Congratulations to our Tireless BILT Chairman
Matt Glover, the chair of the National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) unique “BILT” (Business and Industry Leadership Team), won the prestigious Industry Recognition Award at this summer’s HI-TEC conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Big congratulations to Matt on this important achievement.
Matt – the Chief Technical Officer of Le-Vel Brands – helps the CTC with one purpose in mind: to ensure graduates nationwide are well-prepared with in-demand workforce skills so that when they graduate, they land high-paying jobs. Matt was recruited to join the BILT via a printed letter hand-addressed with a stamp on it. He says that got his attention! Matt now co-leads the BILT in steering curriculum for the 60 community colleges and universities of the CTC’s network and assisting in any way he can to recruit, mentor, and collaborate – with the goal of graduate readiness.
Matt manages four quarterly BILT meetings, all of which are designed to keep faculty across the nation up to speed on cutting-edge IT trends and technologies. Three meetings are held via teleconference; the fourth meeting is a longer, more structured process that identifies knowledge, skills, and abilities (“KSAs”) nationally to align IT curriculum. For every meeting, Matt comes well-prepared with the latest, most accurate and pertinent research and predictions on the future of the IT industry.
Aside from his duties as chair, Matt is always eager to work with others to improve student workforce readiness. He has mentored and hired students and persuaded his previous company’s (AMX) HR department to adjust their employment requirements to allow 2-year degrees, not just 4-year degrees, for all IT positions. Matt has given keynotes at CTC faculty professional development events and served on panels that assess capstone projects in a quasi-real world environment. He frequently joins the CTC at conferences to co-present. Last summer, Matt flew from vacation in California to be a part of a presentation (standing room only) at a conference in Pittsburgh on the role of the BILT because he believes the BILT model is too important to limit just to IT programs. (He even took time to help staff our exhibit hall booth and further spread the word about the BILT.)
In short, Matt is passionate about students, the role community colleges play in workforce education, and how the BILT model helps prepare students and faculty for the future of IT by aligning curriculum with workforce needs. He is willing to talk about this to anyone, anywhere without regard to discipline. His tireless efforts have impacted many programs, many faculty members, and many students nationally.
Thank you, Matt!