Brent is the President of CareerWise, leading strategic partnerships, community engagement, and growth, with a particular focus on the development of CareerWise’s largest market, New York City.

With a background in both the public and private sector, Brent is a key player shaping national policies to align education and workforce systems to improve outcomes for youth, industry and communities. He comes to CareerWise with a strong track record of leadership in workforce development and a distinguished career in public service, leading workforce efforts in both the Obama and Biden-Harris Administrations.

Most recently Brent was the Acting Assistant Secretary for the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) at the U.S. Department of Labor, leading the ETA and leading change across federal training, unemployment insurance and foreign labor certification systems. In this role oversaw more than $3 billion of annual federal investment in workforce development and apprenticeship, working closely with federal, state, local and private sector partners to advance strategies connecting all communities to good jobs in critical and growing sectors.

Brent has a wealth of experience working alongside and advising governments, industry, labor and philanthropy in the design and implementation of workforce initiatives and coalitions. He was the Deputy Director of the Center on Education & Labor at New America, where his research led to the founding of the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA). He also developed and led a portfolio of workforce research and technical assistance efforts at the National Governors Association and in the education sector of the World Bank.

Brent also led a start-up, non-profit organization focused on engaging youth in health care policy, and taught English in Shenzhen, China. He has a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in International Education Policy, both from Vanderbilt University where he was also an Adjunct Professor. He lives in Washington D.C. with his wife and son and is from Santa Rosa, California.