Ascend Indiana announced today that Betsy Davis has joined the organization as chief operating officer.
Davis joins Ascend after more than a decade at EmployIndy, where she held a series of leadership roles spanning employer engagement, career-connected learning, talent strategy and career pathways. In her new role, she will work closely with President and CEO Brad Rhorer and the Ascend leadership team to enhance organizational effectiveness, support the team and advance the organization’s mission.
“Betsy brings strategic thinking and operational leadership that will be especially valuable as Ascend expands its statewide impact,” said Rhorer. “She has built and scaled initiatives, led cross-functional teams, worked closely with employers and education partners and united organizations around shared workforce priorities. The leadership and partnership-building experience Davis has developed positions her well to help advance Ascend’s strategic priorities.”
Davis brings more than 15 years of experience advancing workforce, education and talent strategies through systems-level initiatives.
During her tenure at EmployIndy, Davis led strategy and operations for career-connected learning initiatives, bringing together employers, education institutions, workforce organizations and community stakeholders around regional talent priorities. She also founded and scaled Talent Bound, a career-connected learning intermediary initiative supporting more than 40,000 annual career-connected learning activities and engaging more than 1,000 employers each year.
Davis also pioneered the Modern Apprenticeship Program, creating youth apprenticeship pathways across business, healthcare, information technology and manufacturing.
“I’m excited to join Ascend and continue working to bring employers, educators, workforce partners and communities together around shared talent priorities,” said Davis. “Ascend’s statewide approach, focus on systems-level changes and focus on building stronger career pathways provide an incredible opportunity to make an impact for Hoosiers and Indiana employers.”
