The Forum for Excellence is Illinois’ premier professional development event. The conference highlights the continuing partnership of Career, Technical, and Adult Education in Illinois. The Forum is sponsored by the Illinois Community College Board, and hosted by the Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support, the Southern Illinois Professional Development Center, and the Central Illinois Adult Education Service Center.

The 2018 Forum for Excellence will be held in Normal, IL at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center on September 25-26.

Pre-conference workshops will take place on Monday, September 24 including the Adult Education Administrators' Meeting for Regions III & IV and the Perkins Administrators Cohort Meeting.

Registration information can be found on the ICSPS website.

Keynote Speaker: Maria Flynn

As president and CEO of Jobs for the Future (JFF), Maria Flynn leads JFF’s overall growth strategy, including funding diversification, strategic planning, partnership building, system deployment, change management, and talent development. She is responsible for all of JFF’s programs and operations in a highly collaborative environment across its education and workforce development sectors.
Previously, as JFF’s senior vice president, Ms. Flynn led JFF's Building Economic Opportunity Group, working to help entry-level workers advance to family-supporting careers while enabling employers to build and sustain a productive workforce. She also led JFF’s federal policy and advocacy strategies, which are focused on advancing the educational needs of underserved Americans and developing a skilled workforce. Ms. Flynn is a leading national expert on issues such as career pathways, employer engagement, sector strategies, and place-based initiatives.
Ms. Flynn has 25 years of experience in the workforce development and education fields. Prior to joining JFF in 2007, she was a member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service and served as the administrator of the Office of Policy Development and Research in the US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. In that role, Ms. Flynn previously led the Division of One-Stop Operations, where she developed the policy and technical assistance framework necessary to enable states and local communities to establish comprehensive one-stop delivery systems designed to provide quality services to job seekers, workers, and employers.