CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Former Packard exec fills work force post

Youngstown State and Kent State universities will collaborate to better meet employers' training needs.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WARREN -- Bob Faulkner likes to joke that the chore list his wife had waiting for him when he retired from Delphi Packard Electric Systems last month was enough to push him back into the work force.
Faulkner, 55, retired March 31 from Delphi and assumed his new duties the next day. He's the new vice president of Workforce Development for the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce and the new executive director of Mahoning Valley Labor Management Council.
"I took one look at that job list and I decided I wasn't ready to retire," Faulkner quipped Friday after a press conference organized to announce the two appointments.
The chamber position was created for him, and he will fill a post on the Labor Management Council that had been vacant since Greg Sherlock resigned in August to become vice president of media and communications for the chamber.
Tom Humphries, chamber president, said officials decided to merge the positions because they have similar goals -- improving education, work force training and labor-management cooperation in the Mahoning Valley.
Faulkner will work closely with Youngstown State University and Kent State University to meet the work force training and education goals established in the chamber's Jobs for Our Valley Campaign.
Vision: Citing studies and surveys that show the Valley has a "major gap" in education and training areas, he said he wants to begin to act proactively to create and update the region's offerings instead of waiting to react when problems occur.
"I envision the day when we won't talk about our young people having to leave the Valley for training and job opportunities," Faulkner said. "Those opportunities will be right here."
Dr. David Sweet, YSU president, called the collaboration "an outstanding step forward" in meeting employers' needs for a better educated and better trained work force.
"It's a wonderful opportunity, and I can't think of a better person to be leading the charge than Bob Faulkner," said David Allen, dean of Kent State University Trumbull Campus.
The Labor Management Council, a nonprofit agency providing employee and management training in topics like sexual harassment and cultural diversity, will operate under the chamber's umbrella.
Budget: The council receives about half its funding, $54,000 a year, from the Ohio Department of Development, so its budget will be kept separate, but its former office on Federal Plaza downtown has been closed. Faulkner has offices at the chamber's Youngstown and Warren locations.
A Warren resident, Faulkner worked nearly 30 years at Delphi Packard and traveled all over the world for the company before he retired as Manager of Community Relations Worldwide. He is a 10-year member of the Warren Board of Education and a member of the Black Caucus for the Ohio School Boards Association.
He has a bachelor's degree from Hiram College and serves on boards at YSU and KSU. Faulkner and his wife, Joyce, are the parents of three adult children and have three grandchildren.