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HONORING THE LIFE OF EMILY DeROCCO
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Stevens) for 5 minutes.
Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of my dear friend, Emily Stover DeRocco, a generous spirit and dedicated public servant who inspired others to discover their purpose and to follow their dreams.
Known for getting things done, Emily headed to Washington after graduating from Penn State University, determined to find a role working in the Federal Government, hoping to make a difference in the lives of everyday Americans.
As the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training in the George W. Bush administration, Emily was instrumental in redesigning our country's workforce development programs, particularly in strategically realigning education and economic development initiatives with the needs of the business community, workforce development coming together with our manufacturing sector and, in particular, for emerging technologies.
After leaving the Bush administration, Emily became a leader in the manufacturing sector when she joined the Manufacturing Institute as their president. Under her innovative leadership, the institute researched and confirmed the changing workforce needs and, in response, implemented national strategy on education and workforce reform.
Emily founded E3, an aptly named consulting firm--educate, engage, employ--focused on helping others by linking education, workforce, and economic development, yet again harnessing her creativity and her special, keen ability to connect people and bring them together.
In addition to her incredible career, Emily was a loving mother and wife. She met the love of her life while working full-time at the Department of the Interior and taking classes at Georgetown Law School, tenaciously walking across the stage while 8 months pregnant with her incredible daughter, Lauren.
Emily spent her life coaching and mentoring others and impacted my life and work tremendously. She was, in fact, on everyone's speed dial.
Her work led her to Detroit, Michigan, where she collaborated and led the workforce development efforts for the Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow Institute, a public-private partnership intent on harnessing new technologies for our automotive sector and other industries of scale. She was the workforce leader.
I had the privilege of speaking on numerous panels with her all over the country, with our friends at the NATC, ASME, in the defense sector, at NIMS, at NAM, and of course, yet again, the Manufacturing Institute.
The need for workforce talent is the conversation of today. I met Emily in the middle of the Great Recession, when unemployment was through the roof, yet there were open jobs in our manufacturing firms all across the country. It is not a simple formula.
What Emily sought to change and address in this country by training not only the next generation of workers but an existing workforce in the 21st century begat many new challenges: the advent of the digital age and the combination of computer technologies with our old-school manufacturing devices and pieces of equipment. She led the way.
While she left us suddenly, she also left a legacy of work. We thank her so much for her service and her inspiration and the mark that she made on this country.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 165
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