On March 26–27, the U.S. Chamber Foundation alongside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, hosted our signature workforce event, Talent Forward. This year’s event came with exciting new ideas, solutions and insights addressing workforce participation barriers, leveraging untapped talent pools, creating alternative post-secondary pathways, and preparing for the technological transformation of work in an era of artificial intelligence and skills-based hiring.
The 2025 Talent Forward also debuted new and engaging formats like our state-of-the-art Gamechanger Desk. Moderated by our very own communications director Joseph Davis, this innovative format brought speakers back for focused analytical sessions that extracted valuable insights and connected ideas across different panels. The Gamechanger Desk continued crucial workforce conversations on topics including creating quality jobs with purpose, strategies for engaging overlooked talent, and state-level workforce innovation.
"We're back at the Gamechanger Desk," became a familiar refrain as Davis engaged speakers in candid conversations that went beyond their formal presentations to identify patterns and breakthrough thinking emerging throughout the conference.
This year’s conference started with a pre-conference discussion on digital transformation and the role of skills in the modern talent marketplace. We then kicked off Talent Forward 2025 officially with the introduction of the Gamechanger desk, followed by two days of engaging panels, insightful breakouts, networking and sharing ideas. With such robust conversation, the Gamechanger Desk helped distill five key insights that stand to transform how we approach talent development and workforce participation across America.
Elizabeth O’Brien, Senior Vice President of Hiring Our Heroes at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, explores the significance of a job in today's world.
The event provided attendees with networking opportunities, fostering new relationships and collaborations.
Talent Forward 2025 sessions included keynotes, fireside chats, breakout sessions, and of course the Gamechanger desk.
At the Gamechanger Desk, Elizabeth Bolden, Executive Director of the PA Chamber Education Foundation, discusses the new EPIC partnership and its implications for workforce development, accompanied by Aaron Olson, Executive Vice President of Aon, sharing insights on skills-based training and hiring.
Attendees enjoyed an exclusive Thought Leadership Experience at Amazon HQ.
Shaba Keys, Elizabeth House, Latisha Chisholm, and Irene Shih share insights on economic mobility, moderated by Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
Stephen White, Esq., from the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), captivates the audience with his engaging "momentum moment" on youth skills development.
Sylvester E. Williams, IV, Dean of the College of Business at East Stroudsburg University, and Elizabeth Bolden, Executive Director of the PA Chamber Foundation, discuss work-based learning in Pennsylvania through our Employer Provided Innovation Challenges (EPIC) partnership, moderated by Taylor Hansen from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Lisa M. Lawson, President and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, leads a discussion on expanding the talent pool during a "Momentum Moment" session.
Rosemary Williams, Specialist Executive at Deloitte Consulting LLP, discusses the impact of military spouses in the workforce during a fireside chat with Elizabeth O’Brien, Senior Vice President of Hiring Our Heroes.
Carly Roszkowski, Vice President of Financial Resilience Programming at AARP, shares insights on prioritizing skills over age in job seeking and hiring during the AARP Talent Testimonial.
The Gamechanger desk wraps up the 2025 Talent Forward with a live on stage recap of key insights from the conference, featuring the Foundation's Jason Tyszko and Jaimie Francis and moderator, Joseph Davis.
The team behind Talent Forward 2025.
See below for five key insights from the Talent Forward 2025 gamechangers:
- Skills are the foundation of opportunity creation. "Opportunity can mean a lot of things for different people," noted Vicki Greene of Pearson at the Gamechanger Desk. Stephen Moret of Strada Education Foundation added that creating genuine pathways requires "clear outcomes information," "personalized education to career coaching," and employer alignment with high-demand jobs.
- Data infrastructure enables workforce solutions. The U.S. Chamber Foundation’s Jason Tyszko emphasized at the Desk that "data is going to be increasingly important, but it's arguably where we need to do the most amount of work." Building a national data infrastructure through public-private collaboration including collective action like the JEDx initiative, will be essential for facilitating and measuring the success of career pathways.
- Regional and local strategies deliver results. "States are going to be the laboratories of innovation in this space," Tyszko observed, while Amity Schuyler from the Greater Memphis Chamber highlighted how addressing literacy and math readiness at the local level is crucial yet, "we are just not talking about that enough in the workforce space." A new EPIC pilot with East Stroudsburg University and the PA Chamber Foundation demonstrates this approach, creating work-based learning opportunities that empower students with real-world skills and strengthen regional workforce capabilities.
- Economic mobility should be our north star metric. "Economic mobility actually is what matters to individual workers, matters to employers, and it matters to educators," said Aaron Olson of Aon, suggesting this metric "brings together all these different themes" and creates focus on meaningful outcomes.
- People are the only resource that truly matters. "People are not...the greatest asset or greatest resource in the organization...people are the only resource in the organization," emphasized Robert Martichenko of TrailPath Workplace Solutions. This perspective shifts how we approach workforce development toward centering human dignity and potential.
Moving Forward Together
As Talent Forward concluded, the call to action was clear: these workforce challenges require innovative solutions that can only be achieved through working together and listening to the needs of all stakeholders.
"I think what the need for innovative solutions does tell us is, if we don't start being more agile and more adaptive and thinking about improvement, we're not going to be able to compete effectively," reflected the U.S. Chamber Foundation’s Peter Beard.
The U.S. Chamber Foundation is actively advancing this collaborative work through our award-winning Talent Pipeline Management® initiative, innovative new tools like JobSIDE and Skill Savings Accounts, and our T3 Innovation Network™ that equips businesses, education providers, and community organizations to build strong skills-based and demand-driven workforce systems that recognize potential in every individual.
Explore insights from Talent Forward
About the authors
Sydney Lewis
Sydney Lewis is associate communications manager at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
