How is Labour Market Information (LMI) used to guide education and career decision making? What is the level of awareness of the value of LMI among job seekers? How can barriers to effectively use LMI be reduced to better align businesses’ needs for workers to those with the right skill set?
Please join the ICE Committee and a panel of experts in a discussion on the recent report examining how newcomers and students in high school and post-secondary institutions make use of LMI to inform their education and career pathways. This study was completed for the ICE Committee by MDB Insight Inc., a Toronto-based economic, workforce development and market research consultancy.
Judy Morgan, ICE
Judy Morgan is the Chair of Intergovernmental Committee for Economic and Labourforce Development (ICE Committee).
ICE strives to facilitate collaboration among all ministries and departments in the three orders of government that are involved with different aspects of economic and labour force development in Toronto. The committee’s mandate is to build bridges between the supply and demand of labour force development, identify opportunities for synergies between programs and levels of government, and share knowledge and diverse perspectives. For more information, go to https://www.icecommittee.org.
Trudy Parsons, MDB Insights
Trudy Parsons, Executive Vice-President | MDB Insight
Trudy is the first non-founding partner with MDB Insight, known for her contributions to the workforce development field over the past three decades. Regularly recognized for her innovative thinking and creative approaches, Trudy develops workforce strategies and leads labour market initiatives in communities and regions, large and small. Her expertise includes community development, stakeholder engagement and evidence-based, results-driven strategic planning. She is a Professional Manager (P.Mgr.), a seasoned Project Manager, a member of the Canadian Institute of Management, and an active member in numerous economic development associations across Canada. Trudy was also a founding partner of Workforce Central Canada, an emerging platform for workforce development professionals that includes a podcast covering topics of importance to the field. She is a regular conference speaker and panelist, and contributor to MDB Insight’s blog.
Chris Bandak, MDB Insights
Chris Bandak, Executive Vice-President, Market Research and Analytics | MDB Insight
Chris heads MDB Insight’s Market Research & Analytics Division and specializes in conducting market research for the private and public sectors. His expertise includes the design of custom survey work for all levels of government. Over the past twenty years, Chris has conducted more than 500 research studies. He is considered a thought-leader in market research design and analysis. Chris holds a North American Patent for a methodology he designed to produce a scientific online panel. In addition, Chris has designed and consulted on large market research pricing, branding, advertising, and media projects across North America. Chris specializes in helping communities and organizations pinpoint stakeholder priorities and measure satisfaction. He is a Certified Marketing Research Professional (CMRP) and member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association.
Tony Bonen, LMIC
Tony Bonen, Director of Research, Data and Analytics| Labour Market Information Council (LMIC)
Tony Bonen is the Director of Research, Data and Analytics at the Labour Market Information Council (LMIC). With over 10 years of experience in policy and quantitative analyses, his previous research has focused on labour and retirement security, and climate change economics. Prior to joining LMIC, Dr. Bonen led the development of CMHC’s housing price model for Economic Capital and stress testing purposes.
LMIC
LMIC is a public non-for profit organization dedicated to empowering Canadians to make informed decisions by enabling access to quality, relevant and comprehensive data and insights across the pan-Canadian LMI ecosystem.
John MacLaughlin, TWIG
John MacLaughlin
John MacLaughlin is the co-author of the recent Metcalf Foundation paper, When Training Works: Promising Workforce Development Practices and the upcoming paper for the Toronto Workforce Innovation Group on the potentially devastating impacts of Ontario’s aging population. John has a long and distinguished career in labour market dynamics, education and training both in Canada and internationally. He conceived of, developed and was the founding Executive Director of the Preparatory Training Programs (PTP) from its inception in 1990 through 2003. This was followed by six years of senior advisory roles in vocational education and training in South East Asia. Since returning to Canada, John has had extensive experience in developing innovative workforce programs and translating them into actual on-the-ground strategies.
In 2009 John authored the ground-breaking Menial No More, one of the first papers to talk about accelerated technology and its impact on occupations in retail and hospitality. In 2014 he wrote 95 Months Later which sparked an important dialogue about the impacts of aging on Toronto’s labour market. In 2011, John acted as principal designer of the Elevate, a program which trains individuals for entry level occupations in the food and beverage industry.
MDB Insight
MDB Insight is an award-winning Canadian consultancy uniquely focused on economic development, workforce development, and market research. The firm was formed in 2007 out of a desire to build a collaborative team dedicated to helping communities and organizations wrestle with economic development challenges. Today, MDB Insight specializes in strategic planning services in economic development, workforce development, and market research and analytics that create real-world impact for public and private sector clients. The firm’s multidisciplinary team brings together expertise and on- the-ground experience to create customized quantitative, qualitative, research-based solutions led by founding principals and senior staff who are widely recognized as industry thought leaders and strategic planning experts. The firm produces Insight: Canada’s Economic Development Podcast and is a founding partner of Workforce Central Canada and its podcast series. MDB Insight has corporate offices in Kingston (head office), Toronto, and Winnipeg, and has team members working remotely from several other locations.