Najma is a Community & Labour Market Manager at Toronto Employment & Social Services (TESS). In this role, she serves as West District lead for the Employer and Stakeholder Engagement portfolio, identifying and developing employer/sector stakeholder relationships that provide demand-side intelligence and foster opportunities for clients seeking to enter or advance within the workforce. Najma is a graduate of the University of Toronto and earned a post-graduate diploma in Public Administration from the University of Western Ontario. Currently she is the TESS lead for the food & beverage manufacturing sector. Using a CRM, demand-led approach, she works closely with economic development professionals, employers, community agencies, and inter-governmental partners to build trusting relationships, leverage resources, understand stakeholder workforce planning and development needs, facilitate service responses, and create pathways for marginalized jobseekers. Applying the lessons of the Toronto Sector Skills Academy, Najma has collaborated with various stakeholders to create the conditions and strategies needed to foster sector-based approaches in the industry and support transformation and purposeful change in employer engagement, employment services, and pipeline development work within the workforce development system.
Najma Iqbal is a member of the Toronto Sector Skills Academy, Class of 2016-17, one of several Workforce Leadership Academies in localities across North America.
The Workforce Leadership Academies are part of the Economic Opportunity Fellows Network, a network of leadership and fellowship programs run by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program. Within this Network, EOP connects national and local leaders from across sectors — nonprofit, government, business, philanthropy, academia, and more — to advance policies and practices with the potential to help low- and moderate-income Americans thrive in today’s economy. Learn more at as.pn/eofn.