Why Goodwill and Tim O’Connell focus on workforce training and development – Atlanta Business Chronicle

This profile is part of our coverage of the 2024 CFO of the Year Awards. The annual event highlights the impacts of financial chiefs across various Atlanta industries, from nonprofits to large private and publicly traded companies.

“Approach all that you do with integrity and respect.”

Tim O’Connell, chief financial officer with Goodwill of North Georgia Inc., has followed that advice, some of the best he ever got in business. It helped him establish a strong rapport with colleagues and clients. It also led to new opportunities and meeting organizational goals.

O’Connell uses other lessons to underpin his success. For example: Keep learning and sharpen your skills.

But it was his parents that might have offered the sagest advice: “Keep company with those who make you better,” O’Connell recalls them saying.

He said, “It has helped define my experience as a member of the Goodwill team.”

Atlanta Business Chronicle spoke to over a dozen chief financial officers about the biggest issues they are facing in the current economy, one seeing record business formation but also still hindered at some levels by high interest rates. Yet even those are falling.

At Goodwill, O’Connell is focused on a few specific goals:

Goodwill is expanding programs centered on sustainability

He calls it an integral piece of the Goodwill fabric, extending the life of products by offering gently used items to consumers. Goodwill partners with salvage and recycling companies to reduce waste.

It also has a program it calls Dell Reconnect, which recovers materials from electronics used in the manufacturing of new technology. This is part of the circular economy. Collectively, Goodwill’s efforts divert nearly 43 million pounds of material from Georgia landfills every year, O’Connell said.

Goodwill aims to expand innovative training initiatives

Goodwill also offers training programs for what it calls the jobs of tomorrow. The programs are focused on workforce development in emerging industries. For example, Goodwill partnered with Atlanta Regional Commission and Accenture to launch the Clean Tech Academy, a program that offers job training that supports the expansion of U.S. electric vehicle infrastructure.