Title: Founding President, Chief Executive Officer
Company: Employ Prince George’s, Inc.
Location: Largo, Maryland, United States
Walter L. G. Simmons, founding president and chief executive officer of Employ Prince George’s, Inc. has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership in workforce development.
Mr. Simmons earned a Bachelor of Arts in history and sociology from Newberry College in 2010 and a Master of Business Administration from Charleston Southern University in 2013. He began his career in workforce development while assisting with the South Carolina Juvenile Justice System. While working with incarcerated youth he felt a sense of connection to his clients, as many were affected by cycles of poverty, incarceration, and low educational attainment. Mr. Simmons has dedicated his career to running risk youth programs, adult programs, and job centers, and managed one of the first United Way family financial stability centers in South Carolina.
As he continued his career in Prince George’s County, Mr. Simmons saw an opportunity to grow workforce development and partner with local policymakers to drive community economic growth through job creation. As the director of Prince George’s County Workforce Board and the chief executive officer of the company’s nonprofit, he is tasked with identifying the needs of business and job seekers while maintaining a system that prepares and creates skilled and qualified workers and global businesses. Under Mr. Simmons’ guidance, Prince George’s County Public Workforce System has quadrupled. Employ Prince George’s FTEs have grown by 45% within 18 months, increasing the number of Prince George’s County Public Workforce System job seekers served by 34% and leading the State of Maryland in business services and Maryland EARN funding. In addition to his work with Prince George’s County, Mr. Simmons led the District of Columbia’s American Job Center to its first successful Wagner Peyser and WIOA Audit and annual performance in 10 Years and created one of the Top 10 Financial Stability Centers in the United States.
Supplementing his professional career, Mr. Simmons has contributed to organizations such as the National Association of Workforce Development Boards, the Maryland Workforce Association, the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals, the Southeastern Employment & Training Association and the National Career Development Association. In recognition of his contributions to the field, Mr. Simmons was a White House Summit on Working Families Invitee, a Very Important Professional Under 40 and one of the Most Influential Marylanders by the Maryland Daily Record. He has been presented with a 40 Under 40 Award by the Washington Business Journal and rated one of the Top 20 Economic Development Podcasts for his work as the host of EPG’s The Workforce Wire. Looking toward the future, his goal is to benefit as many businesses and job seekers as possible while serving as a national subject matter expert on how local jurisdictions across the country can modernize their workforce development systems to maximize economic outcomes for residents and businesses.
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