Arkansas Governor Creates Group Focused On Work Force Development

By Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate

February 9, 2023

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders established the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet and the Chief Workforce Officer through executive order Thursday.

Mike Rogers, senior director of Maintenance and Refrigeration for Tyson Foods, will serve as CWO. Rogers has taught agriculture and industrial maintenance at Siloam Springs High School for 20 years and was the Energy Manager for the Siloam Springs School District for 16 years.

“It’s time for our state to build a strong pipeline of skilled, qualified workers. Mike’s expertise will be crucial to getting that done,” Sanders said in a statement. “He has been on the ground floor of companies across our state, training young workers and developing technical education programs, making him the clear choice to lead our whole-of-government approach to this issue.”

As the cabinet’s chairman, the CWO will “coordinate, manage, and direct the governor’s workforce development policies and career education strategy” for the state. The cabinet is tasked with presenting a “data-driven strategic plan” to the governor by Oct. 1.

Although about 6 out of 10 jobs in Arkansas require credentials beyond a high school diploma, less than half of the state’s workforce is credentialed beyond that diploma, according to the executive order.

The goal of the Sanders’ administration is to create a single entity to coordinate and assist in career and technical education, which will ensure young adults enter the workforce “prepared for high-wage, high-growth careers.”

The cabinet will include the secretaries of Commerce, Corrections, Education, Human Services, Labor and Licensing, and Veterans Affairs, or their designees.

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The cabinet’s duties include managing, coordinating and prioritizing workforce development, career education and all workforce revenue streams and investments across state government.

Cabinet members will review services and use of funds and resources under state and federal programs to determine if the state “is maximizing desired outcomes for the state’s workforce.”

The panel will advise the governor on how to “ensure a talent-driven education and workforce system” by integrating state and federal resources and removing “unnecessary barriers for Arkansans to access workforce education and training,” according to the executive order.

At Sanders’ direction, the cabinet may create working groups to assist in the development of a strategic plan.

The Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to tough, fair daily reporting and investigative journalism that holds public officials accountable and focuses on the relationship between the lives of Arkansans and public policy. This service is free to readers and other news outlets.