Skills for Chicagoland's Future Welcomes New CEO

CHICAGO – Skills for Chicagoland’s Future today announced new CEO Bridget Altenburg will lead the organization in a new era for the organization that is dedicated to removing barriers to unemployment for disinvested communities in Chicago and across the country.

Altenburg will join Skills July 1 from National Able Network, where she served as its President and CEO. Altenburg will serve as Skills’ second CEO since the organization was founded in 2012 with a mission to bridge the gap in opportunities between job seekers in communities where unemployment remains high and employers in need of talented workers. 

“I am honored to serve as Skills for Chicagoland’s Future’s new CEO,” Altenburg said. “Working together with our Board of Directors, talented staff, and generous funders, I look forward to leading Skills into a new chapter. Breaking down barriers to employment and helping job seekers who have been unfairly overlooked could not be more important work. I know I join our employers in wanting to bridge the gap between overlooked talent and opportunity.”

“Bridget is an outstanding leader who will take Skills’ learnings and momentum from the past 10 years and propel the organization forward,” said Board Chair Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. He added, “Our city and country are facing numerous workforce challenges, and Bridget is the right person to be at the helm of Skills guiding us towards equitable solutions that help everyone looking for work.”

Over the last 15 years, Altenburg has built a reputation for visionary leadership, change management, advocacy, team building, and putting equity into action for diverse organizations from Fortune 100 companies to large community-based organizations. Altenburg has led organizations supporting job seekers, food stamps recipients, low-income students, refugees, veterans, youth, and more. Her career has included military, for profit, and non-profit roles. 

Altenburg began her career as an engineer officer in the U.S. Army and deployed three times. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Russian and French from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York.

Altenburg will continue to lead Skills’ aggressive national expansion campaign to bring its successful approach to addressing unemployment into communities where unemployment rates continue to remain high despite low unemployment rates nationally. Skills is working to expand into 25 new cities, including a recently announced site in Phoenix through a partnership with the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce called “Connect to Work AZ.” Skills also has a Rhode Island site that was opened in 2016. 

As part of its expansion campaign, Skills hopes to place over 500,000 individuals into jobs with 25% of Fortune 500 companies, as well as other national and local employers, over the next decade. Already, Skills has placed over 19,000 formerly unemployed and underemployed job seekers through its Chicago and Rhode Island sites by connecting unemployed individuals with companies in need of workers, leveraging its robust network of local and national hiring partners.

For more information about Skills, visit its website.