Special
Features / August 2007
Julie Unlimited
 Julie Norman
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By Pat Lawrence
Julie Norman likes to talk business. And, when she does, people listen. She is an economic development professional with over 20 years of experience in workforce development. She is the Deputy Executive Director of WORKFORCE West Virginia.
Julie’s full time job is trying to make sure everyone else in the state can have a full time job, too.
She’s come a short distance but a long way, from Boone County to the international arena of workforce development.
Julie intended to go into fashion merchandising. However, she says, “I met people who had done great things in the business world-including my parents- that influenced me enormously. I thought business would be just the thing for me.” She got her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Marshall University. “But I was disillusioned right out of college. The only jobs I was offered were at retail businesses in the mall.”
She turned to friends and family for help. Thanks to the assistance of the Boone County sheriff, Julie was able to get a community development position and later a similar position with the State Department of Education, gathering experience in adult literacy, program coordination and the needs of business for good vocational training.
After twelve years in Education, she took a position in economic workforce development, attended the the Economic Development Institute and became a certified economic developer and also a Certified Workforce Development Professional in the State Development Office. When Governor Manchin took office, he combined the State Development Office and other agency employees to create WORKFORCE West Virginia, the state agency responsible for both economic development and all state and federal workforce development programs for West Virginia.
As Deputy Executive Director of WORKFORCE West Virginia, Dr. Norman brokers training programs for business and industry, administers the state’s Workforce Investment Act programs, develops WV workforce development policy, and participates in economic development activities like business expansion and retention. Julie markets the workforce system, administers federal training dollars and still works with businesses on training and recruiting WV employees.
But, that wasn’t quite enough.
In 2005, she started Julie Norman Associates, LLC, a private consulting and training company. “I was often asked to speak publicly about economic development, by private industry as well as community and government entities. Workforce development is really a three legged stool - education, workforce and economic development. I’ve worked in all three, which makes me uniquely qualified to talk about the subject. I realized there was a market for that. The company was principally a public speaking venue, but it has grown into a consulting business.”
In June, she was in Hawaii for an international conference on education. In July, Julie flew to Texas to discuss the quality of the Texas workforce. Her audiences range from fifteen to five hundred. “I have 20-30 topics that I discuss for 90 minutes or up to six hours.” She uses the vacation days she’s earned to travel and speak. “I’m passionate about my work. I’ve been doing it for 22 years.”
She says, “I talk about the future of the economy, about outsourcing and off-shoring and what it is doing to us. We’ve been warned about these things, but they are finally upon us. I talk about the importance of integrating all three legs of the stool-education, workforce and economic development, in every step, at every level, whether it’s a community or a nation. We have to change how we educate and train children. Perhaps most importantly, I talk about how the future is being changed very rapidly. We are not going to have the talent or the skills to remain a leader. We can easily, quickly, become a service economy. The new generation of workers has different expectations; employers are going to have to respond to them because there is going to be great competition for our best and brightest.”
According to Julie, “The good news is that America is still a nation of innovative talent with dreams. The key is to mine that brainpower, to push ourselves. We can’t be complacent.”
Dr. Julie M. Norman, Ed.D., CEcD, CWDP, has her doctorate in Educational Leadership and a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management. She teaches what she knows as an adjunct faculty member at both the University of Charleston and Ohio Valley University where she teaches master’s level courses on Organizational Training and Development and Human Resource Management.
When she isn’t working or traveling, Julie says she loves “to garden – and watch my sons excel at their sports!” With two jobs and two children, she’s lucky to get six hours of sleep at night. But, she says, “This is incredibly important. I have a lot of knowledge and experience about how to provide our children with a brighter future. People ask me to share and I’m glad to do so.”
For more information, contact Julie Norman, (304) 345-2795 or (304) 546-5022 or visit JulieNormanAssociates.com.
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