Brian Bosworth
Founder and President
bosworth@futureworksweb.com

Brian organized FutureWorks in 2000, building it on a career spanning international and national experience in economic development policy and leadership and building innovation within state governments.

Before establishing FutureWorks, Bosworth's experience in economic and education policy included more than a decade of international development assistance work in Latin America and twelve years of executive leadership responsibility for state-based economic growth programs. Bosworth served as the first director of the Indiana Office of Social Services (IOSS) and later as Executive Assistant to the Governor where his responsibilities included policy analysis and oversight of cabinet agencies in welfare, education, and public health.  He led the Indiana Department of Commerce in design and implementation of an economic development strategy regarded as one of the most innovative and successful in the United States.  Brian became president of the Indiana Economic Development Council, Inc., a newly-created, privately incorporated enterprise financed jointly by government and business to plan, coordinate and evaluate all economic and workforce education programs in Indiana.

After leading Indiana's economic development efforts, Brian became an independent consultant focusing on regional economic and workforce development.  He co-founded Regional Technology Strategies, a non-profit corporation and began working extensively with community colleges and on R & D pertaining to occupational education.

Brian launched FutureWorks to explore the integration of economic development and educational strategies for a more highly skilled and educated workforce.  His recent work, in postsecondary education reform strategies and policy development, is recognized as some of the most innovative and leading edge thought in postsecondary policy.  He has led the work of his firm FutureWorks in research on issues in life-long learning strategies, educational financing for adult students, adult literacy, and educational strategies for working adults.  He has also helped lead national policy studies focused on such issues as the federal role in educational attainment efforts, employer involvement in economic and workforce development, adult education, and postsecondary finance.  FutureWorks' clients now include national and regional foundations, regional business and employer associations, state and local governments, and educational institutions including state commissions and governance bodies.

He has authored several widely cited publications on economic growth, workforce development, and education improvement including Lifelong Learning: New Strategies for the Education of Working Adults and Held Back: How Student Financial Aid Fails Working Adults and a new study on the labor market value of postsecondary credentials, Certificates Count: An Analysis of Sub-Baccalaureate Certificates.

In his years as a consultant, Bosworth directed projects involving the on-the-ground design of new strategies of regional development in such diverse regions as the Mississippi Delta; the State of New York; the North Carolina Piedmont Triad; Hartford, Connecticut; Indianapolis, Indiana and NW Pennsylvania, to list a few. Recently, Brian led design and launch of SkillUp Washington, a regional workforce investors' collaborative in Seattle to restructure traditional workforce development around the objective of workforce education attainment.  These projects typically have involved research, policy analysis and development, and implementation engagement with economic development practitioners and educators.

Brian is a graduate of Dartmouth College and was awarded an AID fellowship for graduate education at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.  He has served on numerous commissions and task forces and is a frequent speaker on economic and human resources development.  He serves as an advisor to states and non-profit organizations and served on the Research Advisory Council of the Lumina Foundation for Education.