Matt Merino, CEO of Education Management Solutions (EMS), speaks about the innovative ways technology can be used to address talent gaps. Matt discusses the challenges and opportunities of leveraging technology to improve training, onboarding, and ongoing development for healthcare professionals. While Matt's focus is healthcare, his insights on leveraging technology to innovate and scale learning solutions offer valuable takeaways for leaders across all industries. He also shares his perspective on the importance of continuous evaluation and the need to start developing talent pipelines earlier on in a learner’s journey. Tune in to learn more about how technology can be used to create a more efficient and effective healthcare system. Transcript Julian Alssid: Welcome to Work Forces. I'm Julian Alssid. Kaitlin LeMoine: And I'm Kaitlin LeMoine, and we speak with the innovators who shape the future of work and learning. Julian: Together, we unpack the complex elements of workforce and career preparation and offer practical solutions that can be scaled and sustained. Kaitlin: Work Forces is supported by Lumina Foundation. Lumina is an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. Let's dive in. Julian: One of the themes that keeps coming up on the podcast and in our consulting work is the need to pair work experience with learning. Kaitlin: That's right, Julian, there are many innovative approaches emerging to address industry skill and hiring gaps, whether through apprenticeships, work and learn models or tech enabled simulations. We're excited to have a guest on the podcast today who is a leading expert in these tech enabled options with a focus on healthcare. Julian: Absolutely, healthcare is a particularly ripe topic for discussion, given the challenges of regulation and providing hands on clinical experience. And so to introduce today's guest, Matt Marino is CEO of education management solutions, or EMS. Prior to his role at EMS, Matt served as the chief experience officer at Orbis Education, a program development and management company working with universities and healthcare systems to expand educational programs in nursing and therapies. During his many years in higher education, Matt led teams involved with the initial launch of online and hybrid programs for Arizona State University Online, the University of Miami, George Washington University, and Southern New Hampshire University. And before his career in higher education, Matt was a member of the United States Army Special Operations community, serving in over a dozen different countries. During his time in service, he was ordered over a dozen medals, including the Bronze Star in 2004. Thank you for joining us on the podcast today. Matt. Matt Merino: Thanks for having me, and thank you for that extended introduction. I appreciate it. It makes me uh, reminds myself just how mature I'm getting. So I appreciate it. Julian: Oh, and we had to edit that one down so you have even more to tell. Kaitlin: Indeed with that being said, Matt, we did give that bio, but please, we'd like to hear a little bit more in your own words about what led you to education management solutions and more about your background. Matt: Thanks for having me once again. For me, Education Management Solutions (EMS) is just another continuation on the path of what I've tried to do throughout my my career, and that's finding places that I believe can have impact on what I consider to be critical issues that affect people, regardless of things like socio economic status or location or race. Something that that has mass impact to all of us. So with EMS, this was just another opportunity to step into an organization that I thought had incredible potential to really drive at some of the deepest challenges we face and what is the most, in my view, indiscriminatory fact of life, and that is our health and our end of life at some point. So that's what brought me here. I've always lived in the higher ed world just because, uh, it speaks to me from a purpose standpoint. I came from a family of educators. I realized at a very young age that I was never going to have the patience required to be an educator myself. So next best up, let's, let's find a way to work in industries that can assist educators or assist workforce and people moving forward with their lives. Julian: So what are the problems that EMS is addressing, Matt. Matt: The problems that we face, that we're really going after now are trying to leverage technology solutions to assist with what I consider the big challenges we're facing in healthcare. One is we just don't have enough people. These shortages in critical roles are really a combination of two things. It's how many, obviously, clinicians are being able to be produced. But we're just in a situation where we have an aging population, demands in health care...
