Who We Are
Christine Nolan, Founder & Principal
Christine has spent over 20 years building the industry partnerships behind Massachusetts's innovation economy. As Director of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing at MassTech Collaborative, she managed the State's investment in advanced manufacturing and the workforce required to support its growth. In addition, she helped secure the initial $19.7M in federal CHIPS Act funding for the region's microelectronics industry. She has built and sustained industry advisory coalitions for organizations including NATCAST MassTech Collaborative, and the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council — with a track record of keeping executives engaged, not just recruited. A mechanical engineer by training (B.S., WPI) with hands-on manufacturing experience, she speaks the technical language of the sectors she partners with, including aviation, robotics, biotech, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing.
Michael Looney, Partner, Career & Technical Education
For more than two decades, Michael served as Director of Career and Technical Education at Mashpee Public Schools in Massachusetts, where he built and led CTE programs that opened real doors for its students. Before stepping into district leadership, he spent over ten years as a teacher and school-to-career coordinator, giving him a ground-level understanding of what students, teachers, and families actually need.
Throughout his tenure, he partnered with institutions of higher education, government agencies, and industry leaders to create career and technical pathways that went far beyond the classroom. He developed job shadowing programs, internship pipelines, and experiential learning opportunities that gave students real-world exposure and employers a direct connection to the next generation of talent.
Under his leadership, Mashpee's internship program grew into the largest on Cape Cod and the Islands. He served on the Governor's STEM Advisory Council in Massachusetts across two administrations, helping shape statewide policy on STEM education and career-connected learning.
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Advisory Board
Industry Ready Partners is guided by an Advisory Board drawn from across the region's workforce development ecosystem, including representatives from vocational-technical high schools, community colleges, universities, and industry partners from the critical sectors and innovation economies. Their perspective keeps the work grounded on both sides of the partnership: what schools and students actually need from employers, and what employers actually need from their talent pipeline.