On February 13th, Pat Bleecker from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development attended the North Tennessee Workforce Board meeting to make two very special presentations.
First on the agenda was the Jim Alford Award. Named in honor of former TDOL employee who managed employer grants, the Award is presented annually to an employer who has demonstrated the highest level of effectiveness and commitment in the Incumbent Worker Training Program.
The GAP Inc., located in Sumner County, was selected as this year’s winner. The $20,000 training grant was used to train over 30 employees in new material handling technology to insure the competitiveness of the Gallatin site.
Specifically, the funding was used to support the transformation of selected employees to meet the demands in computer skills training, programmable logic controllers and certified supply chain training. The Gap, Inc supplemented the grant by investing an additional $39,320 in improving the quality of their workforce. Stephen Gibson and Roger Smith accepted the award for Gap Inc.
Mr. Bleecker had another award to share with the Board. Recently, the State Workforce Board held a competition to recognize the Career Center Employee of the Year in the three grand division of the State.
I’m thrilled to announce to you that our own, Kim Rye was named the Middle Tennessee Career Center Employee of the Year! She was recognized for her leadership, dedication to workforce services, exceptional customer service and team building skills.
Nothing demonstrates this more than the following quote: “Your team is incredible, and we would not be at the staffing levels that we presently are without our valuable guidance, coaching, assistance, and overall support. There have been numerous times when your insights helped us reach out to the candidates we need to attract for our corporation and save our HR team a huge amount of anxiety and stress. I cannot thank your team enough.”….SPHR team leader
What an outstanding accomplishment for these two great winners! We are extremely proud to have these two recognized by the STATE Workforce Board. They will be recognized again at the State Workforce Board this summer. If you see Kim or Stephen at the Gap, please join me in saying Congratulations!
Marla W. Rye, President
