Richard W. Judy - Chairman and CEO
Richard ("Dick") Judy has directed studies integrating economic development and workforce development for many years, at levels ranging from global to the local. This work led Dick to develop the 21st Century Workforce series of studies, the flagship product of Workforce Associates, Inc. The first of this series, 21st Century Workforce: Central Illinois (co-authored with WFA President Jane M. Lommel), was awarded the Illinois Governor's Award for Workforce Excellence in 2002.
Dick was co-author of the book Workforce 2020, published by Hudson Institute, where he was a Senior Research Fellow from 1986 to 2000. Recently, Dick has assisted numerous Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) in their planning and board member orientation. He has consulted with state WIBs in Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon and Virginia as well as local WIBs in those and many other states. Other recent engagements were with the Council of State Governors, the Midwestern Legislative Leadership Council, and the Southern Legislative Leadership Council. He serves as an advisor to the National Science Foundation on science and engineering workforce statistics.
Dick's previous work has included project directorships for studies of economic reform and development in Hungary, the Baltic states, Russia, and Ukraine. He was a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission for the Reform of the Hungarian Economy. At the request of the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, he established and headed the Baltic Economic Commission. Besides coauthoring Workforce 2020, Dick was the principal author of several books, including Mechanical Engineering in the 21st Century and The Information Age and Soviet Society.
Dick has worked with more than 50 organizations worldwide, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, General Electric Corporation, State Farm Insurance Co., TRW, National City Bank, National Association of Manufacturers, the OECD, the World Bank, and many others. He has been a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management. Recently, Dick has delivered the keynote addresses at international HR conferences in Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico.
Earlier, Dick was Professor of Economics and Computer Science at the University of Toronto where he was a founder of the Center for Policy Analysis. He has also founded and headed several companies involved in software, consulting and agribusiness.
Dick studied for a doctorate in economics at Harvard University. He also studied at the University of Kansas, Columbia University, and as an exchange scholar at the University of Moscow. He has also been a visiting scholar at Hangzhou University in China and at the Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk, Russia. He is a veteran officer of the United States Air Force with ten years of reserve and active duty.