Diana Saenz, Ph.D., has been promoted to executive director for NPower Texas, the regional office of the wider national nonprofit that delivers free tech career training to military veterans and young adults in under-served communities.
Tech roles in the Lone Star State are forecast to grow 28% over the next decade.
Groups like NPower Texas are focused on ensuring that all Texans have the opportunity to access this lucrative and expanding market.
In 2023, Dallas-Fort Worth was rated as having the sixth-highest number of tech positions in North America, with 227,640 jobs, according to Visual Capitalist. The San Francisco Bay Area came in at number one, followed by the New York Metropolitan area at 436,740 jobs and Toronto, Canada at 389,290.
“While the tech industry continues to grow and innovate, the skill sets of our current workforce don’t necessarily grow with it… The economy as we know it is becoming digitized, and we can’t leave entire groups of people at the margins. We need to expand opportunities for all — even those without college degrees or not already in a tech-based job — to gain digital skills and make tech-based jobs accessible,” says Saenz, per the Dallas Business Journal.
Saenz comes to the position with more than two decades of leadership roles in K-12 and higher education. Hailing from El Paso, she joined the organization as director of NPower Texas in Houston in 2022. In that role, she led the $3 million extension of NPower Texas’ partnership with Harris County to expand student services until the end of 2026.
Saenz says, “Harris County’s investment has been influential to NPower reaching more individuals in the Houston area.”
According to Saenz, the organization’s “future forward” focus helps students gain “competitiveness in the market. ” Instead of just drowning students in theory, NPower provides “professional development opportunities and wrap-around social support” to help students excel in the program and in the workforce.
In particular, Saenz is proud of the group’s work helping military populations in the state.
“Even without a degree, the discipline, resilience and adaptability that comes with service can make them an asset to any company,” said Saenz.