9 Atlanta L&D Leaders Shaping Workplace Learning

Last updated: August 2026.

Atlanta has a deep bench of people helping organisations turn learning into better work. The region brings together professional bodies, universities, colleges, global employers and specialist consultancies, so learning and development takes many useful forms.

This article looks at practical voices across that wider community. It focuses on current roles and public evidence, with each profile showing a different way of building capability, supporting leaders or strengthening the profession.

The nine leaders in this article are not ranked. They are a useful starting point for anyone who wants to understand Atlanta's learning and development landscape and the people contributing to it.

For a wider global view, explore Consult Clarity's learning and development thought leaders guide. For a related local service directory, see Working Genius facilitators in Atlanta.

Why Atlanta L&D matters.

Learning and development matters in Atlanta because the region combines global employers, universities, professional services, logistics, technology and growing local organisations. Each setting asks different questions of L&D, yet all depend on people who can turn strategy into capability and help employees practise what the organisation needs next.

The strongest work goes beyond publishing courses. It involves diagnosing performance gaps, designing relevant experiences, supporting managers, using technology with care and learning from evidence after a programme begins. It also requires local communities where practitioners can compare approaches without pretending one method fits every organisation.

These nine leaders reflect that wider system. Their roles show how professional association leadership, consulting, instructional design, learning analytics, talent strategy and organisational development can reinforce one another. For an Atlanta employer, the practical lesson is to build learning as an operating capability, not a catalogue of isolated events.

Jeffery Alejandro.

Past President, ATD Greater Atlanta.

Jeffery Alejandro is a Past President of ATD Greater Atlanta and a long-serving contributor to the region's talent development community. The chapter's current leadership page places Jeffery in its 2026 leadership group and records a career spanning learning, training and performance improvement.

His work shows the value of range. Experience across different sectors helps a learning leader separate the principles that travel well from the details that must change for each organisation. That is useful for Atlanta teams working across fast-moving industries and diverse workforces.

Tony Ballard.

VP Membership, ATD Greater Atlanta.

Tony Ballard is VP Membership at ATD Greater Atlanta. The chapter describes him as a global human capital and talent transformation leader with a long career in learning strategy, enterprise mentoring and workforce development.

Tony's contribution connects professional community with large-scale practice. His background includes learning strategies that affected very large workforces, while his membership role keeps the local profession connected. That combination is a reminder that enterprise learning still depends on strong relationships between practitioners.

Brandy M. Ford.

Senior Advisor, ATD Greater Atlanta.

Brandy M. Ford is a Senior Advisor to ATD Greater Atlanta and a learning analytics and technology practitioner. The chapter's 2026 page highlights her work across strategic planning, change management, facilitation, analytics and learning technology.

Brandy's profile is a useful prompt for leaders who want evidence to improve learning decisions. Measurement matters most when it changes what a team does next, sharpens stakeholder conversations and improves the experience people have while building capability.

Andrea Goodwin.

Senior Advisor, ATD Greater Atlanta.

Andrea Goodwin is a Senior Advisor to ATD Greater Atlanta with experience across instructional design, performance analysis, facilitation, coaching and learning consulting. The chapter's current page places those capabilities inside Atlanta's professional learning community.

Andrea's range illustrates why useful L&D work connects design with performance. A well-built experience is only part of the job. The harder question is whether people can apply the learning in the work, with the support and feedback needed to make a lasting change.

Jasen Hayes.

VP Chapter Programs and Professional Development, ATD Greater Atlanta.

Jasen Hayes is VP Chapter Programs and Professional Development at ATD Greater Atlanta and Senior Executive Partner at Hayes Development Agency. He directs programmes that help local practitioners learn, connect and strengthen their practice.

Jasen's role highlights the infrastructure behind a healthy profession. Events, development opportunities and shared standards create places where people can test ideas, learn from peers and take better approaches back into their organisations.

Josiah Owens.

President-Elect, ATD Greater Atlanta.

Josiah Owens is President-Elect of ATD Greater Atlanta. The chapter's current leadership page describes his work in learning and talent development and places him in the succession that will help guide the local professional community.

His role matters because professional communities need continuity as well as new energy. A strong chapter creates a practical bridge between people doing the work today and the leaders who will shape the profession's next questions.

Frankie Robinson.

VP Learning and Development, ATD Greater Atlanta.

Frankie Robinson is listed as VP Learning and Development by ATD Greater Atlanta. The chapter also describes Frankie as a founder and educator whose work has reached organisations and learning communities across different settings.

Frankie's profile shows how L&D can combine formal workplace programmes with wider learning ecosystems. The useful thread is designing experiences that respect context, invite participation and help people keep learning beyond a single event.

Kelly M. Tracy.

VP Technology, ATD Greater Atlanta.

Kelly M. Tracy is VP Technology at ATD Greater Atlanta and a Senior Instructional Designer working on the Delta account at Conduent. The chapter records more than 17 years in learning and development.

Kelly's work sits where learning design, technology and delivery meet. That perspective is increasingly important because good tools do not create good learning by themselves. The design still has to make the right behaviour easier to practise.

Cornelius Dowdell.

VP Strategic Partnerships, ATD Greater Atlanta.

Cornelius Dowdell is VP Strategic Partnerships at ATD Greater Atlanta. The chapter describes him as an HR consultant, facilitator and talent strategist who helps align people programmes with business goals.

Cornelius's role points to the value of partnership in L&D. Learning gains traction when it is connected to the real work of an organisation, when stakeholders share the problem and when development is designed around outcomes people can recognise.

A practical Atlanta learning community.

These nine leaders offer different entry points into Atlanta's learning and development landscape. Together they show a profession that needs association leadership, thoughtful design, evidence, technology, facilitation and strong links to organisational goals.

If you are building a learning culture, start with the work your people need to do better. Then choose the experiences, support and leadership habits that make that improvement possible. Local communities such as ATD Greater Atlanta can help you keep learning from the people doing the work.