Dr. Angela Pittman–Vanderweide is the Chief Executive Officer of A4O and has over 33 years of experience in progressively responsible executive leadership roles, including private, non-profit, state (NC DHHS), and local government. Through that lived experience, Angela has developed the ability to partner with others to enhance performance and meet organizational, fiscal, and client outcomes. Angela has practiced child welfare consultation nationally and internationally, with extensive experience in North Carolina and 25 other jurisdictions across the US. Angela has served national subject matter expertise in leadership practices that improve trust and psychological safety, cultivating a healthy culture and climate; building, engaging, and retaining a resilient workforce; equity, inclusion, and belonging; change agility & implementation science; resource capacity building; and organizational effectiveness. Additionally, Angela has implemented system-wide continuous quality improvement teams and strategies to identify trends, build on strengths, and improve fiscal, organizational, and client outcomes.
Angela is committed to social justice, cultural humility, diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging in communication, workforce, and service delivery. Engaging persons with lived experience to inform leadership practices, system improvements, and practice changes is foundational to Angela’s consulting. Angela also has lived experience becoming the legal guardian of a 16-year-old daughter formerly in foster care. This has expanded her lens and her application of lived experience to her consulting, leadership, and training.
Angela has over 20 years of university teaching and training experience, including in the classroom, synchronous, and asynchronous methodologies. Angela currently teaches in MSW & DSW programs at the University of Kentucky. Angela holds a Doctorate of Social Work (DSW) degree from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. In 2020, Angela published an article entitled “Leadership Rebooted: Cultivating Trust with the Brain in Mind,” which forwards a model of leadership that is aligned with a human service organization’s mission, values, and ethics. Angela lives with her partner, Craig, and our daughter, Lucy, in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina.
