James Henderson was recently named as the new executive director of MassHire Merrimack Valley Career Center operated by Northern Essex Community College.
He replaces Linda Rohrer, who is retiring after 40 years of workforce development, including her six years with Northern Essex and MassHire.
Henderson comes to MassHire from North Shore Community Action Programs in Peabody, where he was director of Adult Education and Workforce Development. In this position, he and his team expanded an English to Speakers of Other Languages program that serves 145 adult immigrant students and added two career training programs partnering with Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School in Danvers.
Born and raised in Northern Ohio, Henderson attended the University of Oregon as an undergraduate and spent the next 10 years living and working overseas in Japan, Portugal, Finland and the United Kingdom as a teacher and school director.
The center, with locations in Haverhill and Lawrence, provides employment and training services for youth, unemployed and under-employed adults, and laid-off workers, as well as recruitment and worker training for local companies. There are more than two dozen MassHire centers throughout the state. Northern Essex began managing the MassHire Merrimack Valley Career Center in 2017.
MassHire Merrimack Valley Career Centers serve 15 cities and towns across the region: Lawrence, Methuen, Andover, North Andover, Haverhill, Georgetown, Merrimac, Amesbury, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury, West Newbury, Rowley, Boxford and Groveland. Offices are located on the college’s Lawrence Campus, 420 Common St., and in Haverhill at The Heights, 160 Merrimack St.