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Hagan Welcomes Charlotte Business Leaders to Washington, Democratic Steering & Outreach Committee

March 14, 2013. U.S. Senator Kay Hagan welcomed Eric Spiegel, President and CEO of Siemens North America, and Steve Partridge, President and CEO of Charlotte Works, to a meeting hosted by the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee. The meeting brought together Senators and business leaders to discuss how we can strengthen public/private partnerships to ensure American workers are properly trained for available jobs. The meetings comes a week after Hagan introduced her bipartisan jobs bill, the AMERICA Works Act, which is a commonsense bill to help to address the skills gap between workers and available jobs.

“Partnering with industry leaders is the cornerstone of the AMERICA Works Act and an integral tool at as we work to put North Carolinians back to work,

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan

 “I am very pleased two North Carolina business leaders, Eric Spiegel and Steve Partridge, could come share their perspective on workforce development. I will continue looking at ways to better train our workers for the jobs of today’s 21st century global economy.”

In 2010, Senator Hagan partnered with Siemens Energy to host an Exporter Forum, with the US Export-Import Bank, to give North Carolina businesses the inside knowledge they need to sell their products and services overseas. 

“Taking action to find solutions to the growing skills mismatch is becoming a national priority,” said Spiegel. “This is one area where government and the private sector can and should find common ground and work together. By leveraging the power of the private sector and federal and state governments, we should be able to scale up workforce training programs that have proven to be effective and begin to solve the problem.”

Led by President and CEO Steve Partridge, Charlotte Works is an organization that brings together both private and public resources to help make sure Charlotte’s workforce is able to meet the current needs of employers. They provide job training, coaching and networking opportunities designed to match job seekers with available jobs in the Charlotte area. 

“Only by working closely with businesses will America close the skills gap and ensue our nation creates well-paying middle-class jobs,” said Partridge  “It is critical that local private/public partnerships be encouraged and legislation that support these efforts be a top Congressional priority.”