The Challenge
"AI credentials proliferate without quality control or labor market alignment."-- NSF AI-Ready America Workshop Report, 2026
AI credentials are proliferating. Standards are not.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping work across every sector of the American economy — healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, agriculture, and beyond. The demand for AI-capable workers has never been higher.
Yet the credentials meant to certify that capability are multiplying without quality control, without labor market alignment, and without a shared standard that employers can trust or workers can rely on over time.
WorkForward Institute exists to close that gap — by building the credentialing infrastructure, community standards, and practitioner network that the AI workforce deserves.
Our Mission
WorkForward Institute builds and credentials workforce capability beginning with AI and continuing with future forward technologies that define the way we work — through education, on-the-job learning, and a career-long community of practitioners that keeps the capability current as technology evolves, benefiting the workforce, the employers, and the ecosystem that brings them all together.
A world in which any worker can enter and grow in capability-driven work through a community that holds its own standards, where the credential they earn keeps its meaning over time, and where the people doing the work are the same people defining what that work means.
Our Work
A credentialing ecosystem built for the long term.
Stackable AI Credentials
A five-tier credential stack from foundational AI literacy through executive AI leadership — designed to grow with the worker and remain meaningful as technology evolves.
Practitioner-Held Standards
The standards that define our credentials are developed and maintained by the practitioners who hold them — not by a single institution or vendor. The community owns the standard.
AI Apprenticeship Pathways
WorkForward Institute supports structured workplace-integrated learning, including a first-in-Pennsylvania registered apprenticeship program for AI Project Managers — combining on-the-job learning with credentialed outcomes.
The Moment
The infrastructure for a national AI workforce doesn't exist yet. We're building it.
1 in 3
American workers will need new skills due to AI adoption in the next five years.
0
Nationally recognized, community-held credentialing standards for AI workforce roles currently exist.
1st
Registered apprenticeship program for AI Project Managers in Pennsylvania — in formation.
The U.S. already possesses the institutional infrastructure needed for broad AI readiness. What it lacks is coordination, shared standards, and credentialing that connects learning to real labor market outcomes. WorkForward Institute is designed to fill that gap — starting in Pennsylvania and built to scale.
Our Team
Built by people who have done this work.
WorkForward Institute is led by a founding board of directors with deep expertise in AI, enterprise technology, workforce development, academic credentialing, and healthcare — united by a shared conviction that the AI workforce deserves better than what currently exists.
Haden Davis
Founder & President
Enterprise technology leader with experience at Red Hat, Wharton Executive Education, and two decades building technology-forward enterprises.
Jay Mishra
Director — AI & Technology
AI and CTO-level practitioner bringing deep technical expertise to the Institute's credentialing standards.
Begona Perez-Mira
Director — Academic & Credentialing
University professor and QM Master Reviewer with direct experience in academic credentialing and quality assurance frameworks.
Russell Davis
Director — Healthcare & Networks
Healthcare sector leader bringing domain expertise and network relationships critical to the Institute's workforce development mission.
Dominic Domingo
Director — Legal & Governance
Attorney providing legal counsel and governance expertise to ensure the Institute's structural integrity.
Get Involved
We are building something that needs the right partners.
Grant Funders
WorkForward Institute is a Pennsylvania 501(c)(3) nonprofit in formation, building the credentialing and standards infrastructure identified as a national priority in the NSF AI-Ready America initiative. We welcome conversations with federal, state, and philanthropic funders aligned with workforce development, AI readiness, and credentialing quality.
Universities & Training Organizations
We are building relationships with universities, community colleges, and training organizations interested in pursuing WorkForward accreditation or partnering on apprenticeship pathways. If your institution is preparing a regional AI readiness initiative, we want to talk.
Employers & Cohort Sponsors
We are enrolling our first cohort of AI Project Manager apprentices. Employers who want to develop AI-capable talent through a structured, credentialed pathway should reach out now.