Mike Pritchard knows first-hand the value of vocational education. Growing up in a working-class neighborhood in London’s East End, he entered a technical education and apprenticeship program at 16, figuring he’d follow in the footsteps of his father and uncle who worked at an automobile factory in Essex. Today, Pritchard is the Director General at the Cummins Filtration Plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, leading an operation that produces 100,000 filters a day.