Anker aims to help fill gap between open jobs, unemployed as Ivy Tech board chair

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Terry Anker views Ivy Tech Community College’s role in contributing to Indiana’s workforce as crucial.

Anker, a Carmel resident, was recently named chair of Ivy Tech Community College’s 15-member State Board of Trustees.

Terry Anker
Terry Anker

“There are thousands of credentialed jobs that are not getting filled, and that gap is not getting any smaller,” Anker said. “If there is anything I hope to accomplish, (it) is to help fill gaps between Hoosiers who are under- or unemployed and those employers who are desperately looking for credentialed employees to fill those jobs.”

Anker said Ivy Tech is uniquely positioned to fill the gaps, for students and employers.

The chair is a one-year term and it’s possible the board could renew it for another year. Anker was first appointed to the board by then-Gov. Mike Pence and then got re-appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb.

“The primary function of the board is as a fiduciary to make sure we are managing the state’s money and donors’ money as properly as we possibly can,” Anker said.

Anker’s first meeting as chair will be Oct. 3 at Ivy Tech’s Evansville campus.

“I grew up in a rural area between Monticello and Delphi. Most of the kids I went to high school with didn’t go on to college,” he said. “The ones that did, a lot of them went to Ivy Tech, and it had a profound, positive impact on their lives. I think now in rural Indiana, it’s become more difficult in some ways to go to college than when I went to IU 35 years ago. It’s more expensive.

“The truth is, if you can’t find access to education, it’s a pretty bleak future, so Ivy Tech has always been important around the state, and I think it’s become more important the last couple of years. It certainly is to kids that grew up like me.”’

Anker has a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech communication from Indiana University  and a law degree from the School of Law in Bloomington

The fact that students can attend Ivy Tech for $4,000 a year makes it affordable for most Hoosiers, Anker said.

“You can walk away with a credential or degree that is marketable,” he said.

Anker said many Ivy Tech students go on to attend a four-year college.

“Last year, I went to a reception for a student who went two years at Ivy Tech and then went on to Harvard,” Anker said. “He made the choice to go to Ivy Tech because of value. It was a lot less expensive for him to start at Ivy Tech.”

Anker said a Purdue study shows that a student who starts at Ivy Tech and transfers to Purdue after two years is almost 10 percent more likely to graduate than a student who starts at Purdue as a freshman.

Anker’s leadership role on the Ivy Tech State Board of Trustees continues his relationship with Ivy Tech, as he has served on the Ivy Tech Foundation Board in the past, including as its board chair.

Anker, an associate editor and founding partner of Current Publishing, LLC, is chairman of The Anker Consulting Group, Inc., Carmel, where he serves as a trusted advisor and owner for several small business startups in the retail, wholesale distribution, media, technology and service industries.

Anker’s  other business interests include CleanSlate, a leader in computer software and services, SWAN Software Solutions, a Midwestern-based online help desk (CrossConfirm), TAP Properties and The Anker Receivership Group, LLC.


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