President and Executive Director

Peter A. Creticos is President and Executive Director of the Institute for Work and the Economy. He is a visiting fellow at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame and an adjunct faculty member at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Master's of Public Administration Program. He also the principal of Peter A. Creticos, LTD., a policy consultancy. He was until 2007 a Senior Research Associate at Northern Illinois University Outreach. Prior to establishing the Institute in August 2000, Mr. Creticos served as the Vice President for the Midwest Regional Office of the National Alliance of Business (NAB) in Chicago, Illinois. His work at NAB focused on the development of a workforce system that is employer-demand driven while affording individuals opportunities to achieve their personal aspirations. The NAB was the nation's leading business-led organization working exclusively on workforce development and education reform.

Mr. Creticos joined the National Alliance of Business in September 1997 after working for nearly four years at the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce where he was responsible for development of a skills-based job matching system for the Internet. He also was President of the for-profit subsidiary, Center for Business Management. Prior to joining the Chamber, Mr. Creticos was self-employed, consulting on economic and community development matters and conducting research on workforce issues. He began his career in state government, first at the Council of State Governments and later as the lead staff on economic and workforce development for the Illinois State Senate President.

Mr. Creticos has a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management Science from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Northwestern University. He also has a Master of Management at Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Management, a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Missouri at St. Louis and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis. Mr. Creticos was a Coro Foundation Fellow in St. Louis. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Workforce Board.

Peter Creticos may be reached by e-mail at: creticos [at] workandeconomy [dot] org.

Research Associate

Robyn DeMartini Souza is a Research Associate at the Institute for Work and the Economy. During 2007 and 2008, Ms. Souza was Assistant Producer of Insight, a live, daily public affairs radio show on  Capital Public Radio, KXJZ, Sacramento, California's NPR-affiliated station. From 1997 through 2006, Ms. Souza was Director of Product Development and later, Managing Editor, for the California Chamber of Commerce, where she was responsible for the Chamber's labor and employment publications, its legal resource website, and other Chamber publications. During 1995-1997, Ms. Souza was the Operations Manager at the Illinois Chamber of Commerce where she was responsible for producing similar publications for Illinois businesses.

Ms. Souza received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Santa Clara University and was engaged in a concentrated studies program in Italian language, art history and architecture at Loyola University's Rome Center.

Ms. Souza may be contacted at souza [at] workandeconomy [dot] org.