ATLANTA – The Literacy Action Board of Trustees is pleased to announce that Sandeep Gill has been appointed Executive Director of Literacy Action, Inc., effective April 20, 2020. She succeeds Val Porter Cook, who served in an interim capacity for a year.
The Executive Director is charged with leading Literacy Action through its next chapter of workforce readiness for thousands in the Metro Atlanta community and throughout the State of Georgia, empowering people to thrive on the other side of unprecedented recent events.
“It is an incredible honor for me to lead and serve this great organization. While we have seen great success, we are always motivated to do more. Millions of people have applied for unemployment insurance which is an indicator of what is coming our way. More people will need our help in reengaging with the workforce, gaining new skill sets, and much more,” Gill shares as her driving reason for taking the position. “I am here because we have unparalleled capability to make an impact.”
It was this passion that made Gill a clear choice.
“As Literacy Action moves its strategy from a plan to real action, we need a leader who has a demonstrable track record of implementation and success,” says Search Committee Chair and incoming Board Chair Blake McDaniel. “We found that leader in Sandeep.”
As Executive Director, Sandeep will provide vision and leadership for Literacy Action; she will oversee strategic implementation and an expansion of the mission at this critical time.
With almost fifteen years of leadership experience, Sandeep specializes in driving innovation. She is passionate about the future of the workforce system and recognizes the future is tied directly to the quality of our workforce.
Most recently, Sandeep served as the Workforce Program Director with Workforce Economics, where she influenced transformational policy initiatives at the federal, state, regional, and local levels.
Sandeep is also a former local area Deputy Director for one of the top performing Workforce Development agencies in the Metro Atlanta. Her leadership of cross-functional teams resulted in the incorporation of the E3 business model (Education, Employment, and Economic Development), creating a workforce system that not only meets the needs of our local economic system, but the global economy as well. Under Sandeep’s leadership, the Local Workforce Development Area exceeded national workforce performance measures as prescribed by the U. S. Department of Labor for eleven (11) consecutive years and became one of the first in the State of Georgia to implement a successful registered apprenticeship “Earn While your Learn” model.
Sandeep began her career with DeKalb County Government in Workforce Development where she strategically streamlined business development processes and supported over 500 organizations with their human capital objectives. One of Sandeep’s legacy projects, the first mobile career center for the local area (or “jobs bus”), garnered endorsements from respected workforce experts across the country.
Sandeep Gill attained her undergraduate degree in Hospitality Management from University of West London, United Kingdom, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Phoenix, British Columbia, Canada.
Her appointment culminates a six-month national search that reached over 300 potential candidates. The Literacy Action Board of Trustees search committee worked with Blaze, a change management and leadership development firm based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Literacy Action’s mission is to build better futures by empowering adults with literacy, life, and work skills, and its vision is to break the intergenerational cycle of low literacy and poverty.
We have currently pivoted to a distance learning model to ensure that students can navigate critical issues and guidelines related to the crisis; maintain their health and safety and that of their families during this time; support their children and grandchildren’s success in school, especially in this time of distance learning; and come out of this crisis prepared to compete for living wage jobs and workforce development programs.
