Merrill Kemp-Wilcox joined Pima JTED in 2023 as the Director of Research & Development. JTED serves the 30,000 career and technical education high school students in Pima, parts of Pinal, and parts of Santa Cruz Counties through award winning programs that are proven to improve student success, significantly contribute to the local economy, and jumpstart careers through hands on training, experience, and industry certifications for high school students. Merrill’s position focused on increasing alignment and engagement with local and regional industry, education, and economic and workforce development stakeholders. Her background is in education policy, as seen through a lens of economic and workforce development. She came to Tucson from Atlanta, GA, where she served as the Director of Outreach & Engagement for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, an independent research and policy organization focused on improving educational outcomes in the state to strengthen the economy and develop a robust, resilient, home-grown talent pipeline. There, her focus was on community level efforts to understand and address challenges in the birth-to-work pipeline, especially in rural communities. Merrill holds a Bachelor’s of Interdisciplinary Studies from Georgia State University in Language Studies, and a Master’s in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University.
