Two Information Technology (IT) Sector “Champions” John Bjerke (CISCO) and Bill Cullifer (WOW) were keynote speakers at the 21st Annual CTE Conference held by CALCP/CAROCP.

John, who is the Western Region Area Academy Manager for CISCO Networking Academies (13 States, including California) gave a national overview of IT trends, IT Sector employment opportunities, and how public/private partnerships support education. Bill, who is the Executive Director of the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) gave an overview of the key steps in establishing and maintaining effective partnerships. Both of these industry representatives also serve on the Business Education Resource Group, which is a state-level advisory group that includes the Information Technology, Finance and Business, and Marketing, Sales, and Service Sectors.

While at the conference, Bill also took time to capture a workshop session co-presented by Rob Attervury of ConnectED and Dr. Pat Ainsworth of CDE. If you were unable to attend the conference and would like to know about “Trends in CTE: What does the Future Hold?” visit: http://whycte.org/trends-in-cte-what-does-the-future-hold.htm for an overview and audio recording of the workshop.