The Executive Appeal with Alex D. Tremble

Ms. Amy Purnell is a Brooklyn, New York native. Raised in a single-parent household, her mom moved the family to Florida during her teenage years to provide Ms. Purnell and her two younger siblings with a better life.  There, she continued her education and graduated from high school in Orlando. Ms. Purnell holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Jackson State University and M.B.A. from Strayer University. Ms. Amy Purnell started her professional career in the insurance industry. She was recruited by State Farm Insurance during her senior year of college. During her 12 years with the company, she worked in various offices and held multiple positions. In 2013, Ms. Purnell changed career paths and became a federal employee. She currently supports the Department of Defense, excelling in her career as a Financial Analyst. In addition to working for the federal government, she also serves on the Fairfax County Tenant-Landlord Board of Commission, is a treasurer for the National Black MBA Association, Greater Maryland Chapter, and an Alexandria City Public Schools substitute teacher.  Leadership is a journey, not a destination. As Ms. Purnell continues her journey, she focuses on building relationships with other great leaders and leveraging their influence as pipelines of opportunities for underrepresented groups (single parents, recent college graduates, etc.). Cultivating a culture of change for equitable opportunities both professionally and personally will always remain on the forefront for Ms. Purnell as an advocate, new parent, and transformation leader!

MYSHEIKA W. ROBERTS, MD, MPHHealth CommissionerColumbus Public Health is working to protect the health and improve the lives of all residents by addressing our community’s most critical public health issues such as infant mortality, the opioid epidemic, tobacco use and obesity. Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika W. Roberts leads the organization and a team of nearly 500 public health professionals who are focused on neighborhood-based approaches that address the social determinants of health from safe, affordable housing and education to jobs and violent crime in order to decrease the health disparities that exist.Dr. Roberts has a prolific 18-year public health background at the local, state and national levels. Prior to her appointment as Health Commissioner in December 2017, she was the Medical Director and Assistant Health Commissioner at Columbus Public Health. She also built a solid foundation in public health early in her career by investigating outbreaks in Ohio for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and leading an STD clinic and hepatitis prevention efforts at the Baltimore City Health Department. Dr. Roberts extends her service to the community beyond the walls of Columbus Public Health where she is active on the boards of the Columbus Medical Association Foundation and the YWCA of Columbus, as well as the Lifeline of Ohio Minority Advisory Group and OhioHealth’s Faith, Culture and Community Benefit Committee. She also serves as a mentor in OhioHealth’s Physician Diversity Scholars Program.She earned her MD from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and her MPH from the University of Michigan. A native of Los Angeles, she now calls Columbus home and enjoys spending down time with her husband Edward and their dogs Cosby and Rudy.

Nominate yourself or another federal employees for the 2021 Unsung Heroes of Federal Service awards at www.waepa.org/PSRW Carmen is an organizational heretic and all-purpose troublemaker whose only real expertise is asking stupid questions and noticing odd, new things that might amount to something…or maybe not. Carmen spent 32 years at CIA but when you meet her you will hardly notice. The top five skills that people on LinkedIn endorse her for are strategy, analysis, leadership, national security, and government, FWIW. She is the co-author of the new book: Rebels At Work: A Handbook for Leading Change from Within, which was informed by her career as a heretic at the CIA. She likes to speak in public and will go just about anywhere if you pay her expenses. She is an in-demand expert on critical thinking, diversity of thought, and intrapreneurship, speaking to Fortune 500 companies, major non-profits, and governments. Some of her most recent presentations include speaking at South by Southwest 2019 and TEDxMidAtlantic on Surviving as a Change Agent, at SXSW2018 on avoiding the Mediocrity Trap, and on Critical Thinking at SXSW 2017. Recently she has spoken: to US Treasury officers on Diversity of Thought; to Canadian Federal senior executives about Diversity of Thought and Rebel Thinking, to the California STEM Education conference 2020, at the Business Innovation Factory 2017, and multiple times at GovLoop’s NextGen Leadership summit. If you’re interested in more serious career details, read this paragraph. From 2005-2007 Carmen was part of the executive team that led the CIA's Analysis Directorate; in her last assignment before retiring she began the CIA's Lessons Learned program and led the Agency’s first effort to address the challenges posed by social networks, digital ubiquity, and the emerging culture of collaboration. She was a leader on diversity issues at the CIA, serving on equity boards at all organizational levels and across Directorates. She was the first CIA executive to conceptualize many IT applications now used by analysts, including online production, collaborative tools, and Intellipedia, a project she personally green-lighted; as a senior executive, she began using in 2005 social networking and blogs to reach her diverse workforce. Upon her retirement from CIA, she received the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal. From 2011—2015, Carmen was a member of Deloitte Federal Consulting where she served as senior advisor and mentor to Deloitte's flagship innovation program, GovLab, and sponsored research projects on Bitcoin, Millennials, and the impact of the Internet of Things on government. Carmen describes herself as Puerto Rican by birth and Texan by nationality. She likes to garden and cook things that she has grown. She has an extensive collection of Karaoke songs and you are always in danger of becoming the after-dinner entertainment. You can follow her on Twitter @milouness and visit her two blogs: recoveringfed.com and rebelsatwork.com.

David Smith, PhD, is co-author of the book, Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace and Associate Professor of Sociology in the College of Leadership and Ethics at the U.S. Naval War College. A former Navy pilot, Dr. Smith led diverse organizations of women and men culminating in command of a squadron in combat and flew more than 3,000 hours over 30 years including combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a sociologist trained in military sociology and social psychology, he focuses his research in gender, work, and family issues including gender bias in performance evaluations, dual career families, military families, women in the military, and retention of women. He is the co-author of Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women and numerous journal articles and book chapters that focus on gender and the workplace. Learn more about David at: workplaceallies.com

Please share your thoughts about this interview at http://alextremble.com/?p=298M. Shane Canfield brings more than 25 years of experience in insurance and non-profit leadership to WAEPA.Shane came to WAEPA in 2016 and served previously as Executive Director of the Council on Employee Benefits. He has spent most of his career in the pooled-risk group/affinity insurance industry. In his role as WAEPA CEO, Shane is responsible for strategic planning and leadership, managing stakeholder relationships, and serving our Board of Directors in organizational oversight. With extensive experience in coalition building, government relations, and reporting to Boards, Shane leads WAEPA by consistently prioritizing member satisfaction, membership growth, and retention. He earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from George Mason University, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Washington Adventist University, and is a board member for the Council of HR Management Associations, member of LIMRA, PIMA, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP), and is a past board member of the ASAE Business Services Inc. Additionally, Shane holds various certifications, including CEBS, RHU, CAE, SPHR, and SHRM-SCP.

Share your reaction to this interview at http://alextremble.com/?p=300About Holly Hughson:Having worked for almost two decades in high-stakes crisis response, humanitarian action and civil-military coordination, my expertise is building teams and leadership capability in extreme environments. I am a writer and international speaker and my consulting expertise is built on the foundation of a deep understanding of human dynamics and complex systems.​The experience of working unarmed in some of the most insecure locations on the planet has a way of honing a key skillset. This has direct application for leaders, teams and organizations facing existential crises where approaches that may have been effective in earlier, less complex and less distributed environments no longer reliably work.  Working on the frontline of 21st century conflict, I have seen first hand, the disruption to20th century norms of security, power, profession and identity. From a broad and unique witness, operating both as an unarmed aid worker and military advisor in some of the most complex conflicts of the 21st century, I have honed the art of connecting at all levels of power.  My comfort is navigating uncertainty, building trust in times of insecurity and assessing organizational performance in uncharted territory. My approach is not to replace the client’s need to think critically and but to encourage them to own the process and pace of implementation.    The challenges are the ground of opportunity: leadership and culture empowered by intuitive adaptability.  ​My work experience by country: Afghanistan, Denmark, Ghana, Hungary, Iraq, Italy, Kosovo, Macedonia, Russian Federation, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Geoff is a 30-year career Coast Guard veteran where he held two commands, led the Performance Excellence Program, chaired the Commandant’s Innovation Council, and served as the first CG/DHS Fellow at the Homeland Security Institute. As an Excellence in Government (EIG) Senior Fellow, EIG co-coach and Partnership for Public Service Leadership Alumni Board member (18 years, two as Chair), he has led several workshops on leading change “from the middle.” Geoff recently launched his first leadership book, Unauthorized Progress – Leading ‘from the Middle’: Stories and Proven Strategies for Making Meaningful Impacts on this topic which he often speaks and writes about. Unauthorized Progress was a #1 Best-Seller in two Kindle eBook categories and the #1 New Release in four Amazon/Kindle categories. He currently serves as a senior faculty member teaching leadership for a federal agency. Geoff holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (Thesis: Improving Organizational Performance Through Innovation and Empowering the Workforce) and earned two MIT engineering graduate degrees. A Professional Engineer, Geoff served as a national director of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and is a founding director of MIT’s Military Alumni Association. Military awards include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal (4) and CG Commendation Medal (2); other honors include the EIG Senior Fellows Community Award, Analytic Services’ Platt Award for Authors, SEC’s Veterans Charity Award, and SAME’s Academy of Fellows. 

Dr. Joynicole Martinez is CEO of The Alchemist Agency, a management consulting firm serving leading executives, corporations, and organizations. Dr. Martinez has over 20 years of experience providing capacity-building services, including strategic planning and organizational design with a focus on leadership and executive training and coaching, performance and change management, fund development and impact measurement.  In addition to her extensive work in the healthcare industry in compliance, patient experience, interoperability, multidisciplinary team building, diversity & inclusion training, and board development, Joynicole has developed projects and garnered funding for initiatives that reach across the housing and education industries to strengthen population health and wellness. Her grant writing has won millions of dollars toward advancing the community serving missions of her clients.  Dr. Martinez is an award winning speaker and trainer and has presented at numerous local, state, and federal conferences. Her list of clients includes the Health Care Compliance Association, Microsoft Corporation, Wells Fargo, Women Economic Forum, Ritz Paris, North Carolina Association of Certified Professional Accountants, Ellevate, NASDAQ, Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, American Veterans Association, and Women Influence Community. Joynicole has trained executives across North and South America and in the United Kingdom, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Russia, United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean. As a champion for equity and social justice, Dr. Martinez serves as the Director of Research for the World Woman Foundation and the Jordan Institute for Leadership and Social Justice. Dr. Martinez is a featured member on SheSource, an online brain trust of female experts on diverse topics designed to serve journalists, producers, and booking agents. She is an inaugural member of the Peace50 (P50) Community, an engagement group that proposes policy recommendations related to peace. As contributor to the invitation only Forbes Coaches Council, she provides expert advice on leadership, management, and business innovation. Dr. Martinez serves as the United States Chair for Housing and Development for the All Ladies League (India), is the US Ambassador for Diplomatic World Magazine and is a staff contributor to North Carolina’s oldest minority owned newspaper, The Carolinian. 

René Redwood, CEO of Redwood Enterprise LLC, directs initiatives resulting in judicial, legislative, commercial, and political wins for public and private sector organizations, and non-profit organizations. For over 25 years, she has led strategic initiatives on equity and fairness, facilitated discourse on the business advantage of diversity, promotes policies and practices that value the human resource as an asset, and applied research and experience that offer solutions to reduce risk from and in organizational cultures. Redwood Enterprise provides services that mitigate barriers to inclusion; foster cultures to enhance performance in the workplace and respectful presence in markets or community; improve workforce and customer satisfaction; and promote measures for organizational accountability and societal impact. The Redwood Enterprise proven systems and methodologies transform workspaces and communities by building and restoring trust with internal customers and external constituents. Ms. Redwood has been recognized for her expertise in cultural change; leadership development; strategic plans for racial justice, gender equity, addressing and preventing sexual harassment; and the impact of unconscious and systemic bias on individual and institutional success. She is often described as smart, strategic and energetic, and has been featured in Time Magazine, Elle, Essence Magazine, Black Enterprise, American Editor, etc. Ms. Redwood moved from chemist to thought leader through her executive leadership for a prominent polling and research firm; the Presidential Glass Ceiling Commission (Civil Rights Act of 1991, Title II); a coalition of leading legal defense organizations; congressional district offices; and political operations for a national party. She served on a court appointed Task Force to oversee a Fortune 100 corporation’s compliance with a historic discrimination settlement agreement, rang the closing bell at NASDAQ as SME on business case for gender parity, and currently chairs the Equality Task Force for a security agency. René Redwood has been honored as a Freedom’s Sister for "continuing the legacy of African American women for courageous, spirited trailblazing that has helped to shape our country" by Ford Motor Company Fund and Smithsonian Institute, and received the “Women-Owned Business, Servant Leadership Award”. She serves on the Investment Committee for Ms. Foundation for Women; Advisory Board of Women in Technology International; Board Chair Emeritus of NARAL Pro-Choice America; the Advisory Board for the WNBA Washington Mystics; and on the Congressional Black Caucus Scholarship Committee for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Mr. Brailsford is co-founder and CEO of Brailsford & Dunlavey. He is nationally recognized for his innovation in the application of market and financial analysis to the programming and development of auxiliary facilities in higher education—such as student housing, campus unions, and recreation—as well as intercollegiate and professional sport facilities, and recreation and entertainment venues. He has provided planning and management services for hundreds of clients.Initially known for his unique quantitative approaches, over the years Mr. Brailsford shared his experiences and ideas in dozens of articles and workshops, and at national conferences and symposia including Society of College & University Planners, Harvard Graduate School of Design, National Association of College & University Business Officers, Athletic Business, National Intramural Recreational Sports Association, National Association of Collegiate Auxiliary Services, Association of College & University Housing Officers-International, and Council for Urban Economic Development.Today, Mr. Brailsford is focused on institutional strategy and operational efficiency for colleges and universities. He spends most of his time innovating, so the firm’s methodology remains fresh. Still engaged in his work, though, and always dedicated to mentoring staff throughout the firm—including B&D’s more senior advisors—Mr. Brailsford keeps his hand in about four to six projects at a time. He greatly enjoys working on the more complex, cutting-edge projects, and working with long-standing clients—including those who have been working with B&D for decades now.