Workforce Training Series

Burnea Lester Currently serves as the Director of Communication and Community Relations at SITE Improvement Association, where she engages with key construction industry and community leaders to improve the effectiveness of workforce development programs, develop new minority contracting and workforce participation opportunities, and assist contractors with Diversity and Inclusion efforts while also strengthening SITE’s internal and external communications outreach. She currently sits on the Board of Directors at the Construction Forum and Nurses for newborns. She currently co-chairs a committee that is focused on retention and recruitment efforts that will engage more diversity in the workforce.

She has over 16 years of experience creating and maintaining strategic partnerships and building meaningful relationships. She Co-Founded the Art of Adaption with her husband, a consulting firm that trains and advises organizations on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Company Culture, and Psychological Safety. During her time with UMSL’s Community Innovation and Action Center, she was the Learning and Evaluation Manager. In this role, she helped non-profits and organizations build capacity through collaboration and partnership portfolios. She has worked with organizations such as Urban Housing, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri’s Neighborhood Vacancy Project, Turn The Page STL, and many more. 

In her previous role as Regional Director of Chamberlain University St. Louis – Las Vegas – Phoenix Campuses, she championed community engagement initiatives to assist in the projected workforce shortages in the Healthcare trades, primarily nursing. She created the National Strategic Diversity Action Plan for the National Department of Enrollment Management and partnered with local high schools to help alleviate barriers for unrepresented prospective students. 

She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwest Missouri State University, a Master of Arts degree in Media Communication and Media Literacy from Webster University, and a Master of Science degree in Education

She is a native of St. Louis, Mo, and spends her free time chasing her 5yr and 6yr old sons, Dane and Layland, around the world. She has been married to Daniel F. Lester, her best friend, for 13 years. She has a passion for building meaningful relationships, creating impactful partnerships, and finding solutions.

Myron joined the University of Missouri-St. Louis in the Spring of 2022 and serves as the coordinator for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Prior to joining the ODEI staff, Myron worked at Lindenwood University as an instructional designer and chair of their DEI Task Force. While at Lindenwood, Myron was instrumental in developing and leading the university’s first Day of Dialogue – an annual campus-wide event where students, faculty, and staff take the opportunity to examine their individual and institutional role in building a shared community. He is passionate about dialogue and creating space for everyone to participate in the conversation around equity and inclusion. Myron is excited to continue the work and collaborate with others across campus to make UMSL a more equitable and inclusive place to learn, live, and work.

Dr. Mara Woody has been a higher education innovator for nearly 20 years. She is currently the Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships at Riipen, an experiential learning platform, whose mission is to eliminate underemployment. In this role, Mara builds consortium programs that support postsecondary institutions in transforming to experiential learning campus cultures connected to the larger workforce development ecosystem. Before that, she served as a Senior Partnerships Director with the global Wadhwani Foundation.

Previously, she served as Assistant Commissioner for Postsecondary Policy with the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, where she led initiatives through partnership and collaboration to connect higher education and workforce development to serve adult learners in the state, and changed the culture to focus on educational innovation, strategic projects, and change management. While in this role, Mara founded the Missouri Adult Learner Network, bringing together higher education institutions, workforce development, and community organizations to focus efforts on serving adult learners more successfully, and hosted the first Student Journey Mapping workshop in the state for higher education institutions.

Mara has served higher education through public and private higher education institutions in several capacities: international credentialing, Academic Affairs, LEAN process improvement, and updating technological advances so offices became fully digital.

Dr. Woody has an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt University, a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Columbia College, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice. During the summer of 2012, she was a fellow in the Peabody College Institute of Higher Education Management at Vanderbilt University.

Clara McCalla is a Sr. Corporate Trainer and Motivational Speaker who creates and delivers content-rich programs. Her leadership, training style, and professional knowledge has given her a well-deserved reputation in a multitude of workshops and training seminars that she has facilitated that stretch beyond the transfer of information. Her workshops offer a dynamic and highly interactive experience for the participants.

As a trainer who has enormous experience in the corporate setting, Clara is exceptionally skilled at identifying the right resources for specific projects. She is an instructional designer and, without a doubt, a force behind the development and design of customized training projects. Her “How To” seminars have profoundly affected a wide variety of people, and her comfortable and engaging presentation style makes it easy to assimilate information to make it user-friendly at once.