Building AI-Durable Career Pathways: Lessons from Healthcare

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Justin Singh, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cengage Work at Cengage Group; David Kafafian, Chief Operating Officer at Clasp; Sarah Favreau, Vice President of Workforce Solutions at Stepful; Mehul Patel, CEO at NASM, Ascend Learning; and Jake Bryant, Partner at McKinsey & Company.The speakers explored how, as traditional entry-level pathways became less reliable and worker displacement accelerated, industries were facing a dual challenge: how to direct early talent into durable careers and how to redirect displaced workers at scale. They examined how healthcare, despite severe workforce shortages, had emerged as a proving ground for how this could work.This session focused on how leading workforce learning companies were collaborating with employers and policymakers to design visible, stackable pathways into AI-durable work—from early-career pipelines to reskilling and advancement. Panelists unpacked the credential structures, incentives, and partnerships that were making these transitions possible, while highlighting how healthcare was building more resilient and navigable talent systems.At its core, this conversation examined what other industries could learn from healthcare about designing career pathways that supported continuous mobility, long-term resilience, and scalable workforce transformation. By aligning credentialing, employer demand, and policy innovation, the session highlighted how organizations could build talent systems prepared for disruption while creating sustainable opportunity in an AI-shaped labor market.