A former director of the Arkansas Office of Skills Development will be the first director of the newly created Arkansas Workforce Connection division in the Arkansas Department of Commerce, the department announced on Friday.
Cody Waits will start on April 8 at a salary of $169,900 a year, state Department of Commerce spokesman Clark Cogbill said Friday.
Officials created the Arkansas Workforce Connection division as a result of the Department of Commerce's realignment process, which reorganized the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services into three new divisions: Re-employment, Arkansas Workforce Connection, and Workforce Policy and Innovation.
"Building a strong workforce is critical to ensuring the long-term success of our economy in Arkansas," Department of Commerce Secretary Hugh McDonald said in a news release.
"Arkansas Workforce Connection will play a major role in overseeing the implementation of workforce programs in the Natural State and developing the talent pipeline that our businesses and industries will need in the coming years," he said. "With his extensive experience in workforce development, Cody is the perfect director for this division, and I look forward to working with him on this initiative."
Waits, 38, was the director of the Arkansas Office of Skills Development, a division of the Department of Commerce, from 2019 to 2023. He also served as deputy director of the Department of Career Education from 2017 to 2019. Most recently, he was senior Government engagement manager for Transfr, a virtual reality based vocational career exploration and pre-apprentice training company.
The Arkansas Workforce Connection division will be responsible for carrying out state and federal workforce development programs that are located in multiple Department of Commerce divisions and coordinating with local workforce development boards, according to the Department of Commerce.
Arkansas Workforce Connection will house the Office of Skills Development, Employer Workforce Programming that supports new and expanding businesses to meet their workforce needs; Adult Education (Title II); Arkansas Rehabilitation Services (Title IV); Services for the Blind (Title IV); and Employment Services (Titles I and III).
"Workforce development is a major priority for Governor [Sarah Huckabee] Sanders and Secretary McDonald, and I am excited to be part of this effort," Waits said in the department's news release. "I am honored to join the Department of Commerce's Arkansas Workforce Connection team to help prepare Arkansans for career opportunities that meet the needs of our state's growing economy."
On March 15, the Legislative Council approved the state Department of Commerce's request to create a director of Arkansas Workforce Connection post with a salary range of $149,862 to $181,500 a year and an assistant director of Reemployment post with a salary range of $96,960 to $140,592 a year.
Asked whether the assistant director of Reemployment post has been named and who has been promoted to that slot and at what change in salary, Cogbill said Kristen Rhodes will be serving as director of Reemployment and her salary will be $114,143 a year. According to the Arkansas Transparency website, Rhodes' salary is $103,766 a year as assistant director of unemployment insurance.
Charisse Childers, who has served as the director of the state Division of Workforce Services since July 2019, will lead the Division of Workforce Policy and Innovation.
Cogbill said Childers' salary didn't change with her new position.
According to the Arkansas Transparency website, Childers' salary is $166,999 a year.