2025 Symposium Speakers

Webb Burns is Vice President of Business Development of Carilion Clinic. His responsibilities include the leadership of Carilion’s Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO). Webb rejoined Carilion in late 2011 after a brief stint at Roanoke-based Meridium Inc. as Vice President of Business Development, Asset Answers. He spent three years at Carilion Labs as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions and Business Development after spending a year as a Director in that role. From 2002 to 2005, Webb was a principal at the Carilion Biomedical Institute. He has an undergraduate degree in History & Spanish from Middlebury College and later obtained his MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business at UVA. He is proficient in Spanish, having worked in Mexico for a summer and lived in Spain during his junior year of college. He obtained the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification in 2020. Webb enjoys running, reading, Peloton, watching his son’s lacrosse games, and skiing.

David Duby, PhD, PMP, is a Professor of Business at Liberty University and the Director of two project management programs. David has led projects in the publishing sector and academia and for the past ten years has taught project management classes at both undergraduate and graduate levels. David also serves as SME of the undergraduate project management curriculum and created the Master of Science in Project Management program. Residing in Lynchburg, Virginia, he and his wife enjoy the region’s natural beauty. Personal interests include watching a good college football game, traveling, and enjoying an exceptional cup of coffee.

Tanya Hockett is a career emergency manager with over 18 years of experience specializing in areas such as exercises, training, radiological preparedness, public information, facilitation, leadership, and project management. She has worked in state and local government, higher education, public health, and non-profit organizations. She currently manages federal projects as a project manager, facilitator, and subject matter expert, providing a wide range of support to meet her clients' needs with timely, high-quality deliverables and proactive communication. In addition to her broad range of skills, Ms. Hockett has worked in specialized facets of emergency management, including radiological emergency preparedness, volunteer and donation management, integrated preparedness planning, family reunification, public health, and mass fatality management. She continues to work in public service as a councilwoman for the Town of Christiansburg, where she also served as Vice Mayor in 2024. Ms. Hockett is a Certified Emergency Manager, Master Exercise Practitioner, Virginia Professional Emergency Manager, Advanced Public Information Officer, and Certified Six Sigma Green Belt. She holds a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Disaster Management, a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Homeland Security, and a graduate certificate in Educational Technology and Online Instruction. She is a lifelong learner who is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Christian Leadership and has completed several PhD-level courses in public administration. As a partner and leader in her organizations, she is dedicated to creating exceptional work that helps the entire community develop a more profound sense of resilience, preparedness, partnership, and readiness, fueled by curiosity. In 2021, Ms. Hockett was named one of the nternational Association of Emergency Management (IAEM) Region 3's 40 under 40.

Sarah is a dynamic community engagement specialist and public speaker committed to cultivating collaboration, connection, and lasting impact across PMI’s Chapter network. As PMI’s North America Chapter Engagement Supervisor since August 2024, Sarah leads with empathy and strategic insight—helping chapters thrive through meaningful relationships and shared purpose.

With a strong foundation in outreach and relationship building, Sarah previously supported four of PMI’s eight North America subregions as a Chapter Engagement Partner. Her approach combines big-picture thinking with hands-on partnership, empowering chapter leaders and volunteers to do their best work in service of their communities.

Sarah’s background is uniquely interdisciplinary—she holds a degree from George Mason University and brings experience in both theater and massage therapy, fueling her skill in connecting with people authentically. A natural communicator, she founded PMI’s internal Toastmasters Club and has represented PMI on global stages, including TED 2019, the 2023 PMI Africa Conference, and the Sub-Saharan Leadership Institute Meeting (LIM). Most recently, she earned her Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), further expanding herprofessional toolkit.

Outside of PMI, Sarah channels her love of performance and service into music. She sings with and serves on the board of Coro da Capo, a nonprofit a cappella choir that offers exceptional, free concerts rooted in vocal diversity and community access.

Cassandra is the VP of Corporate Projects for Member One Federal Credit Union and is a certified PMP with 15 years of project management experience. Cass has gravitated toward work that feeds her desire to organize, rally, and support people to achieve their goals. Leaning on experiences from her past “career-lives” as a high school art teacher, property manager and real estate agent at Smith Mountain Lake, BaconFest event owner and coordinator, project management and business analyst roles in the architecture and engineering industry, and now PMO Department lead at Member One, Cass leverages lessons learned from a diverse portfolio of projects to continuously drive business value.  

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

A planner by trade and artist at heart, Cass blends project management methodologies with creative solutions to help teams and stakeholders envision their “rainbows and kittens” ideal state and make it a reality! She has a passion for resource management, process improvement, and has recently been diving into the vast and exciting worlds of AI and automation.

Cassandra and her husband, Curtis, live in Roanoke with their 4 kids and mischievous cat, Frankie. Roanoke has been the perfect place to raise a family with convenient access to some of their favorite things: hiking, kayaking, fishing, wineries and breweries, a vibrant food scene, festivals, and easy driving distance to many great travel destinations.

Patience O’Brien is a strategist and innovator at heart who brings decades of successful experience in corporate and nonprofit settings leading major initiatives. In her current role as Director of Business Transformation Strategy at Member One Federal Credit Union, Patience promotes positive change through human-centered innovation and executes enterprise-level projects that improve the financial lives of credit union members.

Over the past 9 years at the credit union Patience has transformed the project management office from a team of one into a dynamic driver of strategic change. Under her leadership, the enterprise project management office has grown to oversee critical corporate projects, aligning initiatives with organizational vision and advancing a holistic approach to benefits realization.

Patience holds a BS degree in Human Services Counseling from Old Dominion University and a MA degree in Clinical Psychology from Saint Michael’s College. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Virginia, holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, and is a Certified Credit Union Executive (CCUE). Driven by a commitment to positive change and organizational impact, Patience brings a forward-looking perspective and practical expertise to the evolving project management landscape.

Kevin Pannell is a Navy veteran, IT PMO leader, and author of The People, Process, & Progress of Project Management. With over 20 years of experience spanning healthcare IT, public safety, and emergency management, Kevin has led initiatives ranging from critical incident planning to enterprise technology deployments. He is also the host of the People, Process, Progress podcast, where he shares weekly lessons on leadership, project management, and personal growth. Kevin is a PMP, CSM, and Prosci Change Practitioner who equips project leaders with field-tested tools to turn strategy into outcomes.

Alexander is an associate professor at Virginia Western Community College. He has received multiple awards in his teaching career for teaching excellence. He has had the pleasure of working in education, aviation, and business. His educational background is also in those three areas, with a B.A in Modern Languages and Literature, MBA in Marketing, Master's in teaching Spanish as a foreign/second language, Master's in Communication, Master's in Applied Linguistics to the teaching of Spanish, Aviation weather specialist, and Air Traffic control certificate.

Those experiences have provided him opportunities to work in private and public education and colleges with responsibilities as a Manager assistant, Weather aviation specialist, air traffic controller, EFL and ESL teacher (K-12, college and adult education), Spanish professor, Marketing and Public Speaking professor, Liberal Arts program head, and corporate trainer.

He has taught for more than 24 years, his passion since high school. He loves and enjoys creating students' competence in the target subject that could make them feel better about themselves and become lifelong learners. He strives to create an environment where his students enjoy and have a great educational experience

Jeffrey White is a program leader and facilitator with experience across sales, non-profit management, education, and customer-facing program management. At Hollins University and the University of Portland, he directed initiatives in career services, faculty development, and learning innovation, consistently applying data-informed approaches to achieve measurable outcomes. He now brings this cross-sector expertise to his emerging work in customer success in the SaaS industry, where his focus is on learning, adoption, and collaboration to drive customer value.

Certified in Lean and Agile Visual Management through the Modus Institute in Seattle,
Jeffrey has facilitated training on methods such as Personal Kanban, program improvement, team collaboration, and Lean Coffee. In August 2024, he introduced PMI outhwest Virginia members to Lean Coffee at a chapter “Coffee Chat.” His work emphasizes agency, collective intelligence, and continuous improvement, helping people and teams find innovative solutions to complex challenges.

Debora Wright is the Chief Strategist and Vice President for Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge, where she oversees brand alignment, marketing programs, meeting and sports sales, and corporate and private partnerships. She brings more than 30 years of experience in destination marketing, having previously worked in industrial marketing before joining Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge.

Throughout her career, Ms. Wright has been a driving force in securing funding and expanding the region’s visibility. She has generated more than $4 million in grant funding for Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge and its partner associations, while spearheading cooperative partnership programs that open doors to key market segments. Her leadership has also played a pivotal role in attracting new meetings and sports events with an estimated economic impact exceeding $31.5 million. Notable successes include securing the Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28 Pro Women’s Cycling Team, the USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships, and USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, she is also active in regional and state tourism leadership, having served on numerous boards. A graduate of Hollins University, she holds dual degrees in Communications and Economics.