Bridgett Strickler
Bridgett Strickler is a nationally recognized, adult learner champion.
Bridgett has played a key role in launching adult learner engagement campaigns across the country, partnering with state and regional leaders to stand up and support large-scale initiatives in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Washington. Her work has helped connect tens of thousands of adults to education pathways and workforce opportunities that align with their goals.
In November 2025, Bridgett will take the TEDx stage in New York City at TEDxWomen to deliver a talk on “The Moment of Decision” exploring the neuroscience, emotion, and identity shifts behind adult learners' choice to return to school. Through her storytelling work, she is helping bring visibility and dignity to adult learners by sharing their powerful comeback stories and spotlighting the barriers and breakthroughs on the road to education and career transformation.
She currently serves as Vice President, Adult Learner Engagement and Impact at the newly launched national-nonprofit, the Center for Academic Innovation.
She previously was Vice President of Coalition Strategy at the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), where she lead CAEL’s long-standing national partnerships with the energy and telecommunications sectors through the Energy Providers Coalition for Education (EPCE) and the National Alliance for Communications Technology, Education and Learning (NACTEL). In that role, she developed and advanced scalable workforce-education strategies to drive economic mobility for adult learners and incumbent workers.
Prior to her role at CAEL, she served as Chief Strategy Officer at The Graduate! Network (TGN), where she co-created employer engagement strategies that reached nearly 4,000 businesses and over 6,000 workers nationwide. She also led research, learning, and impact efforts that helped shift the narrative around adult learners and their potential.
Bridgett holds both an MBA and a Master’s in the Art of Teaching. She is available for keynote speaking, storytelling workshops, and strategic advising on topics including:
- Adult learners and comeback stories
- Employer-education partnerships
- Incumbent worker upskilling
- The “Moment of Decision” - how adult learners RISE
- Storytelling for advocacy and stakeholder engagement
