higher Education as the Deputy Executive Director and Chief of Staff. Previous to his role in Colorado, he worked across many areas of higher education, including the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, and the Kentucky General Assembly. Ben earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wake Forest University, a master’s of education from The College of William and Mary, a Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy Studies from the University of Virginia, and completed the Institute for Management and Leadership in Education at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

Chelle Travis

Chelle Travis is the executive director of SkillsUSA, a national organization of nearly 400,000 teachers and students operating within the framework of career and technical education (CTE). Travis was appointed in 2019 and leads a staff of 35 that manages a federation of 52 state and territorial SkillsUSA associations, one of which (Tennessee) Travis formerly led as its director. The work she's accomplished in two decades of advancing the cause of career and technical education makes Travis a perfect fit to help SkillsUSA, America’s proud champion of the skilled trades, continue to achieve its mission: to empower students to become skilled professionals, career-ready leaders and responsible community members.

Travis' professional experience is rooted in a wide variety of academic settings, from secondary institutions to universities to technical and community colleges. Prior to becoming executive director of SkillsUSA, she served as the senior director of workforce and economic development at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), where she built valuable partnerships with employers, workforce agencies and postsecondary institutions. Prior to her work at THEC, Travis served as associate vice chancellor for students for the Tennessee Board of Regents College System. There, she provided leadership in promoting student initiatives across 40 technical and community colleges.

Travis has collaborated with every category of CTE stakeholder to design curricula, develop programs, draft legislation and more. The ultimate goal of these and current efforts is the same: to help students realize their full personal and professional potential while elevating the value of CTE to the forefront of educational discourse.

Travis holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance, and a master’s degree in business administration, from Middle Tennessee State University. She is a doctoral student at Tennessee State University.

Scott Stump

Chief Executive Officer Scott Stump leads the National FFA Organization and National FFA Foundation to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

Prior to this role, Stump served as assistant secretary for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education within the United States Department of Education. Previously, Stump was chief operating officer with Vivayic Inc.

Before joining Vivayic, Stump was assistant provost and state director for career and technical education (CTE) with the Colorado Community College System. Over his tenure with the system, Stump served as state FFA advisor, agriculture program director, and interim president of Northeastern Junior College. While state CTE director, Stump served as an officer for Advance CTE. Through this role, he served on the National SkillsUSA Board of Directors as the Advance CTE liaison.

Stump received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration from Western Governors University. He began his career teaching agricultural education and biology. His experience also includes managing the National FFA Officers and the National FFA Convention.

Patricia Tyler

Patricia Tyler was appointed to the role of Executive Director of the National Association of State Directors of Adult Education in March 2017, after serving as the State Director for Adult Education in Maryland for eight years. Her career in adult education spans three decades, beginning with her time as instructor, student counselor, grant administrator, teacher trainer, and accountability manager in local adult education programs. Patricia joined the Maryland State Department of Education in 1998 as the Specialist for Workforce Development to provide guidance for the implementation of adult education under the newly enacted Workforce Investment Act, and subsequently led the administration of Family Literacy partnerships in Adult Education, prior to being appointed as the Chief of Adult Instructional Services. She presided over Maryland’s transformational repositioning of the state adult education program to the Department of Labor in 2009, as the State Director of Adult Education.

Mike Bartlett

Mike Bartlett is the Program Director for Postsecondary and Workforce Success at the National League of Cities’ Center for Leadership, Education, Advancement, and Development. In this position, he designs and executes complex and innovative technical assistance initiatives, and serves as an advisor to local officials on improving postsecondary access and attainment, promoting the development of career pathways, workforce development strategies, and the future of work.

Prior to joining NLC, Mike served as Senior Policy Analyst at the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. In this capacity Mike routinely advised and provided technical assistance to senior state officials on key workforce issues. Mike also previously served as Policy Advisor to former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. Mike has published numerous articles and reports on these topics, and regularly presents to local & state officials and national organizations on postsecondary success strategies, aligning education and workforce development systems, work-based learning and apprenticeship, and sector-based industry engagement strategies. Mike’s writing has been published by USDOL, the Federal Reserve, The Council of State Governments, and others. Mike holds a Master of Arts from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, and currently resides in Washington, DC.

Sharon Bonney

Sharon Bonney began her career with COABE twenty-five years ago and has helped advance the organization on a number of fronts, including managing efforts to move it from a 1,300 member group in 2009 to more than 50,000 active members in 2024. She was the guiding force behind designing and implementing a new national conference model, developing new state, national, and workforce partnerships with more than 100 organizations, rebranding the COABE research journal and a related research-to-practice initiative, and designing all new professional development offerings, including webinars that have engaged more than 50,000 participants. Bonney worked collaboratively with key partners to design the internationally acclaimed, six-time award-winning Educate and Elevate public awareness campaign, which brought much-needed visibility to the value of adult education and prompted more than 250,000 contacts with legislators at the local, state, and federal levels. These efforts staved off $200 million in funding cuts and added a $108 million increase in funding for adult education. In addition, Bonney successfully promoted a national two-time award winning campaign, Move Ahead with Adult Ed, to increase enrollments in local adult education programs that were hard hit by the pandemic.

Anson Green

Anson Green is a workforce and education trailblazer, leading economic opportunity efforts for Tyson Foods U.S. At Tyson, Anson develops strategic initiatives to support the upskilling of Tyson’s diverse front-line team members, including enterprise-level upskilling solutions to deploy digital, automation, and lean manufacturing solutions. For this work, Anson was awarded the President’s Award (2023) by the Coalition on Adult Basic Education.

Through his "Behind Every Employer" initiative and podcast, Anson brings together employers who are working to implement innovative sourcing, upskilling, and digital solutions for frontline workers.

As the Texas Adult Education State Director, Anson led the transformation of the $80M+ federal program, making it a national model and a responsive solution for Texans seeking college and career entry solutions. For this work, Anson was awarded the National Outstanding Administrator of the Year.

Prior to TWC, Anson directed a specialized training center in San Antonio’s historic Westside for the Alamo Colleges District. The center was designed to provide bilingual and integrated solutions to boost access to college, training, and jobs.

Anson is a vertically integrated workforce developer. He serves on several national advisory committees, provides technical assistance to other businesses and multiple state governments, and has testified at Congressional briefings. He has also held teaching posts at several colleges, universities, and public schools.

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