STLCC transformed: Addressing workforce challenges and strengthening industry partnerships for regional economic development — Table of Experts

Business Journals

02-05-2025

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St. Louis Community College recently released its 17th State of the St. Louis Workforce Report, which annually analyzes the region's workforce status and also identifies jobs that have the highest need in the region.
Jeff Pittman, Ph.D., STLCC chancellor, hosted an informal discussion with leaders of two successful businesses that have partnered with the college to offer programming that attracts talent and addresses their workforce needs.
Both companies have developed creative programs with the college that are designed to attract individuals into high-wage careers at their organizations. The programs are affordable and either have or will soon offer apprenticeship experiences sponsored by the companies.
Joining the session were Sean Hogan, president of Mercy South St. Louis Communities, and James Dewees, vice president of Manufacturing and Safety for Boeing's air dominance division and St. Louis manufacturing site lead.
The following highlights key topics of their discussion, which was moderated by Mike Pieper, advertising director for the St. Louis Business Journal.
Mike Pieper: Dr. Pittman, can you provide an overview of St. Louis Community College Transformed and how it will assist with the college's long-term goals for economic development?
Jeff Pittman: We believe the college plays a vital role in the economic vitality of the region, especially when it comes to recruiting new businesses or keeping the businesses we have. This role is critical to Missouri not only for existing companies, but I have witnessed its significance while visiting other countries during trade missions to recruit new companies to Missouri.
Typically, the first question a company representative will ask is whether we have an available workforce to meet their needs, or an educational pipeline to do so. As a part of the findings from our annual Workforce Report, the college is expanding programming in health care, IT, advanced manufacturing, financial services, transportation and new and emerging technologies like geospatial.
We certainly see ourselves as an important partner to the employers. They're one of the key customers for the college and the faculty and staff. Given our relationship with the business community, and since we started working 17 years ago with the State of the St. Louis Workforce Report and partnering with the Business Journal, we discovered what those needs are. That is why we developed STLCC Transformed, an initiative to better align the college with employer needs.
In 2021, we went to taxpayers and asked if they would like to see the college expand workforce programs across the region at our four campuses. The ballot item easily passed, increasing our tax levy by eight cents for every $100 of appraised value. Even with this increase, we have one of the lowest tax rates for community colleges in the state. We are very thankful the taxpayers approved this increase, and we are fulfilling our promise to them.
The initiative has resulted in the construction of six new facilities. The emphasis of STLCC Transformed is on programs, not buildings, but we needed the new programs to have state-of-the-art equipment and space to meet these needs.
At Florissant Valley, we're building two 100,000-square-foot buildings. The first is the Healthcare Center for Nursing and Health Sciences that recently opened, and we just completed the ribbon cutting last week for our new Advanced Manufacturing Center at the Florissant Valley campus.
At Meramec, we're building two new 75,000-square-foot buildings — one for financial services and the other is for emerging technologies in the region. At Wildwood, we're building a 140,000-square-foot building that will host health care and technology programs.
And then at Forest Park, we completed a new health care building in 2019 outside of STLCC Transformed funds, and we're constructing a new 75,000-square-foot transportation center that will house both diesel and automotive technology, EV technology and CDL and truck driver training.
In addition to all these buildings, we're reorganizing the college around six pathways in the college. We've been narrowing our curriculum to make it easier for students to decide their career. And we've aligned our academic affairs and student affairs faculty and staff accordingly with the new pathways.
The six pathways include:
Because of the local tax support and the state funding we receive, we haven't had to raise tuition in five years. It allows us to offer high-quality programs at $121 per credit hour for tuition and fees. Thanks to local community and state support, we're able to offer very affordable pathways to careers to our students.
Pieper: Sean, what are some of the biggest workforce challenges within our region's health care system today?
Sean Hogan: Our biggest challenge is having enough resources to care for the number of people that we care for every day. The Bureau of Labor statistics forecasts that the U.S. population is going to grow by 8.4% in the next 10 years, but the number of people aged 65 and older is going to grow by 34%, and the 75 and older population is going to grow by 55%. We already know that 80% of health care is driven by people in their last 10 years of life so that's the population that we serve. Having the right number of people to care for them is really important.
Couple those stats with a rapidly aging workforce where the number of physicians over 55 now is 42%, a big number, and the average age of nurses is 46. So, we know that as our volumes are growing and our workforce is aging, we have to develop a pipeline of new health care providers coming into our hospital and other facilities, as well as the entire industry because there's going to be needs across the United States. I forecasted that there's going to be a need in the U.S. for about 200,000 new nurses every year for the next 10 years; it's big and can feel overwhelming.
Health care is not just doctors and nurses, although we speak about them as kind of the barometer. When you start thinking about other specialties, services like respiratory therapy and imaging and physical therapy, which have gaps that are just as big, you realize why our partnership with the St. Louis Community College is so important.
In our Mercy South service region, about 20% of our population comes down I-55 or from Illinois or I-44. Our main market is 400,000 people, but in reality, it's about three times that.
Pieper: James, St. Louis Community College has had a longstanding relationship with Boeing through the pre-employment program. What specific skills and training does the program provide for students?
James Dewees: We have forged a super strong partnership with the St. Louis Community College over 30 years, one that we are proud of and that really exemplifies collaboration and community. We started a pre-employment program 18 years ago and today students primarily receive sheet metal training and composite materials training. The program provides extensive hands-on experience in drilling, riveting and critical measurements, as well as handling composite materials. Students perform projects that align to practical real-world experience that directly reflect the work they would do on Boeing products, like the F-15 or the F/A-18 or the MQ-25 or T-7A or the 777X jetliner.
And this is entirely free to students. We're now a federally recognized apprenticeship program, which means we offer a paid training program to the community to attract talent and give folks the opportunity to have a career at Boeing while being paid for up to 16 weeks. We want to build this manufacturing muscle in St. Louis. Now with the recent grand opening of the advanced manufacturing center, we have improved the program's total curriculum.
Depending on their training track, students can also receive electrical and mechanical skills training that we absolutely need at Boeing. So upon successful completion of the training, students are guaranteed an interview for employment with Boeing. We are super excited about the improved program, as Boeing St. Louis continues to expand. We remain dedicated to nurturing the talent in the community and supporting the future of the aerospace industry here in this region.
Pittman: I remember when we had our 1,000th graduate of that program and placement at Boeing. Senator Roy Blunt was in office and came from D.C. with other U.S. Department of Labor folks to recognize the program.
In addition, we nominated the program to an annual national award process (Bellwether Awards) for workforce programs such as this and finished as one of the top 10 programs in the nation. While we didn't bring home the first-place trophy, the program scored well, and we will likely submit another nomination soon.
I'm also amazed at how program graduates advance in the company. We have had several graduates who had started with Boeing after the program, were hired and now are in very high-level administrative roles. I also know that some of the graduates' children are now in the program.
You have young people there that are 22- and 23-year-olds saying they never thought they would have a home, a car, or be married with children. This program has really changed the lives of a lot of St. Louisans. Some were literally working at a convenience store one day, enrolled in the program, and a few weeks later they were employed at this huge, wonderful company known as Boeing and living out these promising careers. It's amazing how this all happened.
Dewees: The folks who have come through this program come from all walks of life. And it's just the emotion that is set in as they reflect on where they were and where they are today. Some folks have had tears in their eyes when they talk about it.
Hogan: And that's got to help the organizational culture overall when you have people that are passionate and connected to the opportunity they were given.
Dewees: Absolutely. And with this new apprenticeship program and the update of the curriculum, it's only going to help folks be better, help Boeing and help the community. It's a big deal.
Pittman: The curriculum is rigorous because our faculty are retired Boeing engineers. Course metrics such as teamwork and attendance are critical for students to be able to pass this course. Faculty do a great job preparing them for future success in manufacturing careers.
Pieper: Dr. Pittman, how do you assess the needs of area, businesses and industries, and then identify the programs within the Transformed initiative?
Pittman: I'd like to say it's rocket science, but it's not. For the past 17 years, the college has produced the State of the St. Louis Workforce Report. We work with the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center to gather intelligence on employment needs or job openings/vacancy rates in each of the business sectors. We also conduct telephone surveys with more than 600 companies to find out what kind of shortcomings they see in applicants and what the college can do to better provide the education and services they need.
It's not surprising that the largest employment sectors I've already mentioned earlier were the ones with the greatest needs. Health care and social assistance take up over 220,000 positions in the region. And almost 50% of Missouri's health care workforce is right here in St. Louis. It's a monster in terms of the number of people they serve here. Manufacturing has 120,000 positions. Professional, scientific and technical services has 91,000 positions. We're also one of the financial capitals of the world with 74,000 positions. And then transportation — logistics and truck driving positions here in the region have high employment. When you look at the vacancy rates and the job ads, nurses, truck drivers, IT technicians, manufacturing technicians, those rise to the top of the list of greatest needs.
In Missouri, like many other states, the graduates we're producing are in what we consider the 'middle skills' arena. They need more than a high school diploma, but not necessarily a four-year degree, and they can still acquire great-paying jobs. Some of our health care graduates are starting at $80,000 a year because of the skills required and demand. We have 1.5 million workers in the St. Louis region, which is the largest that number has been for a long time. It's really encouraging from an economic development perspective to see that number on the rise.
Dewees: The middle-skill demographic that Dr. Pittman describes can find a company like Mercy or Boeing that will pay for their schooling so they can finish off their degree and then offer them outstanding benefits. They can come to Boeing and make a career and have the rest of their schooling paid for.
Hogan: Dr. Pittman talked about the quantitative pieces of the surveys and the data, but there is also a qualitative piece in our relationship, which is like three years old. We're babies in our relationship, but I think it's his team who is actually developing those relationships and really getting deeper with what our needs are and how St. Louis Community College can meet those needs. Most higher education organizations that I've worked with have said, this is what we do, here's how many slots we have for what you need, and if they fit those slots, that's great. It's a very different approach. And I don't know how to say that enough, but it is unique as a partner.
Pittman: It all comes down to resources and how you spend them. The fact that we produce the workforce report gives the college a lot of useful intel, but in addition, the faculty and staff also interface frequently with these two gentleman's organizations to build out these relationships. This is how we precisely meet their employment needs. It also keeps all of us from spending funds in places that do not help students or employers. We look at our graduation and placement rates in these companies as measures to know whether we're effective or not.
Pieper: Sean, we have heard about the new Mercy Win from Within program at the St. Louis Community College. How does the program work and what are the main objectives?
Hogan: It's our paid apprentice program for health care professionals. William Hubble, district division dean of health sciences at the college, said, 'I never want to see a nurse not have a slot if they're qualified to become a nurse.' We just pounced on it and started working together, saying, 'Neither do we,' because we need those folks in our community from an economic development standpoint to care for our patients. We started working collaboratively on a recruitment mechanism.
I really like the paid apprenticeship concept because it gives you some real-life experience while you're going to school and having the didactic experience. And then we will pay for it, and at the end, we'll have a new caregiver who knows our system really well. They've experienced the floors and a whole variety of areas, and they know where they want to be so they can hit the ground running much more efficiently.
What's exciting from my perspective with this program is the relationship piece because we started with nursing, and then all of a sudden thought, why can't we do this for radiology or for respiratory therapy or for medical assistants and certified nursing assistants in the physician clinics? We may be 27 years behind Boeing, but this is going to really blossom into a feeder for our future workforce.
Dewees: A paid apprenticeship program really taps into a deeper level of folks within the community. I think it's going to be huge for this region.
Hogan: It also gives people who are beyond that first year out of high school, but maybe they've done a different job, a chance to make a career change. It's an opportunity to be able to afford to do it, which I think is really exciting for our whole community.
Pittman: Sean and James are two leaders really on the cutting edge in terms of employers in the region and the initiatives they're taking to recruit talent. I predict these types of programs are going to be the best model in higher education going forward. Over the generations, in a lot of ways, health care was kind of leading the idea with the clinical arrangements we have for students in the area hospitals and the health care providers. This concept is the next big step as a recruitment tool and educational model.
In this time, you've got to motivate and attract people to the workplace. It isn't so much that you just have advertisements for workers on your website, or you're doing some paid recruiting, but you need to incentivize prospective employees and give them that opportunity to see what it's like to work in a field. If we don't, we can lose them, not only for the jobs, but also maybe even from the region. They move somewhere else, and we lose those valuable resources.
Pieper: James, let's talk briefly about the recent F-47 announcement. How will this initiative impact Boeing and other manufacturers in the area and the region?
Dewees: First, we are absolutely humbled in being selected to build this next generation fighter for the U.S. Air Force, and we understand the critical importance of developing the country's sixth-generation fighter capability.
This commitment has led us to make the most significant investment in the history of our defense business, underscoring our dedication and the importance to national security. While programmatic and technical details of this platform remain classified, I can highlight that our longstanding legacy has continued for nearly a century where we've produced some of the most advanced combat aircraft to military customers around the world.
Importantly, our efforts here extended beyond Boeing. We collaborate today with 360 suppliers in the Missouri region. It showcases the state's and region's manufacturing muscle, its strength. We're confident that the aerospace industry will continue to expand its economic impact here in Missouri for decades to come, and it solidifies our role in the defense sector of the aerospace industry.
Pittman: There are generational things happening with Boeing. The F-15 has been in production 50 plus years, and it is continuing to advance with technology. I know it's incredibly fast and it can carry huge payloads. But I know with technology, a lot of change is happening in aerospace and defense. Just knowing what I'm seeing everywhere else with technological advances, it's got to also have a great impact on the products that Boeing will produce going forward.
Dewees: It just highlights the excellence in engineering of that platform. As we say at Boeing, today's F-15 isn't your dad's or mom's F-15. And that's due to excellence in engineering and upgrades in technology. And then capturing manufacturing technology and putting that with the community college to help students learn, grow and come to Boeing.
Hogan: How many jobs is this going to create? I remember hearing statistics when the auto plants were closing; it wasn't just the thousand people who were losing their jobs, but a multiple of like three to one because of the other related businesses. When you said 300 businesses feed Boeing, that is a generation today.
Dewees: We work with 360 suppliers on the current programs, but I can't disclose the number for the new project. It'd be hard to predict, but it's going to be huge for this region. The partnership with the community college will be key to helping us execute and deliver on our commitments.
Pieper: Given the shortage of skilled workers in the region, how do you see relationships changing between the college and area businesses?
Pittman: Going forward, we will be much more closely knitted together. And I'm so excited to have Boeing and Mercy here today given how they're leading in that capacity. We're partnered closely, which assists the college in terms of providing relevant training and skilled and educated human resources that are valuable to them.
Our Workforce Solutions Group, headed by Associate Vice Chancellor Phyllis Ellison, is always assessing the needs of companies and businesses and bringing intelligence back to the college regarding what's happening in the workforce. This is how we will look forward to the future over the next five to 10 years, and how we're going to invest our resources.
And as Sean mentioned, the roles of the faculty now have to go beyond the classroom. They have to visit with employers, and our deans and academic staff need to be aligning with employers to ensure our curriculum is relevant to what their needs are.
We're always looking to bring more groups of people into the workforce equation. In St. Louis, we can recruit from a large group of people older than 25 that are in underpaid careers. We're trying to find new ways to reach them, however they're the toughest group to access because they're already caught up in living their lives. But they could be a huge demographic for recruiting new talent in the St. Louis region. There's also a large number of people that have some college, but not a degree, that we continue to pursue as well.
Another obvious demographic group is younger people in the K-12 districts, hence we are establishing more relationships with the Regions K-12 partners, especially the high school level, where we're offering early college programming. In this example, juniors and seniors simultaneously earn high school and college credits.
In fact, we now have a lot of students that are graduating with an associate degree by the time they are 18 years old, and they receive their high school diploma and associate degree on the same day in two different commencement ceremonies. Historically, we have offered such programming as transfer courses in the liberal arts; however, now we're starting to get into the career areas such as manufacturing and health care. We know we need to build out in those areas because there are so many jobs available right now that an 18-year-old could do if the employers think they're mature enough and ready, skilled up and educated.
James mentioned an effort going on now in the St. Louis region by the Success Ready Student Network called Real World Learning. This is a proven concept that's happened in Kansas City, where they already awarded 100,000 young people a market value asset by the time they finish high school. A market value asset can be an internship, industry-recognized credential, entrepreneurial experience or an apprenticeship or internship opportunity with an employer. It can also be early college credit, whether advancing toward a degree in a specific occupation area like manufacturing or health care or transferring later to a university. The idea is to get students at a much younger age thinking about what they want to do after high school and college and not spend years trying to figure that out or running up a lot of debt while attending a college or university.
We're trying to reach high school students at a much younger age to help them understand the career opportunities right here in St. Louis. You don't have to move to the West Coast or East Coast to discover what your career will be or find a great-paying job. What we have learned is that if we support students well enough they can overcome a lot of obstacles. There are a lot of really smart people right here in St. Louis that we can work with, educate and place into high-wage careers. So, it's partnerships such as the ones we have with Boeing and Mercy that show we're all better when we work together. If colleges and universities are going to be relevant 10 years from now, we must partner like this. We also must align ourselves with what needs are and how we can better benefit students and area employers.
Hogan: I'm really excited because we're moving down the path of working on some strategies for going upstream into the high schools together where one person can come out with that CNA degree licensing, move into a job and then continue to pursue a different career. But the other piece that I think is really exciting is for our kids. When you think about a hospital, most of us think about doctors and nurses. But food service or respiratory therapy are big pieces of a hospital, so there are all these different paths you can take that can lead you to this sort of career. I think we'll be doing a great service for our community by giving kids that exposure.
Pittman: One of the strategies we're utilizing is moving programs such as patient care technicians, for example, or medical assistants from non-credit to credit programming and stacking them with other certificate or degree programs that provide career pathways to students. We've also physically moved these programs into buildings where they'll see other health care programs, such as nursing, radiology or surgical technician, so they can start seeing what their future may hold. With our newest facilities, we are bringing the short term and degree programs together in a manner that makes sense to the students to see expanded careers.
Pieper: What makes you optimistic about the future when it comes to the workforce in the region?
Dewees: What makes me optimistic would be the growth that is on the horizon for Boeing St. Louis. There are a lot of opportunities as we look past the horizon. The community college partnership that started 30 years ago, the new advanced manufacturing center along with the apprenticeship program will help bring folks from the community into Boeing for quite some time. That's what my crystal ball sees. And that will only help build and enable the best fighters in the world for years to come. I'm excited about that.
Hogan: I'm also optimistic about the development at Boeing because I think that's key to a strong economy and a strong community. But I'm also excited, obviously, about the partnership we have with the community college because it will enable us to develop the staff to take care of people in our community.
Dewees: On behalf of Boeing and as a representative of Boeing, we're going to be a catalyst for making the region a manufacturing powerhouse. This is fighter land USA again and we're excited for that.
Pittman: I'm just so humbled and excited to be able to partner with two companies like Boeing and Mercy. I think they're setting an example for the future. These are great leaders for our community. This is my 10th year; I moved here from Indiana, and I love St. Louis and my family loves St. Louis. It's a place worth fighting for and making better, but we as a community need to work together more closely. The examples that Boeing and Mercy have set are awesome and other employers should follow their lead. Educational institutions love to live in our own little silos, but we've got to start working more closely with all of our area constituents such as schools, universities and employers because we're all facing talent issues for the future. Birth rates continue to decline and there are going to be fewer workers going forward. If we're going to be competitive in St. Louis, we need to keep our current population and work to bring more people in.
I'm thrilled to get the opportunity to sit here with these two gentlemen and listen to the great things happening at their organizations. My eyes are on how we improve this region, and I think they're sure a big part of that effort.
The experts
James Dewees, vice president of Manufacturing and Safety Air Dominance, Boeing. James Dewees is vice president of Manufacturing and Safety for Air Dominance. He also serves as the St. Louis operations site leader, which includes Boeing's St. Louis, St. Charles and St. Clair locations.
In this role, Dewees oversees site operations across the St. Louis region, driving manufacturing execution, workforce leadership, process excellence and tools. He is also accountable for safety performance across key defense programs, including the F/A-18, F-15, T-7A, MQ-25 and Phantom Works.
Prior to this role, Dewees was executive vice president of Manufacturing Execution at Blue Origin. In this position he was responsible for all manufacturing sites across Florida, Washington and Alabama. He led an interdisciplinary manufacturing operations team and was accountable for tactical and strategic operational execution and financial results. Dewees was a key driver in creating product centers of excellence (COEs) within Blue Origin that enabled business performance.
Previously, Dewees held numerous leadership roles across Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) and Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) within The Boeing Company. During his 14-year tenure, Dewees proudly led the F-15 Manufacturing Operations team as well as Manufacturing Operations teams on the CH-47 Chinook, V22 Osprey, B787 and B777 programs. He champions a people-first approach grounded in disciplined lean practices and a relentless drive for continuous improvement. He leads with an unwavering focus on safety, quality and flow to enable strategic execution across the entire value chain.
Dewees has a bachelor's degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Delaware.
Jeff Pittman, chancellor, St. Louis Community College. Jeff L. Pittman, Ph.D., began his role as chancellor of St. Louis Community College in July 2015. He leads a multi-campus system with four main campuses that offer pathways for career and transfer opportunities for its students. STLCC is the largest higher educational institution in the region and the third largest in the state, serving more than 34,000 students annually. In 2021, it was the first community college in Missouri to receive approval for a bachelor's degree program.
Under his leadership, STLCC has developed a comprehensive strategic plan, increased economic development initiatives through the implementation of high-need career programming, expanded dual enrollment and early college programs for high school students, and maintained affordable, accessible, quality educational opportunities for the citizens of the St. Louis region.
In fall 2021, St. Louis City and County voters approved an increased tax levy, with proceeds to expand programming in high-need workforce careers, including health care, IT, advanced manufacturing, financial services, transportation and health care. As a result, the college is currently underway with $450 million in new construction and renovation projects at its campuses, with two buildings open and four more welcoming students by the fall semester of 2025.
Before joining STLCC, Pittman worked for Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana for 27 years in various academic leadership roles, including statewide vice president of corporate college services and online education and chancellor of Ivy Tech's Wabash Valley Region.
Sean Hogan, president, Mercy South St. Louis Communities. Sean Hogan serves as president of Mercy South St. Louis Communities, joining Mercy in September 2018 as president of St. Anthony's Medical Center shortly before the transition to Mercy South. Hogan is a lifelong south St. Louis County resident whose dad was on the St. Anthony's medical staff for 30 years. Prior to joining Mercy, he worked at SSM Health for 19 years serving in various roles including the last seven years as president of SSM Health DePaul Hospital. He worked for Providence Health System in Portland, Oregon before returning home to the St. Louis area.
Under Hogan's leadership, Mercy South has grown the number of patients it serves through the addition of 482 physicians on staff over the last three years and numerous projects on campus including the addition of the David M. Sindelar Cancer Center, which opened in 2020; the rebuild of Mercy Birthplace South, which was completed in 2022; the addition of Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital South, which opened in 2023; and the $75 million expansion and redesign of the Mercy South Emergency Department, which is underway and scheduled for completion in 2027. The Emergency Department is caring for an additional 1,000 patients per month compared to 2023.
Hogan serves as a board member for Notre Dame High School, Mid-America Transplant, Incentive Concepts, Commercial Bank and the Missouri Hospital Association. He is the recipient of the 2023 Visionary Leadership Award by the Missouri Hospital Association. He earned his Bachelor of Finance and his Master of Health Administration from Saint Louis University.