About
A History of Expertise
The Employment & Training Reporter began in 1969 as The Manpower Information Service, under the leadership of the late Stanley H. Ruttenberg. Ruttenberg was an economist who worked as a policy analyst for the AFL-CIO and served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, ultimately as the assistant secretary for manpower. The publication was originally produced in partnership with the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
For more than 20 years, MII Publications and The Employment & Training Reporter operated under the editorial and administrative direction of former publisher Cecilio J. Morales, a long-time journalist who joined the company as a reporter in 1984. Morales became executive editor in 1989 and led the company through ownership changes and its separation from BNA in the years to come. He took over as publisher in June 1997.
The leaders of The Employment & Training Reporter and MII Publications have aimed to maintain a reputation for fair, authoritative and in-depth reporting worthy of being the journal of record in the public workforce development field. Specialty publications in the company's past included Welfare to Work and School to Work, both of which were merged into the flagship journal.
Experience at the Helm
Executive editor and publisher Ryan Hess joined MII Publications in 2002, beginning a specialization in reporting on workforce development programs and policies. He was named senior editor in 2006 and over several years took on full responsibility for the editorial direction of the company's leading news journal, The Employment & Training Reporter. Hess assumed leadership of the publishing company in December 2017 after three years of what could be called an informal apprenticeship in business administration.
His editorial philosophy is grounded in explaining what new developments mean for both workforce development professionals and the jobseekers and employers on their doorsteps. He also believes strongly in looking past programmatic silos to capture a better picture of the field as a whole. Hess began his career as a general assignment and municipal beat reporter for The Intelligencer and The Express-Times, leading local newspapers in southeastern Pennsylvania. Working in local news, he reported on the complex machinery of public school districts, jointly managed regional technical schools and community college districts. He also first witnessed state and federal policies taking effect at the local level. He has a degree in journalism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.