April 2025 Member Spotlight
Joel Millman
Interim Director – Pinal County Economic and Workforce Development Department
Where are you originally from?
Born in New Your City, raised in a small town north of the city – Pearl River.
How long have you been an AAED member?
Since 2011.
What do you enjoy most about being an AAED member?
I have been a member of the Workforce Committee for a number of years. Although I haven’t been as active in the past years, I am looking for to getting back involved.
What I really enjoyed was going through the basic economic development course. I am planning on working on my AZED Pro certification in the near future.
How did you end up in your current position?
I have always been interested in history. When I was looking at going to college, I wanted to study Russian Area history. (Both of my grandparents immigrated from Russia at the turn of last century). Then I got slapped into reality and I shifted my focus a bit. I went to ASU to pursue a degree in post-secondary education. I wanted to teach high school history. After graduating, I started working in construction. When that didn’t work out, I took a job with a non-profit in Phoenix teaching GED prep to adult learners and that led to being hired on with the Department of Economic Security before joining Pinal County in 2015.
I predominantly worked on the workforce development side of economic development. I started out as a business services representative. I talked with employers about what they needed from the workforce. I took those needs back to our jobs center and tried to sync up available talent with their needs.
When I joined Pinal County, I was fortunate to work with Tim Knaeble. He handled the economic development piece, and I handled the workforce component. When Tim’s replacement left for another opportunity, I was asked to oversee the economic development side along with the workforce side of economic development.
Working on any particularly interesting projects?
LG is a big one. We are facilitating the strictly economic development portion and we are leading an effort with their human resources staff to create a talent development plan. So when they are ready to start hiring, we have a system in place.
Then we have other situations. With Nikola shutting down their facility, we have a component called Rapid Response that aims to help people losing their jobs. Our goal is to help the community, and those employees reengage with the workforce.
What most excites you about living and working in Arizona?
Pinal County is a clean canvas and there is a lot of potential for growth. My roots will always pull me but coming here everything is new, fresh. Always moving forward. I have built some great professional relationships through working for the state and Pinal County.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I’m a passionate baseball fan. A Yankee fan from way back when. Also, I like reading history.
What’s your favorite Arizona location for a weekend trip?
We like to visit Flagstaff and Sedona. My oldest son did his undergrad at U of A. So when we went to visit him, there were a few restaurants in Tucson my wife and I really enjoyed.