About Me: Timothy W. Lawrence is the executive director of SkillsUSA, a national student organization with more than 360,000 paid members. He believes in SkillsUSA and career and technical education because he is a product of the organization. As a high school welding student, he joined SkillsUSA as his first professional association (then called VICA) and set a course for a successful future. Lawrence worked in labor and management positions in the manufacturing industry for nine years while continuing his education, graduating magna cum laude from James Madison University with a degree in administration and training. He became a welding instructor in Virginia in 1978 and was named the National Trade and Industrial Education Teacher of the Year in 1983.

In 1987, he joined the Virginia Department of Education as a career and technical education specialist and SkillsUSA Virginia state association director. In that role, he served with the National Safety Council Youth Division, Students Against Driving Drunk and numerous community organizations. In 1996, Lawrence joined the national SkillsUSA organization as director of business and industry partnerships at the National Leadership Center in Leesburg, Va. In January 2001 he was named the executive director of SkillsUSA, becoming the ambassador and leader of one of the nation’s largest individual membership organizations. In this position, he works for the students and teachers of America’s career and technical education system and travels nationally and internationally to visit schools and connect with industry leaders in support of SkillsUSA’s mission to improves the quality of our nation’s future skilled and to empower students to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens. SkillsUSA helps students develop skills that include personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics.

Considered a leader in career and technical education, Lawrence serves on several national boards and committees. He was a member of the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council and served on the Career Readiness Taskforce for the Council of Chief State School Officers. At the federal level, he represented the U.S. Department of State on an international panel of workforce experts in Kazan, Kazakhstan. He is an official U.S. Delegate for the WorldSkills organization and travels with the WorldSkills USA team every two years. In recent years he served as a member of an independent panel on the National Assessment of Career and Technical Education and the Job Corps National Advisory Committee, both of which made recommendations to the U.S. Congress.