Toni Neary
Haas Factory Outlet - A Division of Trident Machine Tools, LLC (HFO/Trident), has announced that manufacturing education veteran Toni Neary will be joining its team in the newly created position of Director of Education. Neary will focus on helping educators obtain the equipment, training and funding necessary to properly educate the next generation of engineers, machinists, operators and technicians.
Neary, who has a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Toledo, began her career at ToolingU in 2005 where she worked with the team to implement hybrid solutions for workforce training and educators. In 2008, Neary was instrumental in creating the Government and Education division of ToolingU, specializing in working with high schools, career centers and community colleges to enhance their programs with hybrid learning. After SME's acquisition of ToolingU, Neary took on the role of promoting the benefits of integrating technology in the classroom by speaking at several regional and national conferences throughout the United States. In 2015, Neary joined Edge Factor as its Partnership Architect.
"We are excited to have Toni join our team to strengthen our ties within the Haas Technical Education Center (HTEC) Network, as well as the education sector as a whole," said Nick Schuchardt, President of HFO/Trident. "By supporting and working closely with educators, our traditional customers benefit directly as most are in need of operators with advanced manufacturing skills."
HTEC is an industry and education led initiative that enables technical schools to acquire state-of-the-art CNC machine tools and related CNC ancillary equipment, software and educational materials at reduced costs. HTEC also provides a forum to connect nearly 3,000 educators across the globe, encouraging collaboration via an online portal that is free to member schools. In addition, the HTEC network organizes state and regional CNC educator conferences each year, of which several will be managed directly by Neary as Director of Education. These one-day events are hosted at member schools and are free to all educators, the goal being to provide students with a relevant, high tech and hands-on educational experience.
"This is a dream role for me," Neary said. "I will be working directly with educators as well as federal, state and local agencies to ensure that programs are well equipped to deliver training and build a pipeline of skilled labor for the metalworking communities we serve. I see this role as vital in connecting industry and educators to work together to train the next generation of manufacturing talent."
The Gene Haas Foundation (GHF) was created in 1999 by Gene Haas, Founder and President of Haas Automation, Inc., and reflects Haas' commitment to the manufacturing industry in the USA and manufacturing education. As Director of Education, Neary will optimize the grants available from the GHF to schools serving the region. In 2016, the GHF granted over $9 million dollars to manufacturing education in the form of scholarships, inspiring young people to explore manufacturing as a career.
Neary's role will include supporting educators in New England, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida (less the Panhandle), northern Illinois and the Caribbean.
For more information contact:
HFO - A Div. of Trident
651 Day Hill Rd.
Windsor, CT 06095
860-687-2466
www.hfotrident.com