Creating Partnerships for America

U.S. industry leaders and Army Reserve leadership met for two days in Washington, D.C. to discuss solutions for Soldier reintegration to the workplace, employability and deployment and training cycles, and overcoming challenging economic realities during the Employer Partnership Initiative CEO Conference April 27-28 at the Pentagon in Washington D.C.(photo by Staff Sgt. S. L. Vega - Army Multimedia Visual Information Directorate (AMVID)

Col. Dianna Cleven

Chief Operating Officer

Employer Partnership Initiative

Office of the Chief, Army Reserve

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Monday, April 27th, Chief of the Army Reserve Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, the Employer Partnership Initiative Board of Directors, and approximately fifteen industry leaders met in the Pentagon to talk about how to enhance the Army Reserve’s Employer Partnership Initiative (EPI) and to collaborate on a shared human capital strategy.

Secretary of the Army, the Honorable Pete Geren, and the Chief of Staff, Army Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. both addressed the diverse group. Attendees included representatives from assorted industries: trucking, defense, healthcare, human resources, retail, information technology, roofing, and finance. Nonprofits and for-profit organizations were included, as well as associations, the U.S. Chamber, and a state Chamber of Commerce.

After the day-and-a-half-long seminar, the business leaders told Stultz and Director of the Army Staff Lt. Gen. David L. Huntoon that EPI afforded a way for the Army Reserve to partner with business leaders on how to generate America's future competitive workforce. They indicated that they envisioned a total personnel and talent management system for those in or out of uniform. This included a predictable career path for Army Reserve Soldiers, which would integrate human resource management counseling such that Citizen Soldiers would have advice on how military or civilian career choices could shape outcomes in both their military and civilian careers. These leaders indicated developing such a workforce model would require innovation and would bring a deeper, richer relationship between the Army Reserve and employers. Under this model, business would create and identify jobs and career opportunities for Soldiers, and military and civilian career training would be synchronized. This would be accomplished by training to civilian certification requirements and leveraging existing virtual training mechanisms.

Collaboration on how to shape this future workforce will be accomplished via EPI Partners and EPI team member working groups that will meet every two weeks and monthly meetings of the larger group that met this week, who will evaluate progress. Industry leaders will populate the working groups with creative, talented persons in their own organizations, and these persons will work with the EPI team on pertinent issues. The group intends to come back to the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Chief of the Army Reserve with a completed plan by November 2009.

Some of the initial work the working groups will take on are the following: training-certification needs, alignment of EPI goals with legislation, collaboration with the education community, identifying civilian and military career opportunities (including connecting deployment to career paths - civilian and military - and matching military skills to civilian needs), benchmarking employer programs that can be leveraged by the military, identifying translator tools to facilitate placement in career opportunities commensurate with the Soldier’s experience and training, and developing program performance metrics to measure partnership success.

Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief, Army Reserve and commanding general, U.S. Army Reserve Command, and Lt. Gen. David L. Huntoon, director of Army Staff, brain storm with U.S. industry leaders from G.E., Con-way, Volt Information Services, BAE Systems, American Trucking Association and Kelly Service during the Employer Partnership Initiative CEO Conference April 27-28 at the Pentagon in Washington D.C.(photo by Staff Sgt. S. L. Vega - Army Multimedia Visual Information Directorate (AMVID)

Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., chief of staff of the United States Army, talks to the U.S. industry leaders and Army Reserve leadership who participated in the Employer Partnership Initiative CEO Conference April 27-28 at the Pentagon in Washington D.C.(photo by Staff Sgt. S. L. Vega - Army Multimedia Visual Information Directorate (AMVID)

Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief, Army Reserve and commanding general, U.S. Army Reserve Command and industry CEOs listen while Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., talks about the importance of partnership during the Employer Partnership Initiative CEO Conference April 27-28 at the Pentagon in Washington D.C.(photo by Staff Sgt. S. L. Vega - Army Multimedia Visual Information Directorate (AMVID)