Central Virginia Chapter

Tanya Dent is a leader in Continuous Improvement (CI) and business transformation, currently serving as a Business Transformation Lead at a major utility. She brings experience in driving change and fostering hybrid ways of working to streamline processes and improve team collaboration. Tanya is the President-Elect of the Nova Scotia Chapter and been on the board since 2017, contributing in roles ranging from Communications, Events and Operations.

At the utility, Tanya leads initiatives that integrate CI and transformation principles to address challenges with an agile “ish” perspective, optimizing processes to achieve better business outcomes. Over the last four years on the PMINS board, Tanya has introduced improvements that have unified the board into a more cohesive and efficient team, recognizing that continuous improvement never ends. She has earned her PMP and various micro-credentials in transformation and change, further solidifying her expertise in these areas.

Tanya is passionate about helping boards recognize that if they don’t take care of themselves, they cannot effectively take care of their members. Helping chapters reduce chaos, foster collaboration, and achieve improvement. Her work involves delivering conference talks, facilitating workshops, and speaking engagements that guide leaders through their unique journeys, centred on incremental improvements focusing on process and people.

 

Gordon is an independent executive consultant and Principal of Gordon Withrow & Company.

Gordon leads businesses in moving from strategy to action to realize value, with a people-first approach to getting things done, providing digital, agile, and organizational transformation leadership at scale.

Prior to his independent work, Gordon functioned over the prior 25+ years as an executive program manager with Nationwide and IBM.

He has led organizational change and business transformation with heavy IT complexity in financial services, consulting, publishing, manufacturing, and logistics organizations. 

Gordon has made his home in Dublin, Ohio for over 40 years and continues to enjoy playing basketball, gardening with his wife, music, and watching NHL hockey.

Recent activities include:

• Managing Director of Cygnus Publishing (a venture of the Grey Swan Guild)

• Gordon is a frequent host, panelist, and speaker at Grey Swan Guild Events

• Published and co-authored the book “Uncertainty” in 2023, now in its second edition (on Amazon)

• Board of Directors Member of the AI Freedom Alliance

• Advisory board member for the Kricker Innovation Hub at Shawnee State University

• Involved in the University of Houston’s Strategic Foresight Program

• Foresight expertise in Scanning Artificial Intelligence applications across industries, as well as a focus on Autonomous Vehicles and Autonomous Humanoid Robots

• A regular guest lecturer at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business

• A STEM Mentor through Maynooth University in the Republic of Ireland