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Ron Painter Highlight
Find your passion, hold on to it, and pursue it because that’s a life fulfilled. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t succeed.
About Ron
- Growing up, my father was very involved in politics—I was always excited to go with him to watch election results, meet candidates, and talk about government and politics.
- My experiences as a kid led me to get my bachelor’s degree in political science.
- I worked in local elected office after college before going back to school to get my Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree.
- Graduate school was when I really started to focus on what I had to learn to be good at what I wanted to do, including learning the mechanics of effective public management.
- While studying public administration and labor relations, I got the opportunity to help manage the City of Pittsburgh's job training funds.
- I fell in love with helping people get back into the labor force after something outside of their control took them out.
- I continued to work within labor relations in various positions and am now president and CEO of the National Association of Workforce Boards, which makes the connection between workers and the market.
- I’ve also served as an adjunct professor for the University of Pittsburgh, where I taught an undergraduate course on the process of public policy.
