Louisiana Economic Development today named Paul Helton, currently interim executive director of the state’s workforce training program FastStart, to head the program full-time.
Helton has served as the interim director since late last year when former director Jeff Lynn left for another position, according to a news release from LED, which administers state tax incentive programs for businesses.
The FastStart program analyzes companies and helps them find and train employees in soft and technical skills to fill new positions. The program has trained more than 25,000 people for more than 160 companies throughout the state in eight years, according to LED.
In 2002, Helton began working for a similar program in Georgia called Quick Start, and joined LED’s FastStart management team in 2009. Before that, Helton served in the U.S. Navy.
LED collaborates with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the Board of Regents and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System to connect workers to the program, LED Secretary Don Pierson says in a statement. Pierson adds LED conducted an “extensive search” to find the next director, and ultimately kept Helton at the helm.
“LED FastStart is a signature success within Louisiana’s comprehensive toolkit of economic development solutions,” Pierson says.
