Ashley Brooks is the Director, Workforce Development, at the Hydropower Foundation. Ashley joins the team from the U.S. Department of Energy, where she supported the Water Power Technologies Office’s workforce, STEM, community outreach, and stakeholder engagement efforts. In this role, she focused on promoting pathways to water power careers, building partnerships with the hydropower and marine energy industry, and conducting outreach to colleges and universities. She achieved success through the development and management of collegiate competitions, fellowships, innovative funding solicitations, and engagement and outreach strategies.

Ashley brings a wealth of knowledge from academia, where she led efforts in professional development, partnerships, and community building at the University of Southern California before moving on to managing executive education programs at Georgetown University. She fell in love with workforce development and engagement early on in her career while at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), where she managed system-wide employee experience and community engagement
efforts.

Ashley holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.

In her spare time, Ashley is an avid equestrian and can be found at the barn with her horse, Empress, or somewhere outdoors with her sidekick, her dog Dia.