Robert Sheets
Fellow, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Published
February 20, 2025
As we celebrate more than 10 years of Talent Pipeline Management (TPM), it's a moment to reflect on the journey we've undertaken and the incredible network we've built. When the U.S. Chamber Foundation launched TPM, our vision was clear: to transform the way employers engage with education and workforce systems, ensuring a steady flow of qualified workers for the jobs of the 21st century. Today, we see the fruits of that vision in the thriving TPM National Learning Network (NLN), a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation. Over the past decade, TPM has engaged more than 3,000 employers and impacted countless students and workers, showcasing the tangible benefits of our approach.
One of our common TPM-isms is “Come for the framework, stay for the network.” It has been tremendously gratifying to see what our TPM partners and practitioners have accomplished in their communities, transforming business-education partnerships, and leading to immeasurable benefits for students and workers, employers, and education and training providers.
Upon reflecting on our partners’ milestones and accomplishments, a few key themes rise to the top, demonstrating the core concepts of TPM: leading with employers, improving business-education partnerships, and creating shared value. These themes are evident in countless success stories across the network; let’s explore a couple together and celebrate how the network has defined TPM’s success.
Employers Truly Lead
The TPM framework encourages employers to play an end-customer role, borrowing the concept from supply chain management to signify the importance of employers communicating their demand to their talent partners, and students (i.e., potential future employees) and their current workforce. This approach ensures that workforce development efforts are aligned with the actual needs of employers.
The result: TPM implementation is a mixture of art and science and might look different from community to community. But employers must be the ones in the driver’s seat.
Take, for example, Jennifer Mellor’s work in Phoenix. The Greater Phoenix Chamber brought together nine hospitals to address ongoing critical skill shortages facing the industry. Upon reviewing available labor market data, their biggest need appeared to be medical assistants. However, the hospitals spoke up to say that while there were a high number of openings for those roles, what they needed most to serve patients were nurses in six specialty practice areas. At the same time, there were no existing provider partners that offered specialty skills training in those areas. The Hospital Workforce Collaborative teamed up with the Maricopa Community College District to make the case that new facilities and programs were necessary to meet this need for specialty nurses and were successful in securing $5.8 million in funding support from the state government to do so. This could not have been achieved without validation from the employer partners which roles were most in demand and getting a more granular understanding of demand for those jobs, even if existing labor market information would have led them in a different direction.
Similarly, Kentucky offers a different take on how employers can lead the process: one of the state chamber's collaboratives started with analyzing their talent supply (i.e., Strategy 4) instead of the more traditional starting place for the “Do Your Homework” phase projecting their job demand (i.e., Strategy 2). But following the employers’ request was an important signal that they truly led the process, and the collaborative revisited demand planning once they were bought in having gotten interesting talent sourcing information.
Corrie Melton, vice president of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, confirms the importance of employers leading the effort: “Each TPM group is different. The tech collaborative is not at all like the other collaboratives that we oversee. The needs are different, the employers are different, so the work is different. TPM gives you everything you need, and it gives you models for how to work through the process, but it never predetermines the work your group will take on to resolve the local issues. This is the beauty of the process.”
Bridging the Gap Between Education and Employment
Strong partnerships between businesses and educational institutions are at the heart of TPM's success. These collaborations ensure that educational programs are aligned with the needs of the labor market, providing students with relevant skills and employers with a ready workforce. The more granular and actionable data that TPM offers can be a game-changer in inspiring meaningful behavior changes on behalf of employers and educators.
This is beautifully illustrated by the greater:SATX team in San Antonio. Their 19-employer strong manufacturing collaborative went through the TPM demand planning process to get real-time data and shared results with their local community college district, Alamo Colleges. The projections for 5,000 new positions over two years offered the necessary justification for collaboration with TX FAME (Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education), as well as the expansion of related training programs to a second campus to support more student cohorts.
Another great example is taking place in Arvada, Colorado, as Kami Welch’s Talent KAPS group (made up of employers and providers) adopted shared solutions to grow talent. One of the outcomes is the rollout of 20 High School Career Hubs in Jefferson County Public Schools over the next five years. A Career Hub is a physical location inside of Jeffco high schools dedicated to increasing career awareness, exploration, and preparation by increasing studentaccess to career pathway information and work-based learning (WBL) opportunities.
Creating Shared Value for All Partners
TPM initiatives have demonstrated how through employer leadership, all talent supply chain partners can benefit, especially students and workers. TPM is a team sport, and although employer-led, solutions do not exclusively benefit the business community.
Let’s applaud the work taking place in Vermont where our colleague Mary Anne Sheahan, leader of Vermont Talent Pipeline Management (VTPM), has not only leveraged the TPM framework, but also leaned on lessons from our Talent Finance initiative.
VTPM’s Healthcare Collaborative targets the urgent need for 1,200 RNs annually versus the Vermont supply of only 400 graduates. In partnership with the University of Vermont Medical Center, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, among others, the Healthcare Collaborative has benefitted from employer-sponsored apprenticeships to enhance the state’s nursing pipeline. Participants can "earn while they learn," significantly reducing financial and economic barriers to nursing education. The collaborative has reduced recruitment costs by focusing on people already working in the industry in either clinical or non-clinical positions, with aspirations and abilities for Registered Nursing, and has minimized the need for student loans via a recycled loan repayment program. Grant funds are also available and can be used to cover essential costs such as clinical educator preparation, clinical education expenses, program management; as well as participant costs for tuition, fees and books that are not covered by grants and scholarships, plus paid release time for education, and wraparound support. This innovative funding mechanism has created a sustainable pathway for addressing critical nursing shortages in Vermont.
Evolution of the Network
The U.S. Chamber Foundation team is loud with pride about the network serving as the “secret sauce” of TPM’s success. We marvel at how many of our pilot partners from Illinois to Texas to Michigan continue to make meaningful contributions to our learning lessons and best practices. Their experiences and encouragement led to the creation of the TPM Academy. Then, the next generation of partners influenced our work such as the Kentucky Chamber, sending leadership to the second TPM Academy cohort in 2017, and subsequently helping us create the model for state-based TPM Academies. During a meeting of what eventually became TPM Fellows, it was thanks to Sharon Miller (Consumers Energy) that we explored credentialing—and now, Sharon was one of the first TPM Academy graduates to pilot and be credentialed as a TPM Verified Talent Supply Chain Manager.
Your ideas, your needs, and your passions have gotten us to where we are today. The network has been—and always will be—at the heart of TPM.
Looking Ahead
The success of TPM over the past decade is a testament to the power of collaboration and the dedication of our partners. People come for the TPM framework, but they stay for the network. Together, we have built a community that is transforming workforce development and creating pathways to economic opportunity for all. Here's to the next decade of innovation, collaboration, and impact.
About the authors
Jason Tyszko
Jason is senior vice president of policy and programs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
