|
Rondeau: Helping Identify a Workforce for Offshore Wind
Jackie Rondeau started attending college when most students are being handed diplomas, at age 22. And while she admits her career path took a circuitous route, starting as a high scholl dropout in tenth grade and launching her own telemarketing business before college, the ensuing years have kept her laser focused on supporting businesses that build thriving local economies.
Rondeau came to Virginia in 2002, by way of Michigan where she was born and the Florida Panhandle where she graduated college (with a few stops in between). She and her husband were attracted to Virginia’s weather because “It’s climate is a middle ground between Michigan and Florida,” she said.
Rondeau is manager of Employer Engagement for the maritime section of the Hampton Roads Workforce Council and serves as liaison to businesses, including connecting them with workforce and training needs for offshore wind and supply chains.
She landed in an industry that is seeing more women enter a nontraditional field, and Rondeau hopes “to raise awareness of what women can do and what we are doing, especially among girls and young women who will be entering the workforce.”
The newly formed Women of Offshore Wind (WOW) organization, according to Rondeau, is an important example of showcasing women in nontraditional careers, as evidenced by the variety of professional women in the membership ranks.
What impresses her, and what most people don’t realize, says Rondeau, is the number and range of related industries and businesses associated with offshore wind. “There is so much opportunity for so many companies in our region,” she points out. Ultimately, Rondeau feels with a commitment to growing industry involvement and training for offshore wind, the East Coast can be a hub for reliable clean energy. To do this, she stresses the need to keep offering field trips for students to expose them to a relatively new U.S. industry, and to promote where and when offshore wind jobs will be available.
Rondeau is a certified Workforce Development Professional (CWDP) and recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia in Sector Strategies/Career Pathways. She is also certified by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Talent Pipeline Management.
Married, and the mother of a now grown 19-year-old son, she is enjoying more time to work out, read and travel, including making her first trip to Europe last Fall.
| 
