4th Annual Ohio College Presidents Conference

Sen. Brown will host his fourth annual college and university presidents’ conference in Washington, D.C. with more than 50 presidents from colleges and universities across Ohio. Sen. Brown’s forum – the first of its kind – is aimed at connecting educators with business leaders to advance regional economic development. Sen. Brown is a champion of tailoring workforce development programs to meet the needs of regional, high-growth industries.

Sen. Brown has invited several special guests to address the forum, including Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, James Kvaal, Deputy Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education, and representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and NASA.

This year’s forum will also connect Ohio college presidents with regional business leaders, including Alex Fischer, President and CEO, Columbus Partnership; Jim Leftwich, appointed to the Ohio Department of Development; Darrin Redus, Chief Economic Inclusion Officer, JumpStart; and Baiju Shah, President, CEO and Founder, BioEnterprise. Sen. Brown is the author of the bipartisan Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act, legislation that would promote job creation by preparing workers with education and training tailored for jobs in regional high-growth industry sectors—like biosciences, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing.

Schedule of Speakers

9:30am      Senator Sherrod Brown

  • Member, Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, & Education

9:35am     Senator Johnny Isakson

  • Member, Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee

11:00am      Robert D. Braun

  • Chief Technologist, NASA

1:30pm      Mark Milliron

  • Deputy Director for Post Secondary Education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

2:15pm    Erik Fatemi

  • Clerk, Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, & Education

2:40pm    James Kvaal

  • Deputy Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education