Patricia Carl
CEO, Highland Performance Solutions
As the ground beneath work keeps shifting — from tech disruption to generational change — workforce leaders stand at a crossroads of challenge and reinvention. Workforce Reimagined is a bold, cross-sector series unpacking how we lead, learn, and rebuild — not despite uncertainty, but through it.
From navigating AI’s impact and empowering career reinvention after 40, to advancing equitable reskilling strategies and unlocking opportunity through community-driven development, this series equips leaders with real tools, shared insight, and fresh vision to reshape what work can be — with clarity, courage, and care. Through candid dialogue, practical frameworks, and cross-sector collaboration, attendees will explore how to build resilient teams, foster inclusive growth, and reimagine talent systems for a rapidly changing world.
This program is closed to the Media. Questions? Reach out to Katy Broom.
In a time when everything’s in motion — from automation to expectations — leaders are called to guide with purpose, not panic.
This session focuses on the evolving role of leadership in today’s unpredictable employment landscape—from AI-driven disruption to evolving worker expectations and demographic shifts. Participants will explore strategies for building teams that bend but don’t break, making decisions rooted in data and humanity, and staying grounded in equity as the north star.
Through candid conversations and practical tools, this program empowers leaders to adapt, inspire, and create stability even when the future remains in flux.
CEO, Highland Performance Solutions
Senior Director, Afton Partners
Major development projects like the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago and Project 1901 are more than just physical landmarks—they serve as catalysts for workforce transformation and community revitalization.
This session explores how large-scale investments in historically underserved neighborhoods can drive economic mobility, create new career pathways, and foster local talent development.
We’ll examine real-world examples of community-led initiatives, workforce training programs, and public-private partnerships that are turning construction sites into opportunity hubs.
Learn how place-based investment can create lasting change by connecting residents to sustainable careers, reshaping local labor markets, and redefining what inclusive growth looks like in the 21st century.
Director of Business Diversity and Workforce Development, Obama Foundation
Executive Director, Chicago Blackhawks Foundation
Senior Vice President, Community Impact Territory Manager, Fifth Third Bank
This conversation centers around professionals over 40 — the reinventors, the rejoiners, the career climbers carving new paths in the modern economy
With longer careers and shifting economic demands, midlife isn’t a plateau — it’s a launchpad. This is a moment of bold reentry, not quiet exit. Attendees will gain practical tools, tactical strategies, and market insights to pivot careers with confidence, sharpen skills that matter, and stand out in a noisy, fast-moving market.
From overcoming age-related biases to identifying industries that value experience, this session empowers participants to step into what’s next with clarity, confidence, and courage.
CEO, Highland Performance Solutions
President & Founder, Kuczmarski Innovation; Co-Founder, Chicago Innovation
Founder, Possibility Partners
CEO & Founder, McCann Partners