National Thought Leader Michelle Weise Joins Strada Education Network to Advance Workforce Development Strategies and Innovation

INDIANAPOLIS — Strada Education NetworkSM welcomes Michelle Weise as senior vice president, workforce strategies and chief innovation officer. She will lead the organization’s workforce alignment initiatives as well as innovation and thought leadership priorities.

Based in Indianapolis, Strada Education is a national nonprofit dedicated to improving lives by strengthening the pathways between education and employment.

Weise is a higher education expert who specializes in innovation and connections between higher education and the workforce. She most recently served as chief innovation officer for Sandbox ColLABorative at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), where she designed and led the research and development lab of strategy and innovation.

Prior to her role at SNHU, Weise was a senior research fellow for higher education at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. She was co-author, with Christensen, of “Hire Education: Mastery, Modularization, and the Workforce Revolution.” The book examines the disruptive potential of online competency-based education aligned to changing labor market needs.

She also has served as vice president of academic affairs for Fidelis Education Inc., an education technology startup specializing in career transitions for military service members and veterans. Weise began her career as an assistant professor in the English Department at Skidmore College and even curated an exhibit at its Francis Young Tang Teaching Museum.

Weise joins Strada Education Network on Sept. 18. She will be based in Boston.

“Michelle will be an excellent addition to the Strada Education team as we work to make Completion With a Purpose® possible for all students,” said William D. Hansen, Strada Education president and CEO. “Her breadth of knowledge and experience in connecting postsecondary education and careers will be invaluable as we engage partners across education, nonprofits, business and government to build a more purposeful path for America’s students to rewarding careers and fulfilling lives.”

A former Fulbright Scholar, Weise holds doctoral and master’s degrees from Stanford and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.