Q: What excites you most about the future of this work or the impact it can create?
JESSE: We’re at a pivotal moment in how we prepare young people for success. Across education, workforce, and community systems, there’s growing recognition that traditional approaches are no longer sufficient. At the same time, AI and other rapid shifts are transforming the labor market and redefining the skills young people will need to thrive.
What excites me most is the momentum behind career pathways—both in Connecticut and nationally—and the opportunity to help build stronger connections between education, workforce training, and long-term economic mobility. There’s a real chance right now to rethink how these systems work together and better support students for the future ahead.
Q: What motivates and inspires you in the work you do each day?
REILLY: Students. This work is deeply personal for me. Whenever I think about solutions, I think back to the students I taught early in my career—across two states, three schools, three subjects, and two grade levels. I ask myself: What did they need to succeed? What barriers stood in their way? And how do we remove them?
I also think about what voices might be missing from the table—and how my experience working directly with students and families can help bring those perspectives forward.
I especially value staying connected to students through site visits and research. It keeps me grounded in what this work is really about: creating pathways for the next generation to thrive, lead, and meaningfully contribute to their communities and the world around them.
Q: What drew you to Social Impact Partners and this role?
BEN: I might be SIP’s first boomerang employee. I originally joined SIP in 2022, where I helped design and implement statewide healthcare workforce programs—some of the most challenging and rewarding work of my career. After nearly three years in academic corporate relations, I found myself drawn back, this time to the Career Pathways team.
Returning felt natural. SIP has a way of expanding how you think about impact—not just in terms of individual programs, but in how entire systems function together. Once you’ve worked that way, it’s hard to step away from it.
Q: Can you share a bit about your career journey and what led you to this work?
REILLY: My first job out of college was teaching through Teach For America. What I thought would be a short chapter became five years in the classroom across two states, three schools, three subjects, and two grade levels.
I loved teaching, but it left me with a bigger question: How do we create opportunity for all students, not just those in one classroom? That question led me to Yale School of Management, and then to EY-Parthenon’s education practice, where I worked with K–12 systems, colleges, edtech companies, foundations, and investors.
The work I became most passionate about focused on systems-level change, which ultimately led me to the Connecticut Career Pathways Commission. As someone born and raised in Connecticut—and now raising a family here—I want every student in our state to have access to an education that opens doors, expands opportunity, and leads to a fulfilling future.
Q: What experiences have most shaped your professional path and perspective?
BEN: My parents are both from the Midwest, and growing up we spent a lot of time traveling between extended family in Chicago and St. Louis. The contrast between those two sides of my family was striking.
My mom grew up in a low-income household with six siblings, speaking Spanglish at home, and was the first in her family to complete community college. My dad was raised by academics in a home where books, art, and higher education were simply part of everyday life.
As a kid, I didn’t have the language for it, but I was witnessing economic inequality firsthand. Within a single week, I could see how access to resources, stability, and opportunity shaped people’s lives in profoundly different ways. Over time, I saw how those differences influenced nearly every outcome—from education and careers to health, stress, and longevity.
Watching people I love carry the weight of financial insecurity, experience chronic stress, and in some cases pass away far too early left a lasting imprint on me. It shaped not only the path I’ve chosen professionally, but also how I understand the systems that shape people’s lives.
Q: Why is this work meaningful to you, both personally and professionally?
DAN: My wife and I have two kids under three, so my personal and professional life are deeply intertwined. Having children has made me more aware of the gaps in our early childhood system and the enormous burden placed on states to solve for affordable, accessible care and education.
It’s also made me more aware of the value of early childhood educators—who are responsible for some of the most critical developmental years in a child’s life—yet are often paid wages that don’t reflect the importance or difficulty of their work. There are few professions that are more demanding or more essential, and that disconnect is something we urgently need to address.
There’s a lot of work to do.