The Changing Covid Workforce
ONLINE CONFERENCE SERIES
Join us for discussions on how COVID is impacting
our workforce.
Each discussion will feature leaders from the Columbus-area sharing expertise on how to adapt to the changing work environment during and after the pandemic.
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Register for each session below
Each session will be 1.5 to 2 hours in length.
Economic Forces During a Pandemic:
How COVID is Shaping the Labor Market
Leading economists and business leaders from Columbus and the surrounding area will discuss the economic forces and trends that have arisen during the pandemic to shape the labor landscape. This includes an examination of the business policies and practices that impact workforce participation.
Leveraging Community Resources:
Mitigating the COVID Impact on Business and Nonprofits
Discover how business and existing community resources can join forces to improve outcomes for workers and create economic value in the process. Experts will discuss potential solutions to the issues of business closures, funding constraints, restrictions on accepting new business, and the environmental challenges that inhibit building a strong and reliable workforce.
Maintaining the Strength of Your Workforce:
Employee Retention During a Pandemic
A discussion on the impact of low wages as well as effective strategies for making gains in employee retention and productivity. Learn from companies who are willing to reinvest capital in employees and are seeing greater gains in net profit and other areas of their business. Understand how collective efforts will impact the health of our local economy.
Leveraging Community Resources
Featured Panelists
Jerald Mitchell
President and Chief Executive Officer
Greater Columbus Georgia Chamber of Commerce
Jerald Mitchell is the president and chief executive officer of the Greater Columbus Georgia Chamber of Commerce, where he leads the charge to advance the regional economy through economic development, innovation, community engagement, corporate development, existing industry growth and resilience, and redevelopment.
Prior to his current role, he served as vice president of Economic Development at the Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., and has worked in economic development for 13 years, gaining expertise in job attraction, private investment, inclusive economies, land strategy, placemaking, technology and corporate development. He spent the previous 13 years in the telecommunications industry, managing cable systems operations and executing new product launches, post-merger management and process engineering with Time Warner, Jones Communications and Comcast.
Mitchell serves as a trustee or board member on several boards, including the Georgia Institute of Technology Alumni Board, Leadership Georgia Board of Trustees, the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, Georgia Innovates Task Force and the Georgia Workforce Investment Board. He has a master’s degree in Global Business from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus.
Ben Blair
Columbus State University
Director of the Butler Center for Business and Economic Research
Benjamin F. Blair (Ben) is the Director of the Butler Center for Business and Economic Research and holder of the Sarah Turner Butler Endowed Chair. He is a professor of economics and is in his 10th year at Columbus State.
Prior to joining the Turner College of Business, Ben had a successful career in teaching and research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Mississippi State University. He has numerous academic publications in a variety of areas and as director of the Butler Center has completed projects for a variety of local clients including the Columbus Consolidated Government, Boys and Girls Clubs, Girls Inc, Mathews Promise Academy, Right from the Start, United Way, Brookstone School, and Enrichment Services Programs. Ben earned a B.S. in Computer Science, an M.S. in Food and Resource Economics, and a Ph.D. in Economics all from the University of Florida.
Eric Cochling
Georgia Center for Opportunity
Chief Progam Officer and General Counsel
Eric is a licensed attorney in the State of Georgia and received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Georgia where he graduated magna cum laude. He also received his juris doctorate and master’s degree in public administration from Georgia State University. Prior to joining GCO, he was in private practice for eight years with a focus on business formation, real estate, contract negotiations, estate planning, and civil disputes.
Eric has served as Co-Chair of the Individual Rights Section of the State Bar of Georgia and his legal analysis of the Georgia Charter Schools Commission law was published in the John Marshall Law Review. Eric is a founding board member for The Other Side Academy – Atlanta, a residential vocational alternative sentencing program for individuals desiring to get their lives on track.
Betsy W. Covington
Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley
President and CEO
Since joining the Community Foundation in 2001, Betsy has worked alongside the board to position this 23-year–old organization to “enable and promote philanthropy that inspires, facilitates and fosters a vibrant and engaged Chattahoochee Valley.”
Under her leadership, the organization has grown from $7 million in assets to over $240 million. Since its inception, the Community Foundation has received gifts of more than $367 million and has made grants totaling more than $207 million to efforts across the area from its more than 300 charitable funds.
A native of Columbus, Betsy is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, Leadership Columbus and Leadership Georgia. She is the current chair of Columbus 2025, the multi-county area’s comprehensive long–range planning effort; and serves on the executive committee of Home for Good, the implementation arm of Columbus’ 10-year Plan to Eliminate Homelessness. In addition, she is a past president and a current member of the Rotary Club of Columbus.
Betsy and her husband, Rick, are the parents of two adult children, Becca and Richard.
Ben Moser
United Way of Chattahoochee Valley
President and CEO
Ben Moser began his role as President and CEO of the United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley on August 1st, 2019. Before that, Ben served as the Director of Major Gifts for the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County, located in Asheville, North Carolina and held several positions at the United Way of Forsyth County located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
After receiving his JD from New York Law School in 2004, Ben practiced law in New York City for 7 years before returning to NC and beginning his career with United Way. Ben graduated with a BA in History from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999 and is a devoted Tar Heel fan. Ben lives in Columbus with his wife Stephanie and son Jackson (8).
