Ellen serves as the practice lead of Afton Partners’ workforce development portfolio. Over the past two decades, she has developed expertise in equitable program design, project management, facilitation, and organizational development. In her current role she has facilitated a Governor-appointed Commission in Illinois tasked with improving service delivery and alignment across the public workforce system; led a state-wide working group in Minnesota to increase recruitment and retention of qualified early childhood education providers; and run multiple employer-based learning cohorts and communities of practice to increase inclusive hiring awareness and practice. Prior to joining Afton, Ellen served for 12 years as a Director at the Chicago Jobs Council where she led the development of a premier, nationally recognized capacity building program for the workforce development field.