Staff

Tony Gardner

Director

E-Mail: asg3n@virginia.edu

Phone: 517-614-2225

Tony Gardner is on the faculty at the University of Virginia serving as the Director of the Leadership Development program of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. He is also a principal at the Commonwealth Center for High-Performance Organizations, Inc. and directs the Charlottesville Center for High-Performance Organizations. Both are leadership and organizational development consulting entities working with executive teams in both the public and private sectors to improve organizational performance and manage large- scale organizational change. In addition to more than fourteen years consulting both in the United States and Poland, he has 26 years experience in local government management, including ten years as County Manager in Arlington County, Virginia. In this role, he led an organization-wide change effort to improve the county’s performance and introduced a number of economic development and redevelopment initiatives while managing the operations of this full-service jurisdiction. He received a B.A. from Fordham University and holds an M.A. from the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the State University of New York at Albany.

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Zinerva White

Faculty

Zin White retired as the Human Resources Development Specialist for the City of Norfolk. During his fifteen years of service, Zin was a member of the organization development team working hands-on with Norfolk’s departments to realize the city’s vision of high performance and a revitalized work culture. His motto continues to be: “We can make a difference, and it begins with me.” Zin has been a key participant of the forum on Creating High Performance Government, which fosters peer networking among lead internal change agents within local governments. He is a graduate of the Management Excellence Program. Zin’s professional career has included public school teaching, 21 years of military service, sales, consulting, public speaking and counseling. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University and the Command and General Staff College.

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Melanie Gillies

Poet and Imagineer

E-Mail: mbg4b@virginia.edu

Phone: 434-996-0641

Melanie Gillies has been involved with the Senior Executive Institute since 1986, one year after its charter program. After receiving her master’s degree, she became a full time staff member at the Center and was instrumental in the development and evolution of the LEAD program (formerly known as MEP.) Melanie is involved with the Virginia Local Government Management Association (VLGMA) and provides staff support for several of their committees and activities. Melanie attended both Colgate University and U.Va. as an undergraduate and has a master’s degree in public administration from U.Va. She grew up in Philadelphia and returned to Charlottesville after living two years in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and, prior to that, two years in France.

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Molly Harlow

SEI Program Coordinator

E-Mail: mjh3a@virginia.edu

Phone: (434) 987-0331

Molly Harlow is the program coordinator for the SEI (Senior Executive Institute) programs and the VLGMA (Virginia Local Government Association) Conferences. Molly is also a team facilitator for the LEAD and SEI programs. Molly has a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Virginia and is pursuing her master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

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Deborah Roberts

Faculty

E-Mail: ddr7a@virginia.edu

Phone: 540-421-7048

Deborah Roberts is a professor at the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. Her life’s work is about “Delivering on Democracy,” by improving government performance in a way that achieves the values of democracy. Working with both local and state clients, her specialties are executive leadership, management, emotional intelligence, facilitation, and organizational change and development. She enjoys working hands-on with local government clients on a wide gamut of topics - whether it be reinventing government, strategic visioning, future searches, or team building with councils or top management teams. She is a regular faculty member for the SEI and LEAD programs. Her projects for the Commonwealth of Virginia have focused on intergovernmental relations, government ethics, campaign reform, government efficiency and privatization, civil service reform, and relations between localities and their school districts. She is a past Director of two U.Va. graduate programs, including the Public Administration and Public Policy Program and the Mid- Career Executive Program. Deborah previously worked at the Brookings Institution and received her B.A., M.P.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University .

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Irma S. White

Faculty

Irma S. White is a program assistant for Leadership Development. Irma has nine years of diverse experience in the field of organizational development. She has served as a consultant, facilitator, and mediator in the public and private sector. Prior to becoming a consultant Irma was founder and administrator of the L&P School in Nelligen, Germany. She had an extensive career as a schoolteacher and curriculum developer in the Newport News School System, Newport News, VA, from which she retired. Irma has received many awards and accolades in the field of education. She received her B.S. in Education from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL, an M.A. in Administration and Supervision from Hampton University in Hampton, VA, and the M. Divinity and Doctorate from Beacon University in Columbus, GA. Presently she is Vice President of Zin White and Associates in Hampton, VA.

Craig Gerhart

Faculty

Craig Gerhart is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Virginia serving at the Institute of Government in the areas of leadership development and high performance organizations. He is also President of Gerhart Enterprises, Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in organizational development, performance improvement, and financial analysis. Major clients include Amtrak, the International Institute of Municipal Clerks and several municipalities and regional organizations. Prior to the formation of his consulting company, he served in local governments for 32 years, including 10 as County Executive of Prince William County, Virginia. During his tenure, the County achieved the Triple A bond rating, overall citizen satisfaction ratings of 90% or higher, and an organizational climate where 93% of county employees were proud to work for the County and saw their work as very important to the success of the community. He fostered the implementation of high performance organizational tools, developed major transportation strategies, promoted the expansion of public safety services, championed the creation of a vibrant historic preservation program, and led a multi-jurisdictional, Northern Virginia emergency response team to operate the New Orleans emergency operations center in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He received a B.A. from Juniata College in Pennsylvania and an M.P.A from George Mason University in Virginia.

Tyler St. Clair

Faculty

Tyler St.Clair provides faculty and team leader support for the SEI and LEAD programs. With extensive experience in both local and state government, she brings knowledge of practical change management strategies and specialized interventions to her work. A primary focus for Tyler is the use of a governance model that assists elected bodies in providing collective, visionary leadership. She also provides on site assistance to staff groups in strategic planning, team start up and team building, and other high performance strategies.

Felicia Logan

Facilitation, Coaching and Leadership Development

Felicia Logan’s primary work is with the International City/County Management Association located in Washington, DC where she serves as the Director of Leadership Development. She also serves as adjunct faculty to the University of Virginia Senior Executive Institute and LEAD programs 9 weeks per year, is an executive coach, a master facilitator and has expertise in strengths based leadership development for individuals, organizations and teams.

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