Carl Van Horn, Ph.D., is the founding Director of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development and chairs Rutgers' Workforce Development Coordinating Council, a group that includes all major training and research units that are concerned with the preparation and improvement of the workforce. He is a widely recognized expert on workforce, human resources, and employment policy issues with extensive experience in public and private sector policymaking.

Dr. Van Horn is a member of Rutgers' graduate faculties of political science, management and labor relations, urban planning, and education. His credits include more than 90 articles and 14 books, including No One Left Behind: Economic Change and the American Worker and A Nation at Work: The Heldrich Guide to the American Workforce. He is a noted speaker at national and regional conferences, as well as a frequent source on labor, workforce, and economic issues for the national media.

Prior to coming to the Center, Dr. Van Horn held several senior-level positions in government and higher education, including those with policymaking responsibility. He has been Director of Policy for the State of New Jersey, Senior Economist at the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, and Chair of the Public Policy Department at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. He has advised the National Science Foundation and was appointed by President Clinton to a Presidential Emergency Board to mediate disputes between labor and management in the railroad industry.