Shaping CT’s Future: Workforce Development Velocity spotlighted a central challenge facing Connecticut: the state has talent, institutions, and opportunity, but it needs greater coordinated speed.
Hosted by CT’s leading brand marketing agency, Rebellion Group, the summit brought together leaders across business, education, policy, technology, and workforce development to examine how people can move faster from learning to earning, from instability to opportunity, and from entry-level roles into sustainable careers.
The conversation made clear that Connecticut’s future workforce will depend on how quickly employers, educators, policymakers, and individuals adapt to AI, shifting skill demands, and changing economic realities.
Before taking the stage to lead the event as keynote speakers, James Dowd (COO/CCO) and BJ Kito (President/CSO) were invited by WFSB to sit down for a conversation about the future of Connecticut’s workforce. The discussion explored how business leaders, educators, policymakers, and workers must adapt to a labor market being reshaped by AI, evolving skill demands, and new expectations around opportunity, mobility, and growth. Their appearance helped frame the summit’s central challenge: Connecticut does not lack talent or ambition; it just needs greater alignment, urgency, and coordinated action to prepare for what comes next.
“The future of work is already here. The question is whether Connecticut can move fast enough to meet it,” said Kito.
“This is the most important event happening here in CT because it truly affects all of us; our friends, families, neighbors, coworkers; this is about all of us; we are all workforce; this is our lives, careers, and futures we’re discussing,’ added Dowd. “Individuals and businesses together must actively step up to adapt, because the organizations, states, and leaders that move fastest to adapt won’t just survive the shift. They’ll shape it.”
If you want to learn more about events like this, head to shapingctsfuture.com.