Mark Butler, Advisor
Mark Butler provides Growth Sector with expertise in workforce strategy and partnership development. His work during the last decade has led to more than $10 million in public investment and significant private industry participation in skills based and leadership training programs nationwide.
In 2004 Mark co-founded Rockridge Partners, Inc. directing the organization’s partnership and strategy development efforts. Clients, including IBM, Ford Motor Company, Robert Half International, Allstate Insurance and enXco Energy, are engaged participants in development efforts that have provided training resources to numerous career seekers and incumbent workers.
Mark began developing public/private education and training partnerships in 2001 with the Bay Area Technical Education Collaborative (BayTEC) in Oakland, California, a management and development organization that supported IT workforce training programs in underserved East Bay communities. As vice president of business and organizational development Mark directed strategy and managed industry relationships.
Prior to that, Mark directed business development for internet corporate learning start-up Virtual Learn, Inc. . In this role he was responsible for informing product and marketing strategy, and establishing partnerships with content and software vendors.
Mark received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont.
Tracey Weaver, Advisor
Tracey Weaver is the founder and executive director of Urban University, a non-profit training and coaching organization with the mission to improve the socio-economic status of impoverished individuals. Tracey leads the design and delivery of customized employability assessment, training and case management services designed to meet the mutual needs of low-income individuals and employers.
Her accomplishments include the training and coaching of more than 800 low-income individuals transitioning from public assistance or under-employment into gainful employment securing an average annual wage of $38,000 through its core program, WorkSmart. Recognized by Carole Midgen, Nancy Pelosi (Leap Program) and sponsored by the San Francisco’s Mayor’s Office of Community Investment, WorkSmart is Urban University’s core case management and employability coaching program.
Tracey recently established Urban University’s first regional partnership by designing and delivering the coaching component of the PowerPathway Program – a workforce development program in partnership with Growth Sector, Laney College, College of San Mateo and PG&E. the PowerPathway Program provided training and case management services to 50 underemployed individuals transitioning into entry level utility worker positions with PG&E. In 2005, Tracey launched Moms at Wor, a community based program that provides safety net services, coaching and access to post-secondary education for single working mothers; and Smart Supervisor – delivering customized leadership skills training for first-line supervisors for more than 150 supervisors for Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies, University of San Francisco and San Francisco Auto Return.
An active member of the community, Tracey is currently co-chair of the Coalition of Community Agencies in Workforce Development in San Francisco, where she helps to diseminate workforce development polices to 30 partner agencies.
A native New Yorker, Tracey holds a degree in Liberal Studies and is currently completing an additional degree in Human Development.
