Executive Leadership

Fred Dedrick

Executive Director, National Fund for Workforce Solutions

Fred Dedrick joined the National Fund for Workforce Solutions as its first Executive Director in March of 2010.

Mr. Dedrick has more than 30 years of experience in addressing local and regional needs, including improving workforce development through partnerships. Most recently, he served as Pennsylvania’s Deputy Secretary for Workforce Development, overseeing roughly $150 million in federal and state workforce funding. He also served on the executive committee of JOIN, Philadelphia’s regional collaborative supported by the National Fund.

Prior to his tenure as Deputy Secretary, Mr. Dedrick was the Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s statewide Workforce Investment Board, developing recommendations for Governor Ed Rendall regarding workforce policy and strategy. He also has held various leadership roles statewide and in Philadelphia that involved attracting new businesses, developing industry-specific education programs, and engaging in other workforce-related activities.

Mr. Dedrick earned his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Notre Dame and his MPA from Princeton University. He currently serves on the leadership council of the National Skills Coalition.

Contact Fred Dedrick:

fdedrick@jff.org | 617-728-4446

Stephen Adams

Deputy Director, National Fund for Workforce Solutions

Steve Adams is deputy director of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions (NFWS), which supports regional funding collaboratives and workforce partnerships that help low-income jobseekers and incumbent workers obtain family-supporting careers in key industry sectors.

Mr. Adams has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of workforce and community development, economic policy, and public management. Before NFWS, he provided advisory services in workforce program evaluation and entrepreneurship policy as principal at Enabling Civic Innovation. He has also worked as New England’s small business advocate for the U.S. Small Business Administration, as president and CEO of a state policy research institute, and at several senior state government posts in Maine and Massachusetts.

Mr. Adams has served on several boards including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Business Empowerment Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the Council of Governors Policy Advisors. He holds a Master’s of Public Administration from Penn State University and a Bachelor’s in political studies from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.

Contact Stephen Adams:

sadams@jff.org | 617-728-4446

Shannon Mason

Executive Assistant, National Fund for Workforce Solutions

As Executive Assistant to the National Fund’s Executive Director, Shannon Mason maintains and updates content for the program’s web site and acts as liaison to the fund’s Investor Committee, all sub-committees, and the directors of each regional National Fund site.

Ms. Mason has 10 years of experience in project management, fundraising, and political campaigning. Before joining the National Fund, she handled client relations and product management for General Lock/Clark Security Products. Before that, she served as campaign manager for Marshall Merrifield, the 2008 candidate for San Diego city councilmember (District 1). She was also director of the Diocese of San Diego’s Secondary Education Initiative, developing and implementing fundraising programs in support of the initiative’s $425 million campaign to build new high schools and establish a tuition endowment fund.

Ms. Mason is a certified paralegal and a volunteer for both the Cambridge Arts Council and the national Multiple Sclerosis Society. She holds an Associate’s degree in biology from San Diego City College.

Contact Shannon Mason:

smason@jff.org | 617-728-4446

Megan Starkey

Program Manager, National Fund for Workforce Solutions

Megan Starkey is a program manager with JFF’s Building Economic Opportunity Group, devoted to projects that help low-skilled adults advance to family-sustaining careers while enabling employers to build and sustain a productive workforce. She focuses on the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, which supports local funding collaboratives investing in workforce partnerships to recruit, train, place, retain, and advance new and incumbent workers in key industry sectors.

Before JFF, she coordinated policy, advocacy, and communications at the New York City Charter School Center. She conducted research and advocacy on behalf of the city’s charter schools and managed the Charter Center’s rebranding. She has also written a case study on the effect of extended learning time programs in the Miami Dade County school district, co-taught fifth- and sixth-grade Spanish, and assisted in recruiting colleges and universities to participate in a collaborative focused on improving satisfaction among tenure-track faculty.

Ms. Starkey has a Master’s in education policy and management from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s in political science and Spanish from Middlebury College.

Contact Megan Starkey:

mstarkey@jff.org | 617-728-4446

Emily Wood

Communications Manager, National Fund for Workforce Solutions

Emily Wood is the communications manager for the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, which supports local funding collaboratives investing in workforce partnerships that recruit, train, place, retain, and advance new and incumbent workers in key industry sectors.

Prior to joining NFWS, Ms. Wood was outreach manager and then director of public affairs at the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), a nonpartisan, public policy think tank that focuses on issues affecting the middle class of Massachusetts. There she focused on strategic outreach, media relations, and communications projects. Ms. Wood also served as campaign manager for Massachusetts State Representative Charles Murphy. She began her career as a research analyst for Thomson & Thomson, an intellectual property research firm.

Ms. Wood holds a Master’s degree in political science from Suffolk University and a Bachelor’s in political science from Saint Bonaventure University.

Contact Emily Wood:

ewood@jff.org | 617-728-4446