Eric Feldborg has had a less traditional route to the State CTE Director position in New Hampshire. Beginning his career as a process and product engineer, he then transitioned into building custom furniture, all the while serving as a skiing instructor on the winter weekends. Eventually, Feldborg recognized his love of teaching and decided to make a career of it by becoming a science teacher. Feldborg ended up spending 15 years teaching, eight of which were at a competency-based school. In the process of getting recertified, Feldborg began taking graduate courses and became more deeply interested in education leadership and the social sciences, eventually earning a doctorate of education from Plymouth State University.
While working on his dissertation, Feldborg reached out to the commissioner of education in the state who steered Feldborg towards an innovative project at one of the state’s Career Technical Education (CTE) centers. His research focused on how unplanned strategies emerge in complex systems undergoing transformational change. After earning his doctorate, he continued serving as the Outreach Administrator at Great Bay eLearning Charter School, then moved to the New Hampshire Department of Education. Before assuming his current role, he served as the state’s STEM Director for six months.
As State CTE Director, Feldborg hopes to serve as a facilitator and help create a more cohesive system among state leaders across the education and workforce sectors. Additionally, he wants to refine the monitoring process at the local level to ensure it is seamless and productive. Over the next year, Feldborg plans to learn the ins and outs of the requirements and determine how schools can focus on improving CTE at its core.
Katie Fitzgerald, Communications Associate