The IWSI America team is highly experienced in all facets of skills development, having honed and developed their expertise across various industry sectors throughout the world.
Nicholas Wyman, President
Nicholas Wyman is a workforce development and apprenticeship expert, speaker, and author who has fostered a workforce development model that uses mentoring to shape the thinking, attitude, abilities, and skills of people as they make the transition from school to work.
Nicholas applies real-world solutions to the challenges companies face in finding skilled employees.
A Winston-Churchill Memorial Fellow, Nicholas has completed in-depth research into school-to-work transitions and skilled careers. Nicholas is on the Advisory Board of the American Institute of Innovative Apprenticeship.
Deborah Williamson, Vice-President Projects and Operations
Deborah Williamson began her career with the Kentucky Court of Justice, establishing herself as a dynamic court executive officer serving elected members of the judiciary statewide. She assisted in the development of Kentucky’s registered apprenticeship program and securing federal funding for the same. Recently Deborah worked for the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions to oversee the labor relations division, which contains two bureaus devoted to civil rights violations. She holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Kentucky.
Andrew Sezonov, Chief Operating Officer
Andrew is an education into employment specialist, with over two decades experience designing and implementing dynamic vocational training and workforce development programs for all ages – youth, young adults and transitioning mature workers.
He has been an expert advisor and lead consultant on numerous projects involving leading Australian corporates, Fortune 500 companies, as well as Governments in the USA and Australia. Andrew has studied at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and is a regular conference presenter. He was a keynote presenter at the International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship in the US. Andrew is passionate about skilling up the next generation of young people and promoting the value and viability of vocational training pathways.
Ervin Dimeny, Vice-President – Projects
Ervin Dimeny is a leading United States advocate for the expansion of apprenticeship programs, and was an editor and contributor to ‘Skilling Up: The Scope of Modern Apprenticeship’, a major anthology published in partnership with the Urban Institute (Washington DC) in 2019.
As a Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Labor Cabinet, Ervin conceived and led multiple initiatives to expand the scope and scale of civil service apprenticeships and traineeships. Ervin manages world leading apprenticeship models that play a central role in resolving future workforce acquisition and retention challenges.
Simon Whatmore, Chief Strategy Officer
Simon Whatmore is an experienced policy and management consultant with broad project and functional management expertise. He has extensive experience consulting to government departments and agencies across strategic analysis, change management, organizational design, program management, and evaluation projects. Simon’s strong conceptual and analytical skills, public policy knowledge, understanding of governmental process, and ability to build rapport and collaborate with a diverse array of stakeholders enables him to bring the best out of private and public sector relationships.
Nicola Raft, Administration Manager
Nicola Raft brings a wealth of international administration management experience from around the world. Nicola has successfully managed high profile projects in the UK, Australia and America across both public and private sectors. Nicola excels in delivering seamless organizational and logistical support alongside excellent rapport building skills enabling stakeholders to achieve their goals.
Reuben Armstrong, Art Director
Reuben collaborates with teams and organizations, streamlining visual identity. Reuben works with a wide range of talented creatives, bringing into focus the benefits of a modern apprenticeship pathway.