A request for training is rarely a training problem.
It is usually a question of what the work actually is, what outcome the leader is trying to reach, and what is standing in the way of it today. Answering that well is most of the job.
Fifteen years in learning, talent, and organizational effectiveness across manufacturing, logistics, retail, and healthcare. Most recently Director of Learning & Development at Rehrig Pacific, reporting to the Chief Human Capital Officer.
Nashville, Tennessee
Focus
Building the systems and the people at the same time.
Organizational effectiveness
Diagnosis and design, operating models, governance, executive advisory, and change enablement.
Talent strategy and readiness
Succession and bench strength, talent calibration, career and job architecture, levels of work.
Leadership and manager capability
Leadership curricula, manager practice, coaching, onboarding, and time to productivity.
Director, Learning & Development · Reported to the Chief Human Capital Officer
Built the learning function into an enterprise organizational capability partner serving every manager and above, plant floor through C-suite, across approximately 48 sites, 17 plants, and 300 corporate managers. Established the operating model, governance, first annual operating budget, and frontline integration. Presented future-state capability strategy to the full C-suite and held a standing seat in quarterly business meetings with the business presidents.
2021 – 2023
Bridgestone Americas
Senior Inclusion Business Partner, Culture & Engagement
Advised leadership teams across North America, Latin America, and Canada as an embedded culture and organizational consultant, establishing OKRs, quarterly governance reviews, and accountability rhythms tied to business plans. Created Leading with Empathy. Co-led the enterprise employee resource group program and analyzed engagement and workforce data in Qualtrics, Korn Ferry, and Tableau.
2019 – 2021
Bridgestone Americas
Manager, Training & Development
Implemented Workday Learning across a population of more than 10,000 employees and led the migration from SuccessFactors, owning learner enablement, communications, go-live readiness, and reporting. Co-created SHIFT, an enterprise leadership agility program for leaders navigating change.
2017 – 2019
CareHere, LLC
Talent Development Manager
Owned talent development and learning systems for a distributed clinical and leadership workforce, building onboarding, compliance, HIPAA, safety, and operational capability alongside clinical and operations leaders.
2011 – 2017
Journeys / Genesco
Senior Training Coordinator · promoted from Instructional Designer
Led platform selection and enterprise rollout of the learning system across more than 800 stores and 1,700 employees. Built sales enablement capability around a six-step selling process and created a week-long District Manager in Training certification.
Selected impact
What the work produced.
50 → 60%
90-day retention in a pilot cohort, following an onboarding and early-tenure redesign
$250K+
Reduction in annual external spend through insourcing and internal capability
10,000+
Employee population moved onto Workday Learning
800+
Retail locations reaching full adoption within six months of go-live
+10 pts
Patient satisfaction, tied to communication capability built with clinical leaders
6 → 3 mo
Build time on a piloted program using AI-assisted design, with human review retained
Original work
Frameworks built and taught.
Leading with Empathy
An original leadership framework and facilitated session series built at Bridgestone Americas, anchored in a three-part practice: acknowledge the concern, affirm the person, advocate toward resources. It became part of the enterprise self-guided learning path on empathy.
Green Box
A sales capability development framework built at Rehrig Pacific. Deliberately not pass or fail. The leader models the scenario first, and imperfectly, to establish psychological safety. Five capability areas, four proficiency stages, and a five-phase progression from baseline through peer-to-peer practice.
Endorsement
“Stephanie worked on my team at Bridgestone and was amazing, with a strong work ethic and strong capabilities.”
Susie Long — Chief Human Resources Officer, Sun Auto
Credentials
Education, assessment, and certification.
Education
Master of Science, Management and Organizational LeadershipTrevecca Nazarene University
Bachelor of Business Administration, Business Information Systems and EducationTennessee State University
Assessment and facilitation
Korn Ferry Architect 360 & Leadership 360Multi-rater feedback, synthesis, and development planning
DISC Behavior AnalystBehavioral insight for communication and coaching
Activity Vector Analysis (AVA)Behavioral profiling for role fit and workplace drivers
