Interim Vice President, Workforce and Economic Advancement/Executive Director, ETI
Executive Director
Small Business Development Center
Director, Business Partnerships & Workforce Engagement
Director of Employer Engagement
Client Relations Liaison, Employee Training Institute
John Milburn is a native Californian who has lived and worked across the state. He has owned and operated several businesses and has been a training and development specialist for more than 13 years. John has a wide-ranging background in economic development having helped many organizations and thousands of employees with organization and professional development. He has more than 4,000 stand-up hours delivering training and facilitation services for private, public and nonprofit organizations. As Director of ETI, John develops and delivers training programs targeted to assist local employers respond to changing markets, technology and the skill development needs of their employees. John holds a Psychology MA in Organization Development from Sonoma State University and BA in Business Administration from California State University, Bakersfield.
Catherine Grooms leads and manages the SBDC hosted by College of the Canyons, a team of 25, including 20 Professional Business Advisors providing services to entrepreneurs and business owners in the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, Antelope Valley and Metro Los Angeles. Working with thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs, and her broad experience prior to joining the SBDC working with public and private companies both small and large on the East Coast, Midwest and in California including a variety of industries both domestic and international, helps clients positively impact the local economies.
Catherine has a BBA in Accounting from Howard University and an MBA (Accounting/Management Concentration) from the University of Baltimore. She is a graduate of the Leadership Development Program at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business Executive Education; and the Leadership Development Program at University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Justin Wallace serves as a single point of contact for the local business community to access training and education programs through College of the Canyons. He is able to rapidly respond to the needs of business and is able to streamline processes to provide results quickly. Through training and educating the workforce we are able to make an economic impact in our communities and ultimately keep Santa Clarita thriving. Prior to his current role Justin was managing a Workforce & Economic Development Grant for the California Community College Chancellor’s Office. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration & Economics from Graceland University and received his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh.
Paula Hodge brings 23 + years of extensive experience in information technology as Deputy Sector Navigator for the Information Communication Technologies and Digital Media. Prior to joining College of the Canyons, she was the IT Director of a major educational nonprofit. Under her leadership, she applied technical and business acumen to steer the organizations technical advancement in data, voice and infrastructure.
Paula will serve as EDD’s liaison for bridging the gap between industry and education within the IT and Digital Media sectors. She will be leveraging opportunities that will benefit business, students, and the California economy.
Regional Director – Advanced Manufacturing
Mike Bastine is a native Ohioan and received his BS degree in Mathematics from Ohio State University. While as an Air Force officer he earned an MBA and ultimately retired from a Space Operations career while being assigned to Vandenberg AFB. He then worked in the aerospace industry as a Senior Systems Engineer in Redondo Beach and performed nationwide engineer recruiting for TRW, before beginning his career with the California Community Colleges in 1999. He has served as a faculty member on the academic senate, as well as an administer collaborating with business communities on various workforce development initiatives. His college management experience has included a variety of categorical funded programs involving – Adult Education, internships, work based learning, contract education, career services, and the statewide production of Braille textbook.
Coordinator, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT)
