ConxusNEO Team
Meet the ConxusNEO team who strive to:
- Position businesses to remain competitive and grow by accessing qualified diverse talent.
- Support educators to align curriculum with relevant in-demand skills.
- Help workforce development programs better understand opportunities.
- Mobilize communities to overcome real-life barriers to good jobs that lead to great careers.
- Increase access to economic mobility for minority populations.
Jean Barbato
Jean brings 15 years of experience in higher education working with recruitment, advising and retention for non-traditional, adult completion programs, and grant management in workforce training and apprenticeships. She also has 35 years of experience as a small business owner and understands the difficulties and the importance of training and retaining employees.
At ConxusNEO, Jean is the Senior Manager of the Manufacturing Sector Partnership with oversight of the sector partnership, the U.S. Department of Labor Scaling Apprenticeship grant and the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Good Jobs Challenge program. Her responsibilities include collaborating with local community-based organizations who serve underrepresented, underserved people in the greater Akron region to provide training and to gain quality job opportunities for career growth.
Jean earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and a Master of Business Administration from Walsh University in North Canton, OH. She is on the Advisory Board for the Stark County’s Greater Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank Community Harvest program, is a member of the Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital Service League, and is the chair of the grant writing committee for Another Act of Kindness.
Michelle Cassetty Collins
Michelle Cassetty Collins brings 20 years of leadership experience in higher education where she led initiatives related to the recruitment and retention of students. Her experience working with academic programs in a consortium is foundational to the value she places on collaboration to reach shared outcomes. She has a deep desire to improve the quality and effectiveness of an organization, a process or a system. At ConxusNEO, Michelle manages research initiatives, coordinates with College and Career Academies of Akron, spearheads pilot projects, and supports the organization’s leadership and staff. Michelle earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Bible from Kentucky Christian College, a Master of Science in Higher Education degree from The University of Akron, and a Master of Education in Cultural Foundations at Kent State University where she studied marginalization and inequalities in education through the lenses of sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and history.
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Ameeca Holmes
Ameeca is an Akron native and comes from a local hospital with 11 years of experience. Ameeca is passionate about community outreach efforts and has led many grant initiatives related to youth development, education, and public health issues focusing on maternal and child health. All of her previous work experiences have awarded her the knowledge and skills to raise awareness and facilitate beneficial programming in adverse communities.
Ameeca received her bachelor’s and Masters of Arts from Kent State University. At ConxusNEO, she manages the Healthcare Sector Partnership and continue to foster and promote relationships in the community with local healthcare facilities to support workforce development opportunities.
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Jenny Stupica
Jenny has over 10 years of Human Resources experience in manufacturing. She has earned multiple HR certifications, is an active member of the Akron SHRM chapter, and has served as a board member for Kent State’s Center for Corporate and Professional Development, Tri-C’s Manufacturing Technology Program, ConxusNEO, and the Summit Medina Workforce Development Board.
Jenny has been involved in workforce issues in the manufacturing industry for a number of years and was Chair of the ConxusNEO Manufacturing Network before joining the ConxusNEO staff in July 2017. Jenny has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Crain’s, Smart Business, and other print publications regarding the importance of manufacturing and its career opportunities. Last year, Jenny was a guest on NPR’s Diane Rehm show to discuss the aging workforce and share some unique approaches to retaining talent and experience.
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Amy Bomberger
Amy has lived in the Akron area for 20 years. In that time, she has had a variety of opportunities as a Customer Service and Administrative Assistant with different industries in the Akron area. She has work with several Plastic Manufactures, Dental Equipment Manufacture, ATM Manufacture & Title Insurance company. She strives to organize data in a format that users can easily access a part or all of it. She audits incoming data to verify any changes or added regulations. All outdated data is removed and archived for future use. She is always on the look out for new or updated standards or products for the industry that she is working with. She enjoys interacting with others to establish relationships so as to network for any new ideas or processes to better manage data.