EKCEP Executive Director Jeff Whitehead Announces Retirement
EKCEP Executive Director Jeff Whitehead recently announced his retirement following a 31-year career in workforce development.
Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), Inc. will have new leadership in March 2023 after Executive Director Jeff Whitehead discussed his planned retirement during a joint meeting of the EKCEP Board of Directors and the Eastern Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board (EKWIB) on Dec. 8 in Hazard.
Whitehead’s retirement will be effective March 1, 2023, and will cap a 31-year career in workforce development. He spoke during the joint meeting of the boards and expressed appreciation for both his career at EKCEP and the partnerships forged during that time that have helped develop new opportunities for training and employment.
“I just can’t say enough about my love for Eastern Kentucky and the people that I’ve had the privilege of working with over these 31 years,” Whitehead said. “It’s been a great honor.”
Whitehead led EKCEP through multiple challenges during his tenure, including a sharp downturn of the coal industry in Eastern Kentucky, the COVID-19 pandemic, and, most recently, historic flooding in July 2022 that impacted more than half of EKCEP’s 23-county service area.
On each occasion, EKCEP responded with programs designed to assist affected workers and their families. The Hiring Our Miners Everyday (HOME) program, for instance, assisted hundreds of workers and their spouses dislocated from the coal industry as they retrained or transitioned to new careers.
Whitehead also oversaw the creation of innovative workforce programs that have succeeded with the help of pivotal partnerships with local, state, and federal government agencies along with Eastern Kentucky employers, trainers, and economic developers that effectively pooled resources and expertise to advance and expand the regional workforce.
Whitehead (center) is pictured above with EKCEP Board Chairman Shane Gabbard (left) and outgoing EKWIB Chairman Howard Blackburn following a joint meeting of the boards on Thursday, December 8, 2022 in Hazard, Ky.
Some of those programs include Teleworks USA, which since 2015 has connected more than 4,300 people with legitimate remote-work jobs; the Strategic Initiative for Transformational Employment (SITE), which provides support for individuals in recovery as they re-enter the workforce; and the EKY FLOOD program, which is currently employing more than 130 people to provide humanitarian and cleanup assistance in the wake of this year’s flooding.
“You can only be successful when you help other people be successful,” Whitehead said. “That’s what success is to me, and that starts within the agency and the people and your staff that you work with. And it is about business leaders and community folks that are doing things at the grassroots level. I’ve always seen EKCEP’s job to be about helping those folks achieve, and I think, in turn, that helps us be successful.”
EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. The agency provides an array of workforce development services and operates the Kentucky Career Center JobSight network of workforce centers, which provide access to more than a dozen state and federal programs that offer employment and training assistance for job seekers and employers all under one roof. Learn more about us at http://www.ekcep.org, http://www.jobsight.org and http://www.facebook.com/ekcep.
