Experts & Staff

Ms. Tonia Garnett has spent 17 years serving as a Human Resources professional bringing her to the point at WRI where she can smoothly integrate HR as a strategic administrative business partner to the programmatic aspects of the organization without sacrificing the sound foundation of the HR profession with the full array of talant management services. With a motto of Teamwork + Unity = Mission Accomplished!, Ms. Garnett’s broad experience in both corporate and non-profit sectors add a balanced leadership to WRI in a time of strategic growth.

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Ms. Garnett currently leads a staff of up to five talented HR professionals to achieve WRI’s global people strategy initiatives as the Assistant Director of Human Resources. She aids in leading Human Resources practices and objectives that provide an employee-oriented, high performance culture, emphasizing empowerment, quality, goal attainment, and the recruitment and ongoing development of a superior workforce while consistently setting in motion programs which lead to long term staff career growth and retention.

Ms. Garnett’s specialties focus on integrating strategic selection and assessment strategies into the recruitment process that will help managers hire, coach and retain top talent. Her vast experience includes a broad range of Human Resources responsibilities including specific Program Development initiatives, Performance Management, Strategic Recruiting, Targeted Talent Acquisition, Training, Compensation, Team Leadership, Benefits Administration, Diversity Initiatives and all other facets of Human Resources.

Ms. Tonia Garnett holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Mary Washington (UMW) with a concentration in Organizational Development and Human Resources Management. Her undergraduate degree, also from UMW, focuses on Business Administration. Additionally the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management, has recognized Ms. Garnett as a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR). This PHR credentialing program is used to validate mastery in the field of human resource management and to promote organizational effectiveness.