One of 12 people who received multiple nominations in 2024 as a WashU IT Person of ImpacT, Tahnee Alves is an IT Marketing and Creative Strategist in the Office of the Chief Information Officer. A “Person of ImpacT” is an individual who personifies the IT Strategic Plan, ImpacT, and has a significant and positive influence on the people, the institution, and the community around them; someone who typically goes above and beyond, and makes a meaningful difference through their actions, contributions, and choices.
Alves joined WashU IT in 2022, first as a contractor. She was hired as a full-time Communications Specialist in Organizational Change Management in 2023 and then promoted to her current role in October of last year.
To Alves, People of ImpacT are trusted with a positive presence that is felt by those around them. They are also long-term thinkers in a short-term world, allowing them to make small daily improvements that lead to meaningful results over time. They understand the total cost of getting something done, evaluating the value it brings and prioritizing what delivers more benefit. They have a growth mindset, driven by curiosity, which, in turn, enhances their overall engagement and allows them to create new opportunities and to leverage their resources to drive them forward.
“It’s meaningful to know that someone sees me as the personification of the word “team,” because I genuinely strive to be a team player,” Alves said. “Or that someone else said my enthusiasm and dedication are infectious, because I do try to bring my best self to work every day. Sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed.”
As one of the original collaborators on ImpacT-centered events and activities, Alves introduced the idea to launch the Person of ImpacT awards. She was instrumental in developing criteria for nominations. She said she feels humbled to be among the list of a dozen people who received multiple nominations. There were 96 individuals who were honored in 2024 as People of ImpacT.
“Her work to plan and facilitate several ImpacT events and in developing content for our communications strategy has been critical to our success,” said Tim Brooks, Executive Director of the Portfolio and Project Management Office. Brooks was among those who nominated Alves for the award.
“She has an eye for creating visual content to communicate to various audiences,” he added. “Tahnee is also always willing to step into any project or assist her teammates. She personifies the word “team.”
Alves came to the US from Brazil in 2015 as a graduate student at Lindenwood University. Prior to embarking in her master’s studies, she was a strategist at advertising agencies, representing clients such as Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Tyson Foods. She passed on two corporate employment offers, choosing to pursue her career through WashU.
“I’ve learned so much with the OCM team, both professionally and personally, and I’m incredibly grateful for the relationships we’ve built and the work we continue to do together,” she said. “I slowly started being pulled into enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, and that eventually led to me moving under our Chief of Staff, Melinda Schmidt.”
Currently, Alves focuses primarily on program work and communications related to the WashU IT Operating Model, as well as fiscal year goals, and strengthening the WashU IT brand.
Please nominate your colleagues for this special recognition. You can make multiple nominations, and the same person can be nominated more than once.