Speaker Spotlight: Claire Bakalars, Interim Director, Western Wisconsin Workforce Development Board

Monday–Tuesday, March 30–31, 2026 | Havenwood Event Center | Sparta, WI

Claire Bakalars

Interim Director

Western Wisconsin Workforce Development Board

Claire Bakalars is an advocate, a mother of 11- and 12-year-olds, and a hands-on learner who believes the best way to understand systems is by doing the work. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Communications and Sociology from the University of Minnesota Duluth and joined Western Wisconsin Workforce Development Board in spring 2023. In September 2025, she stepped into the role of Interim Director.

Claire has served in both monitoring and career planner roles, learning workforce development from the ground up while asking the questions that drive clarity and strengthen systems. After spending two years out of the workforce raising her children, she understands firsthand how life transitions impact careers. That experience fuels her commitment to Western Wisconsin Workforce Development’s mission of connecting people to meaningful, self-sustaining employment while supporting local businesses through tools such as subsidized wages.

Presentation Info

Workforce Development Boards: The Best-Kept Secret in Economic Development
By Claire Bakalars, Interim Director, Western Wisconsin Workforce Development Board

Workforce Development Boards play a critical but often overlooked role in rural economic Development. This presentation will highlight workforce development funding and programming that can support employers, job seekers, and community members through talent development, training, wage subsidies, and barrier-removal strategies.

Attendees will learn how Workforce Development Boards partner with economic development, tourism, education, and employers to strengthen local labor markets and support sustainable growth in rural counties like Monroe County.

The session will focus on practical ways communities can leverage workforce development as a
leadership tool—not a hidden resource.

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