Cindy Fiorella

As Vice President of Workforce and Economic Development for Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC), Cindy Fiorella provides exceptional leadership and strategic oversight for the college’s outreach mission in the areas of community, workforce, and economic development within the Greater Owensboro region. She is a consummate professional and visionary who has made a significant impact on the region’s efforts to develop a world-class, competitive workforce.

Cindy manages OCTC’s Workforce Solutions division where she develops and supervises workforce and economic development-related programs including customized business and industry training, workforce assessment services, continuing/community education programs, adult education services, and career pathways initiatives for under-skilled adults and dislocated workers. Additionally, she provides strategic leadership and management of the division’s cost recovery budget which ranges from $2 to $3 million each year. Consequently, she supervises more than 40 Workforce Solutions personnel and adjunct trainers in the largest and most comprehensive workforce division within the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

Cindy served on the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) Board of Regents for six years and was instrumental in shaping the newly-formed educational system. She was a champion for employees state-wide and an advocate of equal rights for both students and employees. Cindy’s time on the KCTCS Board of Regents included serving on the Finance and Administration Committee, Efficiency and Effectiveness Committee, Presidential Search Committee, Nominating Committee, and the Personnel Policies and Procedures Ad Hoc Committee.

Cindy has earned a notable reputation for innovation and leadership in state and national workforce development initiatives. Her efforts have been featured in numerous publications and she has been invited to serve as a keynote speaker and panelist in national forums including the following: The Boston Foundation; National Council of State Legislators Labor and Economic Development Committee on State Career Pathways Programs; Connecticut Community College’s Workforce Professional Development Day; Women Work/NAPE Annual Conference; Jobs for the Future’s Rx for a New Health Care Workforce Summit; and the Michigan Student Success Summit. She has also served as a member of the Jobs for the Future National Health Care Advisory Group.

Locally, Cindy is active in the Greater Owensboro community and has served on several boards and volunteered with numerous organizations. She has a master’s in organization communication and a bachelor’s in elementary education from Western Kentucky University. Cindy and her husband, Michael, have two daughters Lacey and Carrie and two wonderful grandchildren, Liam and Tilly.

Jason Simon

Jason.Simon@kctcs.edu
270-686-4616

In Owensboro, Kentucky if you watch a corporate video or computer-based learning program, chances are you are viewing the work of Jason Simon. For nearly 20 years, Jason worked in educational television programming, video production, computer-based learning development, and instructional design. In 2001, Jason began his career at Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC) after serving as Production Manager, 1st Marine Division Combat Camera, United States Marine Corps. Some of Jason’s notable career highlights at OCTC include designing and implementing an innovative computer-based safety training that has certified over 2500 manufacturing contractors to date. He also created an online learning platform and designed a technical help desk for a multi-state employer. Additionally, Jason designed and managed professional development and regulatory training for a service organization with over 2,000 end users. Jason has extensive instructional design expertise in videography, video editing, and software integration, as well as multi-media and graphical design. He also has experience in managing learning platforms and instructional management systems.

Jason earned his graduate degree from Morehead State University in Career and Technical Education. His degree is in systems management which focuses on the ability to understand the big picture, adapt to change, and manage accordingly. This describes Jason to a tee since he works in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. However, he is just as busy outside of work. Jason and his wife manage a family farm along with their six children and wonder dogs, Rey and Moose.

Sheri Plain

Sheri.Plain@kctcs.edu
270-686-4436

Sheri Plain began her career at OCTC in 1998, when she started teaching communications courses part-time in the college’s humanities division. In 1990, Sheri became OCTC’s first public relations director when the college was part of the University of Kentucky. After working in public relations for several years, she began working with the college’s community outreach division, which is now called Workforce Solutions. In addition to AMTEC, Sheri is the PI for the college’s new National Science Foundation ATE Project (DUE 1800489) “Advancing Female Incumbent Workers in the Manufacturing Industry.” Prior to that, she served as regional project manager for the NSF “Jobs to Manufacturing Careers” project (DUE 1304249), a partnership initiative with Jobs for the Future, WGBH Educational Foundation, and OCTC. Before that, she was project manager for OCTC’s career pathways initiatives including Accelerating Opportunity, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation–funded Breaking Through project, Robert Wood Johnson/Hitachi-funded Jobs to Careers project, and a U. S. Department of Labor Community-Based Job Training grant-funded advanced manufacturing project. In addition, Sheri served as Co-PI for the National Science Foundation ATE project (DUE 0702960) “Discover Mechatronics – Next Generation Manufacturing.” She was most recently chosen as a member of the class of honorees for the 2019 Influential Women in Manufacturing National Award. Sheri was one of only 27 women chosen from a pool of over 120 nominations.

Sheri has a master’s in organizational communication from Western Kentucky University and a bachelor’s in journalism, radio, and television from Murray State University. She and her husband, Scott, have a chocolate lab named Moose.

Mike Rodgers

mike.rodgers@kctcs.edu

Colleagues of Mike Rodgers consider him a renaissance man because he is someone who can do everything and do it well. Currently, Mike is the Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Interim at Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC). Until recently, he also served as the interim Chief Academic Affairs Officer. And if performing two full-time jobs wasn’t enough to keep him busy, Mike also taught classes. In the summer of 2016, he taught a class for college instructors throughout Kentucky to help them understand the chemistry of soy biodiesel and develop an appreciation of how crucial math, chemistry, and even trigonometry skills are for technicians.

Mike came to OCTC in 2011 and served as the Associate Dean of the Skilled Trades and Personal Services. Under his leadership, OCTC was named the 2014 Technical School of the Year by Tomorrow’s Tech magazine and WIX Filters. OCTC is the seventh recipient of the award for the best technician training school in the country, sponsored by WIX and O’Reilly Auto Parts. Mike was also instrumental in developing and launching the Preparing Vehicle Technicians for Advanced Transportation Fuels Project, where OCTC students converted a 1965 Cobra engine to run on E85. The program was the first college program in the state and the nation to offer technician training in all of the advanced transportation and alternative fuel vehicle technologies. This comprehensive curriculum included hybrid, plug-in electric, dedicated electric vehicle, biodiesel, propane, ethanol, compressed and liquefied natural gas, and fuel-cell vehicles.

Mike actually began his career as faculty at Piedmont Technical College in South Carolina and was later named as the program coordinator for Automotive Technology. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1996 from University of South Carolina-Aiken, a master’s degree from Western Kentucky University and is currently scheduled to begin work on his doctoral degree at WKU. Mike has two children, Alicyn and Garrett.