Full Name
Tanja Carter-Searls
Job Title
Senior Program Director
Company
Office of Professional Education and Workplace Learning, CUNY School of Professional Studies
Speaker Bio
Tanja is a Senior Program Director within the CUNY School of Professional Studies’ Professional Education and Workplace Learning (PEWL) unit. In this role, she is responsible for guiding strategic planning across all programs within the Department of Social Services’ (DSS) portfolio. DSS is comprised of the administrative units of the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). Tanja’s role also includes the responsibility of serving as a key contributor for process improvement, learning program design and implementation, staff management and stakeholder management within PEWL.
In her previous role, Tanja served as Program Director for the DSS DHS Staff Learning & Development program which supports DHS with their mission to address the needs of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness and to ultimately eliminate homelessness. In this role, Tanja led a team to provide DHS and DHS provider staff with the documentation, knowledge, and skills needed to effectively carry out their assigned responsibilities. This work included training mandated by federal, state, and local laws and policies.
Before leading the DSS DHS Staff Learning & Development Program, Tanja was the Program Director for the ACS Workforce Institute’s Onboarding Program. There she led and oversaw the design, development and launch of three New York City Administration of Children's Services onboarding programs within the ACS Onboarding portfolio.
Tanja’s passion for development reaches outside of the workplace. She has supported various conferences in small and big ways from delivering training on communication styles and leadership to launching women’s conferences in Trinidad & Tobago as well as in Dubai.
Tanja has 29 years of experience in the talent development and process improvement arena across the following industries: financial services, technology, pharmaceutical and higher education.
Tanja holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English / Literature from New Jersey City University and a Master of Business Administration in Business from the Iona Hagan School of Business.
In her previous role, Tanja served as Program Director for the DSS DHS Staff Learning & Development program which supports DHS with their mission to address the needs of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness and to ultimately eliminate homelessness. In this role, Tanja led a team to provide DHS and DHS provider staff with the documentation, knowledge, and skills needed to effectively carry out their assigned responsibilities. This work included training mandated by federal, state, and local laws and policies.
Before leading the DSS DHS Staff Learning & Development Program, Tanja was the Program Director for the ACS Workforce Institute’s Onboarding Program. There she led and oversaw the design, development and launch of three New York City Administration of Children's Services onboarding programs within the ACS Onboarding portfolio.
Tanja’s passion for development reaches outside of the workplace. She has supported various conferences in small and big ways from delivering training on communication styles and leadership to launching women’s conferences in Trinidad & Tobago as well as in Dubai.
Tanja has 29 years of experience in the talent development and process improvement arena across the following industries: financial services, technology, pharmaceutical and higher education.
Tanja holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English / Literature from New Jersey City University and a Master of Business Administration in Business from the Iona Hagan School of Business.
