Today my guest is Maurice Gibson, Founder and CEO of HexAdept, a systems integration firm focused on helping small and mid-market businesses connect the tools and platforms that run their operations.

Maurice brings a broad perspective to this conversation shaped by nearly two decades across education, cybersecurity, technology, workforce development, and business leadership. His experience has included building cybersecurity programs in higher education, leading security academy initiatives at Fortinet, developing cybersecurity and SaaS offerings at Wiley, and working across cyber talent development and security operations.

In this episode, we explore why cybersecurity needs to be viewed as a company culture issue rather than simply an IT responsibility, why security leaders need a seat at the table early in business decisions, and how AI is creating both new opportunities and new risks for organizations.

We also dig into cybersecurity career pathways, the role certifications and credentials still play in helping employers identify talent, and what professionals should be thinking about as more work is shared between humans and AI.

There is a lot to unpack, so let’s get into the conversation.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Maruice on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauricegibsonexec/

Learn more about HexAdaept:

https://hexadept.com/

Subscribe to Certifying the Future:

https://www.certifyingthefuture.com

Follow Certnexus on LinkedIn:

www.linkedin.com/company/certnexus

Connect with Scott on LinkedIn:

www.linkedin.com/in/scottdamico

About Certifying the Future
Certifying the Future is a podcast from CertNexus exploring how emerging technology is reshaping skills, credentials, and workforce readiness.

Interested in being a guest or recommending someone for the show? Reach out at scott.damico@logicaloperations.com.

Welcome to the first full episode of Certifying the Future from CertNexus, where emerging technology meets workforce readiness.

In this episode, Scott D’Amico speaks with Charlotte Evans of Coursera about the changing skills landscape and what employers, learning providers, and professionals should be paying attention to right now.

Charlotte shares her perspective from working with some of Coursera’s largest enterprise customers around the world and discusses how organizations are approaching upskilling and reskilling in a time of rapid technological change.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• how AI is driving demand for new technical and non-technical skills
• why AI training needs to move beyond literacy and into real workflow application
• the growing importance of critical thinking, communication, and other durable skills
• how learning is becoming more personalized, practice-based, and aligned to real-world use cases
• what Coursera is seeing around the rise of micro-credentials and skills-based validation
• what employers and professionals should be doing now to prepare for what comes next

A key takeaway from this conversation is that preparing for the future of work is not just about learning how to use AI tools. It is about understanding how those tools fit into real work, building both technical and human capability, and continuing to adapt as roles and expectations evolve.

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to Certifying the Future and leave a review to help others discover the show.

Editor's note: Updated as of June 30, 2026: Across Coursera and Udemy, learners are now enrolling in GenAI content at a rate of 45+ enrollments per minute, with 42M+ cumulative global enrollments in GenAI content to date, making GenAI the most in-demand skill in the combined company's history.

Additional Resources:

Additional Resources:

Connect with Charlotte on LinkedIn:

www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-heather-evans

Learn more about Coursera:

www.coursera.org

Subscribe to Certifying the Future:

https://www.certifyingthefuture.com

Follow CertNexus on LinkedIn:

www.linkedin.com/company/certnexus

Connect with Scott on LinkedIn:

www.linkedin.com/in/scottdamico

About Certifying the Future
Certifying the Future is a podcast from CertNexus exploring how emerging technology is reshaping skills, credentials, and workforce readiness.

Interested in being a guest or recommending someone for the show? Reach out at scott.damico@logicaloperations.com.

Welcome to Certifying the Future, a new podcast from CertNexus hosted by Scott D’Amico.

In this teaser episode, Scott introduces the show and shares the thinking behind it: technology and jobs are evolving rapidly, education and training are adapting in real time to keep pace, and the questions facing both employers and employees are only getting bigger.

This podcast is designed to explore those questions.

Through conversations with experts in emerging technology, leaders in training and education, training center operators, certification and credentialing voices, and others shaping the future of workforce readiness, Certifying the Future will examine topics such as:

• AI and emerging technology
• Cybersecurity and workforce readiness
• Skills validation, certifications, and credentials
• Training models and learning pathways
• What employers and professionals should be doing now to prepare for what’s next

Each episode will come back to a few core questions:

• What is changing?
• Why does it matter?
• And what should we be doing about it now?

If you are a business leader, learning professional, training provider, part of the credentialing ecosystem, or simply someone trying to stay ahead in a rapidly changing world, this show is for you.

Follow Certifying the Future for upcoming conversations on the future of skills, credentials, and workforce readiness.

About Certifying the Future
Certifying the Future is a podcast from CertNexus exploring how emerging technology is reshaping skills, credentials, and workforce readiness.

Interested in being a guest or recommending someone for the show? Reach out at scott.damico@logicaloperations.com.