Sep 8, 2026 · 30 min · 11 segments
What does it take to build a stronger talent pipeline and create clearer pathways from education to meaningful careers? Jennifer Vigne sits down with Tommy Gregory, president of State College of…
Tommy GregoryGuest
Jennifer VigneHost
So let's kind of shift a little bit to the economic piece of schools and what they provide.
Oftentimes workers, employers will say, we can't find enough qualified workers for X field.
And then you speak to students and they're saying, well, we can't find a clear pathway into whatever that sector is.
How would you explain that those two tensions can be happening simultaneously? And what would you say to both the students and the employers about that dilemma?
And it's another area, you know, back to your assumption question where you go in and when you first meet with community leaders and business owners, they're very typically going to respond with something that bothers them.
You know, the old 80-20 rule in practice, they had a problem with such and such employee or they're in the middle of a lawsuit or they just finished a lawsuit.
But when you really press them and dig in, they say, well, actually, sure, we would love for you to fix those things.
what they're really talking about is that workforce pipeline, what they would call the talent pipeline.
And that is true regardless of whether they are in the construction industry, a vocational trade, or the highest levels of PhDs and doctors, right? The highest levels of education.
One, I would say you don't have to leave Sarasota County to get a world-class education.
And I borrow that line from Casey Welsh, who, you know, was government relations at USF.
and luckily we have a lot of students taking advantage of that i think that what we need to do is make sure that the employers and the students are able to connect and that's one thing that at the state college of florida we're we're constantly working on of course our Our number one mission is student success.
So let's kind of shift a little bit to the economic piece of schools and what they provide.
Oftentimes workers, employers will say, we can't find enough qualified workers for X field.
And then you speak to students and they're saying, well, we can't find a clear pathway into whatever that sector is.
How would you explain that those two tensions can be happening simultaneously? And what would you say to both the students and the employers about that dilemma?
And it's another area, you know, back to your assumption question where you go in and when you first meet with community leaders and business owners, they're very typically going to respond with something that bothers them.
You know, the old 80-20 rule in practice, they had a problem with such and such employee or they're in the middle of a lawsuit or they just finished a lawsuit.
But when you really press them and dig in, they say, well, actually, sure, we would love for you to fix those things.
what they're really talking about is that workforce pipeline, what they would call the talent pipeline.
And that is true regardless of whether they are in the construction industry, a vocational trade, or the highest levels of PhDs and doctors, right? The highest levels of education.
One, I would say you don't have to leave Sarasota County to get a world-class education.
And I borrow that line from Casey Welsh, who, you know, was government relations at USF.
and luckily we have a lot of students taking advantage of that i think that what we need to do is make sure that the employers and the students are able to connect and that's one thing that at the state college of florida we're we're constantly working on of course our Our number one mission is student success.
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