James R. Ladlee

Jim currently serves as Associate Director at the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, Director of Special Initiatives for the Shale Training and Education Center (ShaleTEC formerly MSETC), and as Managing Director of the Oil and Gas Leaders Institute for the Appalachian Basin. His primary program responsibilities include oil and gas shale research, community education, and natural gas economic and workforce development.

Jim co-developed and teaches an eight-hour shale exploration and development course that has enrolled nearly 1,000 participants from industry, business, government, and the public. He also coordinates the annual ShaleNet Workforce Forum which brings together schools, colleges, universities, government agencies and non-governmental organizations interested in preparing individuals for the natural gas workforce. On the research side, he co-author four shale direct workforce needs assessments, a shale economic assessment, and a policy brief on multi-well pad development trends. The first workforce assessments were downloaded in excess of 50,000 times.