ABOUT US

A "Cygnet" is a baby swan, the "ugly duckling" in the children's tale.  Cygnet Associates derives its name from this symbol of transformation .

Cygnet Associates is a business and workforce development consulting firm founded in 1984 by Jodie Sue Kelly and Max Elsman. 

Business and Workforce Development

Cygnet focuses on all areas of workforce development program performance, including.

Cygnet specializes in translating business and social science research, marketing principles and everyday experiences into practical, nuts-and-bolts strategies that produce measurable improvements in performance in business, welfare-to-work programs, "one-stop" career centers, community-based organizations and more.

JODIE SUE KELLY began her career in workforce development in 1976 as manager of a group home for delinquent youth in southwestern Pennsylvania. A few years later, she developed and expanded a local site for 70001 Ltd., at the time the nation's largest employment program for low-income school dropouts. 

After doubling the size of the program, she was promoted to the 70001 national office in Washington DC. In 1984 she co-founded Cygnet Associates with Max Elsman. She is the author of the handbooks, "Job Development Made (Much!) Easier" and "Keeping the Client: A Strategy for Program and Job Retention."  Her long experience and humorous touch make her a very popular trainer and speaker. 

MAX ELSMAN has been active in workforce development for nearly three decades as a workforce development and marketing consultant, Washington, DC journalist, researcher, program manager, database specialist, and public relations executive.  He co-founded Cygnet in 1984. 

He is author of the book, "First a Job, Then a Career," and the manual, "Almost a Cookbook: Quality Workforce Development Ingredients for Low-Income Americans." He has also written several policy papers for MDRC, a leading research and evaluation organization. 

For the state of Maryland, he directed a $3 million welfare-to-work demonstration project, "From the Ground Up," from 1999 to 2001.  This resulted in five consecutive years of job placement and average wage increases and reduction in TANF caseloads.