Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Sonia M. Alvarez-Robinson is an accomplished leader in the fields of strategy, innovation, culture, leadership, and resilience. With over 25 years of experience, she has led major organizational improvement initiatives on a global scale across government, corporate, healthcare, and higher education organizations.

Prior to Georgia Tech, Dr. Alvarez-Robinson was a director at PwC where she helped companies around the world successfully implement new technologies, improve operations, and pursue new strategies. Earlier in her career Sonia led strategy for the Georgia Division of Public Health, served as an internal consultant for the Georgia Department of Human Resources, was director of distance communication and learning for the Minnesota Department of Public Health, served as an HR business partner for Cummins Power Generation, led diversity and inclusion for the Minnesota Department of Health, was State Recruiter for the Minnesota Department of Employee Relations, and was an equal employment opportunity counselor for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Sonia earned her PhD in Human and Organizational Systems with a focus on culture and leadership. She holds master’s degrees in human development and organizational systems and a bachelor of arts in human resource management. She earned certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and was previously a certified mediator with the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In addition to her professional roles, Dr. Alvarez-Robinson is an experienced educator. She taught academic writing at the Morehouse School of Medicine and now teaches a course at Georgia Tech she co-developed on building personal and organizational resilience. This course has been effective in equipping students with skills and strategies to navigate adversity and change.

Dr. Alvarez-Robinson is also an accomplished author and speaker, with published works in various journals and magazines on topics including workplace diversity, resilience, and strategic planning. She has delivered workshops and seminars for public and private colleges, corporations, and professional associations, sharing her expertise on strategic business management, leveraging a diverse workforce, and building resilient organizations.

Juana is a Senior Director for Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting. She delivers services in organizational assessment and effectiveness, strategic planning, and business practice improvement. Her experience is in helping academic, research, and administrative unit leaders diagnose and address organizational challenges, improve organizational structures and processes, and develop and implement their strategic plans. Prior to joining Georgia Tech in 2002, Juana conducted business and service audits and analysis for the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority Office of the Inspector General. Juana has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from the University of Richmond and a Master of Public Administration degree in public and nonprofit management and policy from New York University. She is a Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) and a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

Dr. Andrew Eichel is a Senior Managing Strategy Consultant for Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting, with over 12 years of experience in higher education as faculty, administrator, and consultant. Dr. Eichel currently supports institutional priorities by providing strategic advising & development as well as subject matter expertise.

Prior to his work with GTSC, Dr. Eichel helped launch the National Institute for Student Success, a first-of-its-kind enrollment management consulting unit at Georgia State University. While at the NISS, Dr. Eichel helped devise the unit’s strategy, services, and organizational structure & processes.

After completing his PhD in English at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2016, Dr. Eichel’s first position at Georgia Tech was as a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. After teaching literature and writing for 2 years, Dr. Eichel worked as an Academic Coach in the Office of Undergraduate Education.

Dr. Eichel puts a lot of time and energy into his hobbies and enjoys exercising, writing, baking, DIY projects, and spoiling his somewhat over-sized tabby cat. He has been lucky enough to have spent a significant part of his life living and working overseas, with 3 years in Turkey and 1 year in South Korea.

Byron is an accomplished leader, strategist, and community builder with over 15 years of experience in providing organizational development, employee engagement, change management, and strategic planning solutions among top Fortune 500, government, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations. As Strategic Consulting Director within Georgia Tech, he serves as a trusted advisor and partner with Institute executive leaders to design and implement strategic priorities, strengthen the culture, improve processes, optimize structures, and manage change. Through his leadership and enterprise-level impact over the past six years, Byron has been instrumental in building “authentic” community and fostering a greater sense of belonging, inclusion, and well-being among the thousands of students, faculty, and staff that comprise Georgia Tech.

Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Byron worked for Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in strategic operations and for several years in various management consulting roles for The Hackett Group and Gallup Consulting. Byron holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Georgia State University. He is a certified executive coach, certified change management practitioner, certified DiSC workplace facilitator, and designated culture champion and changemaker through Georgia’s Tech Inclusive Leader’s Academy. Byron is also a proud INROADS alumnus, Board Member within the Network for Change and Continuous Innovation (NCCI), and most recently served as Vice President of the GSU Young Alumni Council (YAC).

Karla leads in the areas of resource management and external partner engagement on a team of highly skilled consultants that drive organizational improvements across the Georgia Tech campus. The results of these efforts are returned to the Institute in the form of capital that is redirected to student focused instruction, research and supporting infrastructure.

Karla came to Georgia Tech in 2012 as a Sr. Application Support Analyst in Business Services.  She quickly progressed, moving to the campus card operation in 2014 as a Technical Services Manager, then was promoted to Sr. Information Technology Service Delivery Manager, providing an expertise that bridged the gap between operations and technology.

Prior to coming to Strategic Consulting, Karla served as Director of BuzzCard, providing technology vision, strategic plan­ning, and overall leadership for the campus card program and all supporting technologies.  With more than 25 -years experience as an information technology professional, she has worked in multiple industries including management consulting, manufacturing, K-12 and higher education. Karla holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Howard University and a Master of Science degree in Instructional Technologies.

Outside of work, Karla enjoys spending time with her family, helping others discover their family history through genealogy research and advocating for the rights of farmers of color.

Haris recently joined GTSC as a Strategic Consultant, where he will utilize his experience to support various teams and projects in advancing Georgia Tech's institutional priorities. He holds a Ph.D. in English with a concentration in Rhetoric & Composition from Georgia State University (GSU). His doctoral research focused on English educational policy in Turkey, a country to which he maintains a strong personal and professional connection. Haris also obtained a B.S. degree in Economics from GSU and an M.S. in Financial Planning, Housing, and Consumer Economics (FHCE) from the University of Georgia.

Prior to joining GTSC, Haris played a vital role at the Office of the V.P. for Student Success at GSU, contributing to the innovative Chatbot team. In this capacity, he effectively utilized text-based nudges to enhance progression, retention, and graduation outcomes for low-income and first-generation college students. Haris further demonstrated his commitment to collaborative efforts and positive change in higher education as an ambassador to GSU for the University Innovation Alliance (UIA).

Haris is thrilled to become a part of the GTSC family and is eager to bring significant value to the entire Georgia Tech community.

Samuel is a consultant for Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting with a primary focus on strategy development. He brings experience in process improvement, data analysis, and quality management. Prior to joining Georgia Tech in March 2020, Samuel worked in higher education and the private healthcare industry. He held responsibility for driving the quality and continuous improvement program across multiple departments and partnered with leadership to reduce complexity, and produce change.

Samuel holds a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Georgia State University and is certified in Lean Six Sigma- White Belt.

As a Program and Portfolio Manager for Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting, Tanika manages specific portfolios of priority projects such as Library Next by organizing, mobilizing, facilitating and developing program and project managers in specific units of the institute. She works with unit leadership and Program/ project managers to help them drive consistency and communication across the portfolio and to advance their goals, timelines, resource requirements, interdependencies, risks, and other key project variables.

Most recently she worked at Acuity Brands Lighting where she held a number of progressively responsible roles.  As Senior Manager of Project Services, she managed a multitude of domestic and international strategic initiatives, cross functional process improvements and was responsible for product development and portfolio management processes, training and metrics. 

She holds a Masters of Business Administration- Marketing degree from Regent University and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in International Business from Howard University. Tanika brings 10 years of strong project, program, and portfolio management experience and PMP, NPDP, and Six Sigma Black Belt certifications.  

Kendra is an associate strategy consultant for Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting and will primarily focus on organizational culture and leadership development initiatives.  She has over 10 years of higher education experience in a variety of capacities including career services, academic advising, athletic administration, and sponsored research project management. Prior to joining GTSC in 2022, Kendra worked in program management for the NSF-funded center, the South Big Data Regional Innovation Hub in GT’s Institute for Data Engineering and Sciences.

Kendra earned an EdD in Organizational Leadership: Higher Education Leadership with a focus on resilient leadership from Grand Canyon University.  Kendra is an active member of the International Leadership Association.  She also serves on the Volunteer Development Committee at NCCI and the Compensation and Benefits committee of GT's Staff Council.

Tiffany is a consultant for Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting. She manages internal projects as well as team promotion and development activities, and she assists with GTSC’s consultants on campus-wide initiatives.

Before joining Georgia Tech in 2017, Tiffany worked in program management at the Georgia Center for Nonprofits and the Georgia Department of Economic Development. In those positions, she had a range of responsibilities, including project management, business development, and data analysis.

Tiffany holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Colorado Denver and a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema-Television from the University of Southern California. She is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Rashaad is a senior strategy consultant for Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting with over 10-years of strategic human capital consulting experience. He is primarily aligned to the academic and research units focusing on strategy development and implementation, and organizational review, assessment and effectiveness.

Prior to joining Georgia Tech in March 2018, Rashaad worked as a program manager on the Talent, Diversity, and Culture Team at Cox Automotive (a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises) where he enhanced the organization’s global people strategy through the delivery of innovative solutions and organizational effectiveness approaches. Before that, he worked at Booz Allen Hamilton (a government consulting contractor) as a consultant on their Global People Strategies Team helping the firm solve its toughest employee engagement and representation challenges.

Rashaad holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Managerial Science from Georgia State University and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Georgia.

Jeneen is the Administrative Professional Senior for Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting. She provides administrative services to our team.

Before joining Strategic Consulting, she worked with the Georgia Tech Fire Safety Office as the Administrative Professional III. She was able to provide her expertise in managing the daily operations of the department.  She comes with a wealth of experience and insight over her career in administrative services, early childhood education, environmental health and safety, and community service.

Jeneen holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix-Atlanta Campus and a Bachelor of Business in Computer Information Systems concentrating in Network Administration and Application Development. She currently serves as the Parliamentarian of the Georgia Tech Staff Council.

Michelle is a Director for Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting with a primary focus on strategy development.  She collaborates with research unit leaders across the Institute helping them improve operations, develop and implement strategic plans, and enhance organizational performance.

She joined Georgia Tech in 2000.  Michelle holds a Master of Arts in Communications degree from Georgia State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in History from the Fitchburg State College.

Jacquelyn is a seasoned management consultant advising on organizational strategy, operations optimization, and leadership development. During her career, she also focused on relationship management to identify and secure new opportunities. She has worked with a variety of clients, including Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit organizations.

She is a proud Georgia Institute of Technology double jacket with degrees from The College of Design (BSBC 06) and The Scheller College of Business (MBA 18). She has additional graduate degrees in the built environment from The Johns Hopkins University and The University of California, Davis.

Jacquelyn is a tremendous steward of the Yellow Jacket community. She continues her service to the Institute as a trustee for the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, board member for the Scheller College of Business Advisory Board, and at-large committee member for the Transforming Tomorrow Campaign Steering Committee. Due to her service and achievements in her career, The Georgia Tech Alumni Association named her The Gold & White Honors Gala Outstanding Young Alumna in 2022.

In addition to being recognized for his supervision practices, during his 20+ year career, Gerome has enjoyed advising student government associations, student program boards, and alternative service breaks. Dr. Stephens has served as an advisor for the Georgia Tech Ramblin’ Reck Club since coming to Tech in 2013.

Kara works collaboratively with campus partners on a variety of Institute-wide improvement initiatives. She has more than 20 years of experience helping project teams, project sponsors, and other change agents to develop and execute change management strategies and plans. She adds value by helping people impacted by change to make successful transitions by building support, addressing resistance and developing the required knowledge and ability to implement the change.

With a primary focus on enterprise change leadership, Kara is involved with many of the business process improvement, organizational effectiveness, strategic planning, and project management efforts supported by Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting. She joined Georgia Tech in 2004 with 12 years of consulting experience at Accenture where she worked on System Integration projects for several years before joining the Change Management practice. Kara holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Duke University and earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. She is certified in Change Management through Prosci and as Project Management Professional (PMP).

Dr. Maria Ward is a senior-level management consultant with over 20 years of international experience. She began her career in higher education and transitioned into the field of business consulting at the University of Kentucky where she joined the faculty in training Lean Systems concepts to various organizations.  Fueled by her passion for enabling organizations to achieve their best, she went on to lead major programs in Fortune 500 companies in various industries including food, beverage, manufacturing, chemical, education, financial, agriculture, government and others. She practices servant leadership, continuous learning and development at work and in her everyday life.

Maria’s love for new knowledge led her to earn a PhD and Master of Arts in International Business Communication and a bachelor’s degree is in English and German linguistics. She also obtained the certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP).