The conversations will Segway to Dan Caldwell, Senior Manager of Learning Pathways for Nissan’s U.S. manufacturing operations. His team serves a population of 17,000, enabling their personal and professional growth in the fields of leadership, engineering, and maintenance, and works within the communities they serve to prepare citizens for meaningful careers in advanced manufacturing and associated trades.

With the highest-producing manufacturing plant in North America in Smyrna, Tennessee, Nissan has an ongoing need to develop and maintain a highly skilled workforce in Middle Tennessee. To accelerate its efforts to find and train workers, Nissan and the State of Tennessee joined forces to build a 162,000-square-foot state-of-the-art education and training facility adjacent to the automaker’s vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna. The public-private partnership of the Tennessee Board of Regents, the State of Tennessee and Nissan was developed to create educational opportunities that are closely aligned to current workforce needs. With a ribbon cutting ceremony in March of 2017, the facility houses a Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) campus including fields of study in Automotive Technology, Collision Repair Technology and Welding Technology, among others.

The project was intended to serve as a “rising tide,” to answer the need for new skilled entrants into a manufacturing and associated workforce that couldn’t grow without more technical workers. The challenge was very parallel to the workforce development concerns in the collision repair industry, and Caldwell will highlight the effectiveness of the solution for their needs.

Both presentations will culminate with the opportunity for audience Q&A, to explore lessons learned in the strategic planning and implementation processes, and applicable information taken from these local initiatives that could be applied at an industry level.

The program will then shift gears, welcoming veteran collision repair and consumer advocate, Erica Eversman, speaking about a newly assumed role of Consumer Liaison to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

The Consumer Liaison Program promotes consumer interaction with the NAIC’s members, the insurance industry and interested parties through the individuals’ dedication and commitment to serving the public interest.

The NAIC defines a consumer organization as a national, state, or local organization that serves to protect the interests of consumers as they relate to the regulation of insurance. Their participation at NAIC meetings should represent a consumer perspective and should be based on their desire to collect and/or impart information of mutual concern and interest to insurance consumers and regulators. In connection with the Automotive Education & Policy Institute, Eversman has been approved as a consumer representative for the 2019 session. She will share perspectives from her first NAIC meeting in this capacity and delve into ways in which the

Other SCRS events taking place during the week in Tennessee include:

Tuesday, April 16

3:00pm – 5:00pm SCRS Board of Directors Open Meeting

5:15pm – 5:45pm SCRS Annual Election (SCRS members only)

For more information about SCRS, or to join as a member, please visit www.scrs.com, call 1-877-841-0660 or email info@scrs.com.

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About SCRS: Through its direct members and 38 affiliate associations, SCRS is comprised of 6,000 collision repair businesses and 58,500 specialized professionals who work with consumers and insurance companies to repair collision-damaged vehicles. Additional information about SCRS including other news releases is available at the SCRS Web site: www.scrs.com. You can e-mail SCRS at the following address: info@scrs.com.