Welcome - Dr. Brenda Tanner

Executive Manager

Dr. Brenda Tanner has a decade of experience as superintendent of schools in Virginia, serving as superintendent in Orange and Madison counties. In addition, she has numerous years of teaching and administrative experience in other Virginia school districts. She has also served as Chief Academic and Chief Personnel Officer for Horry County Public Schools, South Carolina, a district with over 4,000 employees. In addition to her K12 experience, Dr. Tanner has worked at the University of Virginia, teaching in the area of leadership and policy studies while also directing the Curry School of Education’s school/university professional development consortium. She has served as a consultant to schools in multiple states, including public and charter schools in Chicago.

Dr. Tanner has written and presented on a wide range of educational topics. She has provided training on teacher and principal evaluation models and has worked with the Virginia School Boards Association on an array of board development topics. Most recently she has served as a leadership coach, working with district administrators and principals in multiple states to include Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Arkansas.

She has also served as a member of the board of directors for the Northwest Evaluation Association and as a member of numerous study committees working in program evaluation, strategic analysis, and planning. In her current role as a President of DES, she serves as a consultant, working with educators on a variety of specialized educational projects.

We are excited to have Dr. Tanner on our team, providing education support services across the Commonwealth of Virginia and beyond!