About SkillWorks › Leadership
Conny Doty co-chairs the funders committee for SkillWorks with Jill Lacey Griffin. She is the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Jobs and Community Services in Boston, overseeing $25+ million in Federal, State and Local funds assisting low-income residents in attaining the education and skills necessary for today’s workforce. Major initiatives during her tenure include SkillWorks, a five-year collaboration between 14 private and public funders, providing comprehensive career ladder training, capacity building, and evaluation. Ms. Doty also is the Managing Trustee of the Boston Neighborhood Jobs Trust funding a broad array of occupational skills training, ESOL, and other employment related educational initiatives. Ms. Doty was successful in the launching and oversight of Boston’s Living Wage Ordinance and EITC campaign. Other accomplishments include the development of Boston’s Youth Opportunity Center, an employment, education, and case management program for youth offenders and the implementation and development of two literacy campaigns: ReadBoston and WriteBoston.
Jill Lacey Griffin co-chairs the funders committee for SkillWorks with Conny Doty. She is the Director of Programs at The Boston Foundation where she leads the Economic Development and Civic Health Department. She has been a community development professional for over 20 years, specializing in economic and workforce development. Ms. Griffin has also served as Assistant Director for Economic Initiatives at the Boston Redevelopment Authority overseeing the development and execution of several of the City’s key economic programs including Back Streets (industrial), the Retail initiative she also assisted in launching Create Boston (creative businesses) and LifeTech Boston (biotech). In July of 2001, she was hired to develop and lead Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s Back Streets initiative, and focused on the retention of industrial & commercial businesses in the City. Ms. Griffin started her service with the City in 1996 as Program Manager for the City’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND). Prior to Joining the City, Ms. Griffin was a career and workforce development professional at Northeastern University for ten years and taught several courses. Ms. Griffin is active in the community and serves on several non-profit boards. Ms. Griffin has a B.A. and M.S. from the State University of New York College at Oswego.
Loh-Sze Leung is the director of SkillWorks, an ambitious effort on the part of philanthropy, government, community organizations, unions, and employers to create a workforce development system that helps low-skill, low-income residents move to family-sustaining jobs and helps employers find and retain skilled employees. Prior to SkillWorks, Ms. Leung was the assistant executive director of the Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement, a youth education and workforce development program of the City of Los Angeles. Ms. Leung has also served as a program development, research and fund raising consultant for organizations including the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, Peace Games, the Boston Private Industry Council, and the Commonwealth Corporation. Ms. Leung has a Masters of Public Policy from the UCLA School of Public Affairs with a concentration in community economic development. She is a founding member of Saffron Circle, the first Asian American giving circle in Boston, and she volunteers for ACCESS in Boston’s Chinatown. Ms. Leung also serves as a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Refugees and Immigrants.
SkillWorks Director Loh-Sze Leung can be reached at:
Loh-Sze Leung
SkillWorks Director
c/o The Boston Foundation
75 Arlington Street, 10th Floor
Boston, MA 02116
ph: 617.338.4377
email: lohsze.leung@tbf.org
