Liz Finley & Chris Warland

William G. McGowan Charitable Fund

Liz Finley serves as the Program Director for RISE: Readiness In Skilled Employment, an innovative workforce development initiative intended to help people experiencing poverty access career tracks that lead to living-wage employment. From developing referral partnerships with trusted community organizations, to actively recruiting qualified applicants, Liz is passionate about expanding the program’s awareness so that every eligible participant has the opportunity to experience the transformational program our RISE partners provide.

A graduate of Penn State University, Liz holds a B.A. in communications, with a focus on marketing. She is dedicated to making a positive impact in all that she does and currently volunteers as a T-ball Coach and a member of her local Parks and Recreation Committee. She resides in Lackawanna County with her husband and two children. 

Chris Warland, Workforce Development Program Director at the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund

Chris Warland has over 20 years of experience in the field of workforce development, specializing in programmatic and systems-level employment interventions for people facing barriers to employment such as homelessness and prior incarceration. He has worked across the country as a trainer, consultant, and subject matter expert for community-based organizations, national organizations, municipal and state governments, and federal agencies. His areas of expertise include transitional and subsidized employment, public systems coordination, and embedding employment programming within community violence interventions. Much of Chris’s work has focused on making workforce initiatives and employment opportunities more accommodating for people who have experienced trauma, through program design, systems change, and policy advocacy. Chris holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago.