On Thursday, December 8th, MAX held our first in-person and second Annual Meeting of the MAX Membership at Google.
Special thanks to Google for serving as our host sponsor at their new office space in midtown Atlanta! (Click here to learn more about this new space.) MAX extends our sincere gratitude to the several Googlers on hand to greet MAX members and to the Google Cafe team for treating our members to an amazing breakfast. Special thanks also to Elevate Douglas for serving as our presenting sponsor and to our MAX Anchor Investors for their steadfast support which makes our events possible!
During our annual meeting, MAX members were treated to special remarks from The Honorable Mayor Andre Dickens (click here), the City of Atlanta’s 61st Mayor, Fabiola Charles Stokes, head of Global Sites Strategy, North America for Google, and MAX’s very first member and civic leader extraordinaire, Ann Cramer.
A keynote Live Chat conversation with Keith Parker, President & CEO of Goodwill of North Georgia was held with MAX Vice Chair Jenny Taylor, Chief Mission Officer for Goodwill, who also served as emcee for the event. During the conversation, Parker lifted up the value that all of our neighbors have in contributing to our society and stressed the call that we as workforce developers share in helping them overcome their barriers to achieve greater economic mobility.
MAX members also heard an update from Breezy Straton, chair of MAX’s newly formed MAX Member Engagement Council, and Vice President, Elevate Douglas, about plans for this council and what members can expect from their engagement in the days ahead. And Katherine Townsend Kiernan, Research Analyst with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and member of the MAX Data Council, previewed results from MAX’s first Community Impact Assessment. The assessment revealed how workforce providers are making a difference in connecting those they serve with opportunity and will be conducted each year to help us better understand how we are together moving the needle.
Last but not least, MAX members recognized our very first recipient of the Wendell Dallas Excellence in Leadership Award, in honor of our founding board chair, Wendell Dallas. This year’s award went to our very own Jenny Taylor! Click here to read more.
Beyond those already named, special thanks to MAX Annual Committee lead Kristin Laarhoven, Executive Director of the Office of Workforce Development at the Technical College System of Georgia, MAX member Karen Cramer, Chief Impact Officer with TechBridge, former MAX board member Kevin Shea, retired President & CEO of GEDA, and all of our members in making this convening of the MAX membership a special, memorable time for all!