Barb Clapp is CEO of Dwyer Workforce Development, an innovative non-profit whose purpose is to provide Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and Geriatric Nursing Assistant (GNA) training and entry level job positions to individuals who lack opportunity and who aspire to pursue a career in the healthcare industry. Dwyer Workforce Development provides job training, wraparound services and case management of students and handles job placements in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. Goals are set for a Dwyer Scholars work path and after reaching those goals, students will be awarded a scholarship to attend nursing school or to be trained for other healthcare careers. Barb was chosen to transition the new venture from concept to a full-scale national workforce development organization. She is leading non-profit program development, operations, strategic partnerships, marketing tactics and board development while leveraging past entrepreneurial and non-profit success to develop an immediate and sustainable market presence.
Before that, Barb was Founder and CEO of Clapp Communications, a full-service international marketing and public relations firm headquartered in Baltimore since 2001. She sold the agency December 2018. Barb is a C-Level Advisor for the Emerging Technology Centers and a sought after speaker on leadership, overcoming challenges and business strategy. She is also a Director of CFG Bank Board of Directors. A graduate of Loyola University, Barb has received awards and recognition for her CEO leadership over the years which include, most recently, Public Relations Society of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, The Daily Record’s Most Influential Marylander, Most Admired CEO, Top 100 Women, and induction into both the Circle of Leadership and Circle of Excellence.
Barb also serves on the boards of the Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Signal 13 Foundation and Maryland SPCA. A committed community advocate, she has served on The Humane Society of the United States Humane Policy Leaders, as Chair of the Maryland SPCA's March for the Animals, sponsored American Diabetes Association CEOs for Stopping Diabetes, served on the Leadership Committee for the American Heart Association and was a 2016 Alzheimer’s Association Memory Ball dancer.