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.
