Stephen Michon
Vice President
michon@futureworksweb.com

Stephen Michon, Vice President at FutureWorks, leads regional and national workforce and economic development projects for our municipal, business-civic, government, and foundation clients. He designed and managed the multi-year Ford Foundation Fellowship for Regional Sustainable Development with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, a 9-month boot camp that dives deep into the practice of economic growth strategies for metro regions. Most recently he completed six months of engagement in Oregon with the Portland Development Commission. The project helped the city build an aggressive economic development strategy to maintain Portland's "first mover" status for innovative new policies and investments that promote sustainable development. Other recent on-the-ground consulting includes economic and industry strategy for clients as diverse as Boston's Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the City of Savannah, Warren County NY Economic Development Corporation, and State of Virginia, to name a few.

Stephen also brings clients deep knowledge of workforce and economic development theory and practice. For the past five years he has worked with Coastal Enterprises Inc in Maine to assist this community development finance institution. He is currently part of a team evaluating the 5-year, $30 million National Fund for Workforce Solutions sponsored by the Ford, Hitachi, Casey, Gates and Knight Foundations. He has also led projects for the U.S. Department of Labor, John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Corporation for Supportive Housing, and several dozen workforce boards across the country.

Stephen has worked as a senior associate for Mt. Auburn Associates, a senior research associate for Workforce Learning Strategies. While at Mt. Auburn Associates he led municipal and regional strategic economic planning for their national list of clients. A few of these included a labor-industry strategy for the City of Savannah, a regional needs assessment and indicators project for the United Way of North Central Massachusetts, an economic corridor analysis for the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, and a workforce development systems analysis for the Southwest Region of Florida.

He earlier served as executive director of a city non-profit community development corporation in Massachusetts and twice served in the state legislature for New Hampshire. He is a board member of the City of Nashua's Business and Industrial Development Authority and a member of the City's Revolving Loan Fund committee. Stephen is the author of several reports, the last of which was "Sustainable Economies and Strong Communities: Regional Strategies for Growth", and prior to that, "It Takes a Region to Raise a New Economy: How Business Leadership is Driving Regional Prosperity". He graduated with a master's degree from Tufts University's Graduate School of Urban & Environmental Policy and Planning.