A seasoned leader committed to social justice and systems change, Dira Treadvance stands at the forefront of organizational development, learning, and transformation. Leveraging her extensive experience and leadership in the public sector, teaching, public speaking, and consultancy; along with her expertise in public health, racial equity, and social justice, Dira skillfully guides organizations. Her focus is on delivering innovative solutions that advance equity and inclusion while mobilizing them to address complex adaptive systemic issues.
Passionate about unleashing people's capability to drive change, and with robust experience in systems practice, Dira has led paradigm-shifting change efforts demonstrating the organization of collective power to dismantle oppressive systems and transform society. This is evidenced through her work at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMHH), where she served in various leadership roles throughout the years. Her efforts have resulted in strategies to operationalize equity and dismantle the structural inequities at the intersection of behavioral health and health promotion in the criminal legal system, maternal mortality, and school health to name a few. During her tenure at the NYC DOHMH, she played a central role in advancing the Department's agenda to protect and promote the health of New Yorkers with a priority focus on historically marginalized and oppressed communities.
Dira believes addressing systemic inequality requires tapping into collective motivation for positive systemic change. Her expertise involves facilitating complex dialogues, uniting diverse teams around compelling visions for the future grounded in empathy and creativity. She has furnished leaders with frameworks to lead through uncertainty with social impact. This is demonstrated in her current service as the Chief of Children Youth and Family Services in the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, where she has expanded access to behavioral health services in schools, and is designing paradigm-shifting approaches to organize County assets under a unified vision for County youth and aligning resources and data to reverse outcomes for County youth and families, with a focus on offerings for BIPOC youth and culturally competent youth programming.
Dira brings people together in service of liberation – embracing interdependence and shared humanity. Envisioning united efforts toward building a world free from oppression and injustice – where communities of empowered individuals thrive through equity, restoration, and radical care for one another.
