MSU leads talent development for an innovation economy with Green and White Council

Michigan State University has unveiled the signature initiatives of its specially appointed Green and White Council. The Council was convened by MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz and tasked with bringing forward ideas to strengthen the state’s workforce, connect students to high-quality careers, and accelerate innovation across Michigan’s industries. Launched by Guskiewicz in April, and co-chaired by Matt Elliott and Sanjay Gupta, the Green and White Council comprises more than a dozen prominent leaders, including representatives from Dart Container, Bedrock Detroit, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, ITC Holdings and Carhartt, representing a cross-section of industry and innovation that drive the economy.  Conversation Highlights:(1:37) - Before we discuss the signature initiatives, remind us why you thought it was important to pull this group together and what you charged them to do.(2:57) - Why did you select Matt and Sanjay to co-chair the council? And talk about the membership of the council and the variety of backgrounds you wanted to get input from.(4:16) - Why was it important to you to co-chair council and lead this initiative? And talk about the process and collaboration of the council. How did you do your work and go about selecting these three initiatives?(7:15) - Enhancing MSU’s current work to connect education and industry, the members of the Green and White Council used their experience, knowledge and effort, to shape three transformative initiatives:  AI-Ready Spartans Career-Connected Spartans Spartan Catalyst Elaborate on the initiatives, and why did you settle on these three?(8:34) – What do you mean by AI-Ready Spartans?(12:00) – What are Career-Connected Spartans?(16:20) – What is a Spartan Catalyst?(21:33) – What are your thoughts on what Matt and Sanjay have been discussing?(23:23) - How do you envision the initiatives being implemented across campus over the coming weeks, months and even years?(27:36) - Will the council disband or will you keep working?(28:34) – Closing thoughts from the group.Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows. Conversation Transcript:Russ White (00:00):Michigan State University has unveiled the signature initiatives of the specially appointed green and white council. The council was convened by MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz and tasked with bringing forward ideas to strengthen the state's workforce, connect students to high quality careers and accelerate innovation across Michigan's industries. Launched by President Guskiewicz in April and co-chaired by Matt Elliot and Sanjay Gupta. The Green and White Council comprises more than a dozen prominent leaders, including representatives from Dart Container, from Bedrock Detroit, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, ITC Holdings and Carhartt representing a cross section of industry and innovation that drive the economy. And President Guskiewicz it’s always great to have you back on the program. Good to see you again.Kevin Guskiewicz (00:51):Good to see you, Russ. Thanks for having me.Russ White (00:52):Sanjay Gupta is the Dean Emeritus, and Eli and Edythe L. Broad endowed professor in MSU's. Eli Broad College of Business. Sanjay, great to have you on again.Sanjay Gupta (01:02):Always good to be with you, Russ. Thank you.Russ White (01:03):And Matt, you’ve got your hands into so many things. I know Bank of America, just tell us how you'd like our audience to know about your background.Matt Elliott (01:10):Well, I'm the former president of Bank of America, Michigan, and now I lead a group of people under the banner of Blue Lake Ideas. And what we do is we consult with companies, boards, and institutions to help them lead through a world of accelerating change.Russ White (01:24):Excellent.Kevin Guskiewicz (01:25):And he's a proud Spartan alum. Russ White (01:26):Kevin, before we discuss the signature initiatives, remind us why you thought it was important to pull this group together and what you charge them to do.Kevin Guskiewicz (01:38):Well, Russ, I've said since I got here about 22 months ago now, that I wanted to be sure that Michigan State was always leading, that we were viewed as the leaders in research, education, service to the state, but also to the nation and the world. And we're going to lead in how we redefine the way in which we can better prepare our graduates for the workforce demands of today and tomorrow, jobs and careers that don't even exist today, that our graduates will be needing to be prepared for over the next three, four decades. So we charged them with gaining a better understanding from industry leaders in about five or six different sectors as to where higher ed is not delivering, it's going to be needed for the future, and I couldn't be happier with where we are. That's sort of one of the initiatives and others really around how we can better connect our graduates t...