Biography

Tanya Penny-Woods is the Director of the Center for Excellence in Supply Chain Management (CESCM) at Howard University’s School of Business. In this visionary role, she integrates real-world supply chain challenges and emerging industry trends into academic instruction and applied learning, preparing students for leadership roles across corporate and government sectors. She leads the Supply Chain Capstone/Integration course, where students tackle complex live business case studies with mentorship from top consulting firms and senior executives.

Ms. Penny-Woods is a sought-after speaker on supply chain trends, digital transformation, and inclusive procurement strategies. She advises small businesses on growth planning and operations improvement. She also regularly develops long-range strategic plans for public-sector and nonprofit organizations, including five-year roadmaps with clear performance metrics, operational benchmarks, and implementation strategies to drive meaningful outcomes.

Before joining Howard University, Ms. Penny-Woods served as Senior Vice President of Real Estate at Verizon Communications, where she managed a $2 billion budget and led a team of more than 3,000 employees and contractors. In a previous role as Verizon’s Chief Procurement Officer, she directed $35 billion in sourcing and planning activities, advancing innovation, operational efficiency, and supplier diversity, including $4 billion in spending with diverse suppliers. Throughout her corporate career, she consistently leveraged analytics to drive strategic decision-making, improve operational outcomes, and deliver quantifiable business impact across complex, global organizations.  Ms. Penny-Woods developed and implemented logistics strategies and end-to-end supply chain processes to support large-scale telecommunications network expansion, including warehousing, inventory management, and last-mile delivery coordination.

Her extensive leadership experience spans Corporate Finance, Financial Operations, and Telecommunications Network Planning. She has consistently delivered transformational results in business process redesign, enterprise system implementation, and strategic sourcing.

Ms. Penny-Woods is an active member of the University Committee for the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), contributing to national thought leadership in procurement and supply chain education. She also devotes time to community service through The Links, Incorporated and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Ivy Community Charities of Prince George’s County and the Woodmore Homeowners Association, where she previously held the role of Treasurer for four years.

She is passionate about using her big-league corporate experience to empower the next generation of leaders and to strengthen small business ecosystems through mentorship, strategy, and access.

Education
MBA in Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
BA, Stanford University

She has also completed post-graduate coursework in leadership and ethics, including programs inspired by historical leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt.