Dr. Jennifer Troke is a Director at the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) where she manages workforce grants and contracts including the Skills Development Fund (SDF) awards, Adult and Education Literacy (AEL) awards, and Special Initiative awards such as the Workforce Education and Outreach Specialist initiative. She and her team have the privilege of taking innovative ideas and transforming them into competitive Requests for Applications (RFAs). She was a leader at the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) Employment & Training Administration’s Office of Workforce Investment (OWI) for 18 years where she led several teams including the Division of Youth Services (DYS) that focused on serving youth in foster care and justice-involved youth through a variety of national programs including Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) and YouthBuild grants. Jen is passionate about providing technical assistance that helps grantees achieve their outcomes and ultimately results in getting people into careers. She is a proud Texan with an undergraduate degree from Texas Tech, a Masters in Public Administration from Appalachian State University, and an Ed.D. in Education from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Jen lives in South Austin with her husband, a middle school teacher and coach, two tall teenagers and two large dogs – all unruly.