Menon joins education and business executives working to scale workforce partnerships and accelerate a skills-first economy
SACRAMENTO — February 13, 2025 — Ajita Talwalker Menon, Calbright College’s President and CEO, is among four national education and workforce executives named to the Board of Directors for the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), a nonprofit international leader in helping institutions and employers advance skills-based learning.
Menon will support and innovate with C-BEN leaders to further transform collaboration between institutions and employers — ensuring learners can effectively access, demonstrate, validate, and apply in-demand workforce skills. She joins senior executives across workforce development, education, human resources, quality assurance, and public policy on the C-BEN board of directors.
“Innovation in education and workforce development is not a novelty anymore – it’s a necessity. And we are certainly illustrating that through Calbright’s successful efforts to drive economic mobility for working age Californians,” Menon said. “Now, I’m honored to join my national colleagues on the Competency-Based Education Network Board of Directors who are relentless in their pursuit of breaking down barriers for adult learners and building creative, nimble pathways that lead to in-demand jobs and create the skills-first local and national economies needed.”
Among Calbright’s most recent workforce partnerships, the college announced in November the development of paid apprenticeship opportunities for its alumni, now pre-apprentices, with TechSF, a nationally recognized and registered apprenticeship program in the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development. TechSF integrates registered pre-apprenticeship to apprenticeship pathways with tech employers, reducing skills gaps and recruitment for companies, while helping job seekers gain valuable experience and industry-recognized certifications.
With its first ever California Department of Apprenticeship Standards approval status, Calbright will continue to partner with organizations across the state to offer adult learners a better chance at success in today’s labor market, while providing California employers with highly-skilled and qualified employees. Calbright’s efforts continuously respond to the needs of its learners aligned with the priorities of the state to help drive the college’s mission as a catalyst for the California workforce.
“Our nation and world have made it clear—skills are the currency of the future,” said Charla Long, president of C-BEN. “Welcoming these visionary leaders to our board signals the growing momentum behind competency-based education as a catalyst for economic mobility and workforce competitiveness. For more than a decade, C-BEN has championed the shift from time-based education to skills-driven learning. Now, we enter the next phase—fully realizing the promise of a skills-first economy.”
Joining Menon on the C-BEN board alongside its existing nine-member board are:
- Kimo Kippen, a globally recognized thought leader in lifelong learning and talent development who served as chief learning officer at Hilton and VP of learning at Marriott International.
- Joe Edelheit Ross, president and CEO of Reach University, a nonprofit university advancing apprenticeship degrees.
- Jane Oates, senior policy advisor and former president of WorkingNation.
The appointment of Menon and the three new board members to C-BEN comes as more than 16 states have enacted skills-based hiring policies and more than 80% of organizations, including small, medium, and large employers alike, have signaled an interest in making the shift to skills-first talent strategies.
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About Calbright College
Calbright College is a new kind of community college designed to support the needs and goals of adult learners. Established in 2018, Calbright is a statewide, online, and flexible California Community College that offers accessible and career-focused programs—based on in-demand skills from IT to CRM Platform Administration to Data Analysis. Calbright’s free and flexibly paced model, which utilizes competency-based education, works within the schedules of California’s working-age adults to provide the rigor of higher education without the logistical hurdles of a traditional institution.
About the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN)
The Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN) is revolutionizing how we design, experience, and measure learning throughout a lifetime. We believe learning should be measured by what you can do — the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that lay the foundation for your success — and for more than 10 years we have been guiding our expansive network of education leaders, employers, policymakers, and changemakers towards quality competency-based models and practices. C-BEN is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization.
