PROFESSIONAL GROWTH SYSTEMS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Senior Consultant
- Senior Consultant & Administrative Support
Andrea has been part of the Professional Growth Systems team for almost 30 years. She began her association with Bill and Doug in 1992 as Quality Officer of what was then the small Valley Hospital in Palmer, Alaska. After 2 years working as the hospital liaison with PGS, she officially joined the staff and moved into the Anchorage office in 1994.
Though she was initially grooming to be an on-site consultant, the birth of her first child and subsequent move to North Carolina led Andrea into just about every other facet of PGS while working from home long before it was the norm. She has acted as the head of Quality for the entire tenure and has logged many hours talking with clients on the products, sessions and use of PGS tools in their organizations.
Recent years have found her working on the PGS website content, marketing efforts, blog posts and the like. She has studied trends in inbound marketing, worked with the many sides of Linked-In and Twitter, and learned enough HTML coding to get by in a pinch.
Her favorite work, however, has been the 25+ years working on PGS product development efforts as well as her work via phone, email and Skype with clients. Her skills tend toward simplifying the complex, and she uses that in clients' Instrument Panels and in creating tools and handouts for a wide variety of old and new products at PGS. She has completed a wide range of surveys and CEO evaluations with clients, and thoroughly enjoys the one-on-one time with board members and staff that each evaluation requires.
When not working from her home office, Andrea loves to explore the backroads of Tennessee on the back of her husband's motorcycle, spend time with her boys when she can catch them at home, or simply sip sweet tea on the front porch swing.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Consultant
- Founder
- Founder, Master Consultant
- President and Founder of PGS
Bill is the founder and CEO of Professional Growth Systems, which he established in 1981. He is also author of Creating High Performers, 7 Questions to Ask Your Direct Reports. His commitment both as a consultant and a writer is to enable individuals to achieve their full potential and fulfillment from work, and thereby for organizations to attain a high level of performance. He and partner Doug Johnson developed a suite of tools that have proven themselves over the years to deliver on this commitment.
Bill is the founder of Professional Growth Systems, which he established in 1981. He is also author of Creating High Performers, 7 Questions to Ask Your Direct Reports. His commitment both as a consultant and a writer is to enable individuals to achieve their full potential and fulfillment from work, and thereby for organizations to attain a high level of performance. He and partner Doug Johnson developed a suite of tools that have proven themselves over the years to deliver on this commitment.
Following graduate school in business administration, Bill fulfilled his military commitment with two years in Alaska with the Indian Health Service, a branch of the U.S. Public Health Service. He then took the opportunity to establish and build the second of what became a statewide network of Alaska Native health corporations.
It was the experience of building a high quality, high standard organization alongside individuals he respected and cared for, many of whom had no previous work experience, that lit the intellectual fire for Bill. He set out to discover and develop keys to unlocking the potential of individuals and organizations. Dedicated to continuous learning throughout his career, Bill has researched and studied established masters in organizational strategy and improvement to the benefit of the PGS products and tools. The results of relentless pursuit can be seen in his writings and his work with clients.
Over the years, Bill has worked with individual proprietorships, intermediate size businesses and national standard bearers for their respective industries. He values the fact that he has worked for non-profit, for-profit, governmental, and international organizations. That breadth of experience has helped him gain clarity on the universal principles that underlie individual performance and organizational dynamics.
Bill's commitment, and that of the company he founded, is to affirm that value is added to an organization from every PGS engagement. To insure that is so, PGS' services include follow-up, assuring that what is learned and committed to is achieved. In Bill's words, "if our client doesn't win, we don't win, and we won't quit until we make it so".
Bill Dann, president and founder of PGS, spent 11 years building and directing the Norton Sound Health Corporation before leaving in 1981 to consult with health care organizations across Alaska. He formed a partnership called Dann & Associates, moved from Nome to Anchorage, and started conducting feasibility studies, developing regional health care plans, and structuring organizations.
In the mid 1980s, Dann & Associates switched its focus from building health organizations to truly understanding and improving the dynamics and performance of an organization, and Professional Growth Systems (PGS) was born. In the mid-80's, Doug Johnson brought his project planning methodology, Dynamic Planning®, to the organization in a marketing alliance that quickly evolved into a partnership.
Chris Dykes comes to PGS after serving 9 years in the US Army, and we are proud to welcome him to the team. Chris completed his Bachelor of Science in Criminology from The College of New Jersey.
In the midst of leading challenging and stressful Special Operations work in the military, Chris emphasized his team's growth and individual development. He comments about that work, "I prioritized personal development as well as professional goals to ensure that all members of the team were both effective leaders and well-rounded individuals." To that end, he motivated and encouraged two of his direct reports to complete their Bachelor's degrees while simultaneously completing demanding work tasks during operations in both the US and Afghanistan.
His strong focus on development and growth is what attracted Chris to PGS and why we were eager to bring him on board. He says of his time in the military "I found that the most rewarding experiences do not come from promotion, advancement, or awards. They come from cultivating genuine relationships, building effective teams, and striving for improvement every day. Improvement, not perfection…what I find true value in is building strong, trusting relationships and helping people and teams grow, both personally and professionally."
He is a great addition to our team and will be a strong asset and ally to the organizations he works with.
Outside of work, Chris enjoys hiking, hunting, fishing, snowboarding, and the all around adventure that Alaska has to offer. He enjoys all to those pursuits in the beautiful state of Alaska with his family and three dogs.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Founder
- Founder & Master Consultant
As President and CEO of Professional Growth Systems for the last 28 years, Doug has worked with every type of organization - from municipal court systems to large city hospitals to small village corporations. His background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Engineering from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, which he combined with his love of the outdoors as a life-long resident of Anchorage.
Doug is passionate about helping organizations succeed and flourish, from the early stages of entrepreneurship and development throughout the lifecycle of the company. During his tenure at PGS, Doug Johnson has helped a wide spectrum of companies with performance improvement initiatives. He served as a consultant in the launch of Alaska's first biotechnology company. He has worked with scientists from Stanford Research Institute to commercialize new technology, led multifaceted governmental performance improvement initiatives and has assisted the oil industry in becoming "safer, cleaner, better," in positioning themselves for the 21st century.
Doug leads the Professional Growth Systems Product Innovation Team and, as such, he is committed to continually educating himself in performance improvement by studying the work of "practicing masters." He has studied the writings of, and participated in educational events conducted by those considered the leaders of our time, such as W. Edwards Deming, Michael Hammer and Clayton Christensen.
When not working at PGS, Doug is an avid skier, traveler and private pilot.
Erin is a demonstrated leader in manufacturing operations with a passion for process improvement, organizational strategy, and employee development.
An avid competitor, Erin was a four year starting goalkeeper for the Women's Soccer team at Valparaiso University where she earned her Bachelors of Science in Business Administration. Not ready to hang up her cleats after graduation, Erin went on to work as a Graduate Assistant Soccer Coach at Indiana State University, while earning her Master's in Business Administration, with a concentration in finance.
Upon graduating from ISU, Erin relocated to Texas, where her husband (a born and raised Alaskan) had found employment. Erin pursued a career in higher education, working for the University of North Texas where she managed the scholarships and fellowships for the university's graduate school. While she enjoyed her time at UNT, Erin desired a chance to gain experience for a large international cooperation.
In 2012 Erin joined Halliburton Energy Services as an hourly Quality Assurance, Quality Control (QAQC) Coordinator in their manufacturing organization. Starting from the ground up, let Erin build a foundational understanding for the business as well as the various motivational factors of the frontline. Utilizing these skills, Erin progressed through the organization into a frontline supervisor role, Continuous Improvement and QAQC Manager, Operations Business Unit Manager and finally a Center Manager. As a Center Manager, Erin was responsible for the site strategy, safety, quality, delivery, financial and employee performance for 200 individuals, and shipping $15M in product and assembled tools each month.
While she loved leading a team, Erin and her husband dreamed of moving to Alaska to be closer to family. They are excited to finally be out of the Texas heat, and share all that Alaska has to offer with their two daughters.
Jaylene understands the role of local, tribal, state and federal governance and their impact on individuals, families and communities they serve. She was elected by her peers and served several years on the Indian Health Service Tribal Advisory Committee to advocate for the needs of the Alaska Native Tribal Healthcare System through regular meetings with the Director of the Indian Health Service. She negotiated compact agreements on behalf of Kenaitze Indian Tribe, resulting in redefining wellness through the integration of justice, food security, social services, mental health, environmental, education, elder, employment and housing programs with primary care/dental/pharmacy/eyecare, with the objective that a system-wide response and approach to the social determinants of health contribute greatly to overall wellbeing.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Consultant
- CEO & Master Consultant
John is a seasoned facilitator that brings a suite of training and development tools to the PGS table.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Alaska Anchorage