Suzanne N. Johnson
- Chair, Board of Directors, Markle Foundation
Chair of the Board of Directors, Intuit, Inc.
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Today, as millions are unemployed and advanced technology and automation are changing the very nature of work, Markle’s priority is advancing solutions toward a labor market that will enable workers in America to move into good jobs in the digital economy.
Most recently, Markle formed the Rework America Alliance, a nationwide collaboration to enable unemployed and low wage workers to emerge from this crisis stronger. The Alliance aims to help millions of workers, regardless of formal education - particularly people of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the crisis - move into good jobs in the digital economy by accelerating the development of an effective system of worker training aligned to jobs that employers will need to fill.
The Rework America Alliance builds on Markle’s previous work in this field. In 2013, Markle launched its Rework America initiative to help workers have greater market power and a stronger voice in decisions that impact their lives. Initially, the Rework America Task Force focused on how to create more good jobs and how to prepare people for them. The Task Force published the Norton press book America’s Moment in 2015.
This work inspired the development of Markle’s Skillful initiative in 2016, a collaboration including Microsoft, LinkedIn, and the state of Colorado which is using the very forces that are disrupting the economy – technology and data – to create a labor market that helps everyone, regardless of educational background. In 2018, Markle expanded Skillful to the state of Indiana with the enthusiastic backing of state leaders, and in partnership with many key organizations across the state. Work has also been shared with the states of Rhode Island, Oklahoma and others. To increase the national impact of this work, Skillful tools, expertise and resources are now shared through Markle’s Rework America Alliance.
The The Rework America State Network, founded in 2018 with 20 state governors, is now a non-partisan collaboration of 30 governors and the mayor of the district of Columbia, working to transform the labor market at a scale and pace not possible through individual state actions. Markle developed a second Rework America Task Force and launched the Rework America Business Network in 2018 to expand participation in meeting our objectives.
Prior to Markle’s focus on employment and training, when Zoë Baird first became Markle president in 1998 as the internet was poised to become mainstream, she and the Markle Board of Directors redirected Markle’s mission to focus on the potential of information technology to address some of the Nation’s most pressing challenges, focusing on economic security, national security and health care.
Early on, Markle pursued policies that protect privacy and provide transparency, non-profit representation in internet governance, and voice for the disenfranchised. It was one of the first organizations to undertake efforts to avoid a digital divide, and in 2000 organized the first large scale effort to provide voters with information over the internet through its WebWhiteandBlue initiative.
During the next decade, Markle focused on advancing national security and the quality of healthcare in the United States. It proposed bold reforms on government policy and technology architecture for information exchange while protecting privacy -- reforms that transformed both these fields. Many of Markle’s recommended reforms were embodied in sweeping national security and health care laws and in a range of actions at the federal, state and local level.
Under Ms Baird’s leadership as CEO and President of Markle, the foundation’s current priority is advancing solutions toward a labor market that will enable workers in America to move into good jobs in the digital economy.
Since its inception in 1927 by John and Mary R. Markle, the Foundation has worked "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge among people of the United States, and to promote the general good of mankind." During its early years, Markle led the expansion of talent in academic medicine, and later focused on developing and using communication and information to enhance lifelong learning and to promote an informed citizenry. While Markle’s work has evolved through the years, its mission to meet the needs of the American people has endured.
Read more about Markle’s history of impact.
Our work has never been more urgent or necessary than it is today. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented health and economic crisis, impacting tens of millions of people and devastating families across our country. It has hit low income Americans hardest as well as accelerating the transition to a digital economy for which many workers are not prepared. We must create opportunity for workers to get good jobs with good wages as the economy recovers.
At Markle, we have made it our purpose to inspire leaders from all sectors to lend their collective know-how to identify solutions for the nation’s most pressing problems. We devote ourselves to leading collaborations to meet these public needs.
Seeking to drive impact at a speed and scale this current challenge demands, Markle formed the Rework America Alliance, an unprecedented national collaboration of partners to enable workers to emerge from this crisis stronger. The Alliance aims to help millions of workers, regardless of formal education - particularly people of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the crisis - move into good jobs in the digital economy and accelerate the development of a more effective system of worker training aligned to jobs that employers will need to fill.
The Alliance expands upon our previous work through Markle’s Rework America and Skillful initiatives to help workers have greater market power and a stronger voice in decisions that impact their lives. Skillful, through its work in Colorado, Indiana, Rhode Island and other states, partners with employers, educators, workforce organizations, state leaders and others, to create a labor market that works for everyone, regardless of educational background. Markle’s Rework America State Network, a non-partisan collaboration of 30 governors and the mayor of the district of Columbia, is working to transform the labor market at a scale and pace not possible through individual state actions.
Earlier undertakings at Markle led to catalytic changes in health care and national security. Markle Connecting for Health transformed our nation’s complex and over-burdened health system by framing the national health care reforms that offer electronic information exchange, providing Americans the ability to view, download, and transmit their personal health information. The Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age developed the policy and technology architecture that established national security information sharing after 9/11 while protecting traditional civil liberties. Our work in both health care and national security has gained widespread adoption, as evidenced by sweeping reforms at the local, state, and federal levels.
In this current time of adversity and transformation, Markle and its partners remain driven to solve and seek solutions to the nation’s most complex challenges. We invite you to join us.
Zoë Baird
CEO and President
Markle works with its collaborators to offer comprehensive recommendations and actions addressing some of the nation’s greatest challenges. Several key recommendations have become law through acts of Congress and by executive order and have formed the basis for business objectives. The following principles guide our work:
Working relationships across sectors is crucial to finding solutions that work in our complex, connected world.
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Finding new pathways, new ideas, and new opportunities to achieve our goals is critical to maximizing impact.
Empowering all Americans to benefit from the power of information.
Responding and evolving to change as new information or ideas surface.
Changing how we think and operate enhances the economic security, health, and national security of future generations.
Establishing guidelines allows for trusted information sharing, with safeguards in place to protect civil liberties.
Markle leverages the potential of information technology to drive solutions to some of the nation’s most pressing problems in the areas of health, the economy, and national security. Our work has led to transformative change in a variety of sectors, including the implementation of national health care reforms that offer Americans the ability to view, download, and transmit their personal health information, and the advancement of a more open and transparent culture of national security information sharing after 9/11. Markle’s work since 1998 has led to sweeping reforms at the federal, state, and local levels.
John and Mary R. Markle established the Markle Foundation in 1927 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge among people of the United States, and to promote the general good of mankind." Our mission has evolved over the past century to our present day focus on working to realize the potential of information technology to address previously intractable public problems, for the health and security of all Americans.
John Markle was an inventor, industrialist, and financier who established the John and Mary Markle Foundation in 1927 with an initial endowment of $3 million "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge among people of the United States, and to promote the general good of mankind." He believed that an individual who has funds beyond those needed for living becomes "a trustee for his fellow man and should so use those funds." He served as president and treasurer of the Foundation until his death in 1933. John Markle's total financial contribution to the Foundation exceeded $17 million.
Mary Estelle Robinson Markle was a generous supporter of several New York City charities, in particular those whose work benefitted impoverished women. She was widely recognized as John Markle's inspiration for the establishment of the Foundation, the first American institution of its kind to name both husband and wife as partners. This move, considered revolutionary for their times, affirmed the Markles' belief that the integration of a couple's financial and social interests can impel the important societal changes needed to serve the greater good.
Minutes from Times Square, Broadway theatres, and Central Park, the Markle Conference Space is perfectly suited for board meetings and business gatherings.
The Markle Events listing shows the activities in which Markle staff take part, including conferences, Congressional hearings, and speaking engagements.
Markle In the News includes articles, op-eds, blog commentary, and news items related to Markle's collaborative work.
Markle's most recent media releases and announcements can be found here.
Information about our past initiatives includes Better Health through Information Technologies, Policy for a Networked Society, and Interactive Media for Children.
In these letters, Markle President and CEO Zoë Baird addresses several of the problems facing America in economic security, health, and national security.
