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UNT’s Texas Talent Accelerator pitches regional labor-market hub to board
Summary
Ben McGill of UNT told the board the Texas Talent Accelerator will aggregate labor-market data, convene stakeholders, and produce actionable tools to align higher-education programs with employer needs across North Texas.
Ben McGill, chief economic development officer at the University of North Texas and executive director of the Texas Talent Accelerator, presented the Accelerator as a regional intelligence hub to help higher-education institutions align programs with employer needs.
"Actionable insights is what we're really after," McGill told the board, describing quarterly convenings of colleges, employers and economic-development organizations to close data gaps and develop pathways to living-wage jobs. He said the Accelerator started Sept. 1 of the previous year and aims to combine state workforce data with employer feedback to map graduate outcomes and inform advising.
McGill highlighted healthcare as a persistent growth sector in the region and cited employer feedback showing strong demand for allied-health roles; he noted steep signing bonuses in some counties (a Collin County example of a radiologic-technology signing bonus reported as high as $30,000) and argued the region must better connect advising and curriculum to employer needs.
The presentation previewed forthcoming tools including interactive career-path maps for semiconductor and related sectors, and McGill invited local institutions to join the Accelerator’s stakeholder network. Board members asked for institution-level retention metrics and expressed interest in further local-healthcare briefings.
