Amarillo College is planning a reset of its Innovation Outpost, shifting its focus toward shorter, customized workforce training developed directly with Amarillo-area employers.
College staff presented the new direction Tuesday to the Amarillo College Board of Regents, outlining a model designed to make the Innovation Outpost more responsive to the immediate needs of local businesses and their employees.
The Innovation Outpost opened in October 2022 with programs in cybersecurity, data analytics and web development offered through intensive courses known as sprints. Plans also included developing a robotics program.
The original concept placed a significant emphasis on helping people develop skills for emerging and changing industries. Minutes from an April 2022 Amarillo College President’s Cabinet meeting described the reskilling sprint programs as primarily focused on unemployed or underemployed people who could gain new skills to improve their employment prospects.
Denese Skinner, vice president of strategic initiatives at Amarillo College, took over leadership of the Innovation Outpost in August 2025. Since then, the college has taken a closer look at what local employers actually want from the facility.
Skinner hired David Terry, co-founder of the WT Enterprise Center, to coach the Innovation Outpost's leadership team. Skinner, Terry and Kevin Cheek, executive director of workforce training at Amarillo College, conducted more than 32 conversations with employers and other stakeholders while developing the new plan.
Those discussions pointed the college toward a more immediate approach to workforce development.
“We were way ahead of our skis the first version of the IO,” Skinner told regents. “We were way too future-oriented. And what the employers are telling us is that yes, we need to look at today. 80% needs to be, ‘What do I need for my workforce to know now to go and make an impact.’”
Under the new model, the Innovation Outpost would work directly with employers to identify skills gaps and develop training tailored to individual companies and their workers.
Terry said employers are looking for programs that can train employees over a period of weeks rather than requiring months or semesters. Businesses also want a role in developing the training they receive.
“We want to be the first call that employers make when they think of upskilling and reskilling their workforce,” Cheek said.
The Innovation Outpost plans to formalize eight to 10 employer partnerships by next September and establish feedback systems for employers and students. Customized training programs are expected to become a primary source of revenue, along with skills development funding and Texas Workforce Commission grants.
Cheek said the goal extends beyond helping businesses fill immediate workforce needs.
“It’s about that economic mobility that we create with these opportunities, helping them grow in their jobs and seeing where they go is going to be one of the most important aspects,” he said.
The college is also changing how it measures the Innovation Outpost's performance.
Terry said the leadership team adopted the Entrepreneurial Operating System, a business framework created by author Gino Wickman. The system emphasizes areas including a shared vision, measurable data, the right people, solving problems, consistent processes and regular accountability.
As part of that approach, the Innovation Outpost will track measures including revenue, training, enrollment and response times each week. Quarterly reports will also be shared with stakeholders.
“The longest that we can go is a quarter with us missing our marks,” Skinner said. “Weekly we should be able to know whether we’re hitting the marks or not.”
Skinner said the leadership team will evaluate the Innovation Outpost's progress after a year and determine whether additional employees are needed.
Regent Johnny Mize expressed support for both the new direction and the management system behind it.
“I fully endorse what you all are doing,” Mize said. “Thank you, David. Thank you, Kevin. And I think the entrepreneurial operating system is something that I think is a great application for this opportunity, and I would even ask us to be looking at that as a model for our institution on how we run our college.”
