CloudWise Academy

2026 Education to Employment SummitFirst Tennessee Development District · Bristol Train Station · August 26, 2026

cloudwiseacademy.com joe@cloudwiseacademy.com (423) 773-9874

Our Purpose

100% Workforce Participation

Northeast Tennessee + AI

Unlocks Limitless
Talent & Potential

“The question isn’t whether AI will change the world—it’s whether we’ll change with it.”

— Joe McKenna

Every wave of new technology dictates the economics and livability of our community.

Seven waves of technology lead to artificial intelligence, where the region's path forks: be changed by it, or drive the change through 2030 1800s STEAM 1850s RAIL 1900s ELECTRICITY 1920s AUTOMOBILE 1980s COMPUTERS 1990s INTERNET 2000s MOBILE DRIVE THE CHANGE BY 2030 ? BE CHANGED BY IT NOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

This is not coming. It has already started.

42,000+

Northeast Tennessee jobs already highly impacted by AI today.

Observed AI usage data — not a theoretical projection.

No experience, no work. No work, no experience.

Learning and employment stand on opposite banks with nothing spanning the experience gap between them LEARNING EMPLOYMENT THE EXPERIENCE GAP
school
“You work for no money for a good while before you can work to get paid.”
Recent graduate
business_center
“We need to get the job done, not train students.”
Employer

We build outcomes-based training that carries students from learning into real work.

CloudWise Academy

We create the training and the courses. So every teacher can teach the way they teach best, and every student can learn the way they learn best.

A span built by CloudWise Academy carries learning across to employment, held up by students, educators, and companies LEARNING EMPLOYMENT STUDENTS EDUCATORS COMPANIES

Economic Development Engine

When every part works together, training becomes real work, real work builds trusted skills, and company data drives regional growth.

MarketPower™ Training

Businesses and students apply the MarketPower™ strategy together, turning each lesson into practical work that produces measurable growth for the company.

MarketPower course materials

It’s working. Here is the record.

$3.4Mgrowth generated
600+people trained
16paid interns
6counties connected
Meet the interns

What it did for local business

Lew Kizer of Smash Meals

Lew Kizer · Smash Meals

“It is 100% responsible for our 49% growth this year.”

49% growth · no ad spend

Laura Beth Jenks of ProCompounding

Laura Beth Jenks · ProCompounding

“We increased revenue by $3 million—and built the capacity to grow ten times beyond that.”

$3M revenue · built in house

Courses and classrooms built

East Tennessee State 3 AI marketing courses · 1 dual-enrollment course · Student AI Marketing Agency
Tusculum University 2 courses · AI in Business minor · Tusculum AI Training Hub
Jeremiah School 6 job-ready courses — Algebra I & II, World History, U.S. History, Chemistry, Biology · 37 laptops provided · AI Training Lab
UVA Wise AI Bootcamp · 54 educators trained
Erwin · Unicoi County AI Training Studio established · 100 residents trained

Let’s bridge the gap together.

Thank you — 2026 Education to Employment Summit