Professional Development Conference

2026 Keynote Speakers

Ella Ede (October 5th Keynote)

Ella is a respected leader with more than 25 years of experience in Alaska’s natural resource, workforce, and education sectors. Throughout her career, she has built strong partnerships among industry, education, government, and communities to expand career awareness and strengthen Alaska’s future workforce. Ella is passionate about helping students discover meaningful career pathways while connecting employers with the next generation of skilled professionals. Her leadership has advanced initiatives that promote career and technical education, workforce development, and economic opportunity across the state. As the keynote speaker for the 2026 Alaska ACTE Professional Development Conference, Ella will share her unique perspective on preparing Alaska’s workforce for the opportunities of tomorrow through collaboration, innovation, and education.

Dan Robinson and Karinne Wiebold (October 6th Keynote) 

Dan is the Chief of Research and Analysis at the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. He writes frequently about the state’s economy and job market and his team at Research and Analysis produces much of the State’s key macroeconomic data. He has an economics degree from Utah State University and a law degree from Cornell. Dan will be the keynote speaker for Monday October 13th. He plans to talk about the most interesting trends for Alaskan projections and other economic data for Alaska with a CTE focus. As part of his address he plans to touch upon the new plan “Alaska’s Workforce Future” as part of the bigger picture for CTE.

Karinne is an economist with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development in Juneau, where her work is regularly featured in the Alaska Economic Trends magazine. She supervises the team that produces and analyzes Alaska’s primary economic data including jobs, wages, unemployment rates, and workplace injuries and fatalities.  She was born and raised in Fairbanks with her four younger sisters, but now calls Southeast Alaska home. Karinne will present on Tuesday 14th October and focus on current data and whats been going on for the last few years with jobs, wages, unemployment, and demographics in Alaska.