By Jenna McDonald

If you ask Jenna McDonald what she does for a living, the answer probably won’t fit neatly on a business card.

At the heart of it, Jenna is a workforce connector, a person who sees the gap between a job someone wants and the skills, credentials, and opportunities they need to get there, and then gets to work closing that gap.

As the Director of the Eastern Washington Area Health Education Center (EWAHEC), Jenna spends her days building pathways into healthcare careers, connecting students and employers, developing workforce programs, and helping people earn credentials that can change the trajectory of their careers. Her philosophy is simple: a credential should lead somewhere.  That workforce mindset was shaped long before healthcare became her professional focus.

She previously worked for AJAC, a nonprofit that offers apprenticeship programs in manufacturing, partnering with manufacturing companies throughout Eastern Washington and Idaho. Her work brought her into contact with employers who needed skilled workers and individuals looking for a way into good-paying careers. Apprenticeships provide a powerful solution — allowing people to earn while they learn, gain nationally recognized skills, and build careers without necessarily following a traditional four-year college path.

That experience continues to influence how she approaches healthcare workforce development today.  Whether the setting is a manufacturing floor, a classroom, a rural hospital, or a healthcare training program, Jenna sees the same fundamental challenge; people need a clear path from where they are today to where they want to be tomorrow.

She has a personal appreciation for rural communities. Jenna lives on 21 acres in rural Whitman County, where life is considerably different from the bustle of a city campus or manufacturing facility. Living in a rural area has reinforced her belief that opportunity shouldn’t depend on someone’s ZIP code. Rural communities need skilled workers, employers need talent, and individuals need accessible ways to build skills and advance.

For Jenna, workforce development isn’t simply about filling vacancies. It’s about helping people build lives.  She gets excited when someone earns a certification that qualifies them for a new position. She celebrates when a student discovers a career they didn’t know existed. And she especially loves hearing that a credential helped someone earn a promotion, negotiate a raise, or take the next step in their career.

That is the common thread running through her career, from manufacturing apprenticeships to healthcare education.  She doesn’t just ask, “How do we get someone a job?”  She asks, “How do we help someone build a career?”  In Eastern Washington, Idaho, and the rural communities she serves, that distinction can make all the difference. For Jenna McDonald, workforce development is personal. It is about creating opportunities, opening doors, and giving people the skills and confidence to walk through them.