Influential Women Spotlights Dee Taylor-Akins: Human Capital And Organizational Transformation Executive Leader

FRISCO, TX, UNITED STATES, September 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Advancing AI-Driven Workforce Transformation Through People Strategy, Organizational Design, and Purposeful Leadership

Dee Taylor-Akins, M.Sc., SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is a distinguished human capital and organizational transformation executive whose career reflects more than two decades of experience shaping workforce strategies across global and complex enterprises. Based in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, Dee is recognized for advising executive teams on organizational design, workforce planning, talent strategy, AI integration, and large-scale change management.

Throughout her career, Dee has held progressive leadership roles with organizations including UnitedHealth Group, Optum, Cox Communications, UT Southwestern Medical Center, American Airlines, Smuckers, Procter & Gamble, and Verizon. Her experience encompasses organizational design, workforce integration, employee relations, performance management, leadership development, and enterprise-wide transformation. She has contributed to major organizational transitions, including mergers, acquisitions, and operating model redesigns, helping businesses navigate structural and cultural change while strengthening workforce capabilities and performance.

Today, Dee is focused on one of the most consequential shifts facing organizations: the integration of artificial intelligence into the workplace. Through her work, she helps leaders and HR professionals think strategically about how technology will influence roles, capabilities, workforce planning, and organizational culture. She is also launching Org Movement, a firm designed to equip HR professionals, business leaders, and organizations with frameworks, tools, and strategies for navigating AI-driven transformation.

“The future of work doesn’t belong to the organizations with the most technology; it belongs to the leaders who build the architectures to connect human insight with digital power. At Org Movement, I help enterprise organizations navigate AI adoption and complex workforce transformations to build agile, future-ready teams.”

Dee’s professional foundation is supported by a Master of Science in Human Relations and Business from Amberton University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Grambling State University. She also holds the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and SHRM-SCP credentials, reflecting her commitment to advanced human capital leadership and continued professional development.

A Foundation Built by Community, Faith, and Leadership
Dee attributes her success to the village that raised her, including her parents, grandmother, aunts, uncles, and the church community that poured into her from the very beginning. These influences taught her respect, confidence, and the belief that she could accomplish anything she set her mind to.

Growing up in faith-based programs and youth ministries provided Dee with a strong spiritual foundation, while her involvement with the Girl Scouts through high school helped shape her leadership, communication skills, and sense of responsibility. These early experiences taught her how to connect with people, navigate different environments, and carry herself with purpose.

For Dee, those lessons have remained relevant throughout her professional journey. She believes deeply in the power of grounding children in community, faith, and positive associations, recognizing that the lessons learned during childhood can become the foundation that guides a person throughout their entire life.

Her own experience also strengthened her belief in creating supportive environments for others. Just as her village kept an open door for her, Dee believes every child deserves a safe place to talk, grow, and receive support while discovering who they are becoming. That philosophy continues to influence the way she approaches leadership, organizational culture, and talent development.

Faith remains an important part of Dee’s personal foundation and perspective on purpose and leadership. A scripture that reflects her approach to work and planning is Proverbs 16:3:

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”
— Proverbs 16:3

Leading With Curiosity and a Willingness to Learn
One of the most important pieces of career advice Dee has received is to never be afraid to ask questions. Early in her career, she learned that asking the right questions can open doors, accelerate learning, and help professionals deliver results with greater clarity and confidence.

For Dee, curiosity is not a weakness; it is a strength that allows professionals to continue growing. She also learned not to sweat the small stuff. Mistakes are inevitable, but every mistake can carry a lesson, and every lesson can contribute to becoming stronger.

Dee believes sharing those lessons with others can build trust and create environments where people feel safe to grow. Being an overcomer matters, but she also believes in giving yourself grace along the way.

Another principle that has remained central to her leadership is the importance of staying grounded in who you are. In fast-paced environments, it can be easy to lose yourself in expectations, pressure, or comparison. Dee believes staying rooted in values, integrity, purpose, and personal voice provides stability regardless of what is happening around you.

“Movement without purpose is merely activity; purposeful design turns motion into lasting progress.”

When leaders operate from a place of authenticity, Dee believes they do more than achieve individual success—they elevate the people around them.

Encouraging Women to Explore the Full Possibilities of HR
Dee views human resources as an ever-evolving discipline with virtually limitless pathways. For young women entering the field, she emphasizes that HR can provide opportunities across talent acquisition, employee relations, organizational development, workforce planning, operations partnership, strategy, culture, and many other areas.

Her own career demonstrates that versatility. While working for Folgers, Dee stepped into a hybrid position that required her to wear both an HR hat and an operations hat. The experience reinforced the transferability of HR capabilities, including communication, problem-solving, leadership, and the ability to understand both people and processes.

Dee also recognizes that there are multiple ways to enter the HR profession. Some professionals begin in operations before transitioning into people leadership, while others enter through recruitment, as she did. Recruiting became Dee’s doorway into HR, after which she progressed into HR specialist, employee relations, and business partner roles before expanding into organizational development, organizational design, strategy, and culture work.

She encourages young professionals to remain curious, embrace continuous learning, and recognize that every career step can build capabilities for the next.

Dee also believes understanding AI is increasingly essential. Professionals should develop a foundational understanding of what AI is, how organizations are using it, and how it will influence the future of work. The opportunity, she believes, lies in understanding where technology and people strategy intersect.

Preparing Organizations for an AI-Driven Future
The rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence represents one of the most significant challenges and opportunities facing HR today. According to Dee, executives are increasingly looking to HR—not only IT—to help guide organizations through AI adoption, workforce transformation, and the cultural changes that accompany emerging technologies.

AI is not simply a technical initiative. It is also a people, process, and change initiative. Dee believes HR must be positioned at the center of these conversations because organizations need to understand how technology will affect employees, roles, skills, and organizational structures.

HR leaders must consider which roles AI can augment, which positions may evolve, and how work itself could be redesigned over the next five to ten years. Rather than viewing AI solely through the lens of job replacement, Dee sees the future of work as more nuanced. Organizations will continue to need people, but potentially in different capacities, with evolving skill sets and responsibilities.

This perspective is helping shape Dee’s upcoming work through Org Movement. The firm is focused on equipping HR professionals, business leaders, and organizations with the frameworks, tools, and strategies needed to navigate AI-driven transformation.

Dee believes organizations will need HR leaders who can help assess the impact of AI on jobs, identify where automation creates opportunities, and guide executive teams through long-term workforce planning. Over the next decade, HR professionals will increasingly be expected to help determine what the workforce should look like, how many people will be needed, where AI can add value, and how employees can remain engaged and capable within technology-enabled environments.

Putting People at the Center of Organizational Success
For Dee, treating people with respect is foundational to effective leadership. During her time with the Smucker’s organization, she had the opportunity to engage directly with the company’s CEOs and was particularly influenced by a core value: always look for the good in others.

That principle has continued to shape her leadership philosophy. Dee believes people should approach others with an assumption of positive intent. Most individuals are not operating from a place of harm, and misunderstandings can often arise because someone is unaware of how their words or actions were received.

By leading with grace, curiosity, and open communication, Dee believes leaders can create healthier relationships and stronger teams.

Her experience has also reinforced another fundamental principle: people are the heartbeat of every successful organization. In the pursuit of revenue, efficiency, and growth, businesses can sometimes lose sight of their greatest asset—their workforce.

When people feel valued, respected, and supported, Dee believes performance follows. Culture, in her view, is not a soft concept but a strategic driver of organizational success. Strong cultures can fuel engagement, innovation, and long-term sustainability.

As Dee continues advancing her work in human capital and organizational transformation, her focus remains on helping leaders understand that technology and people cannot be separated from one another. The organizations best positioned for the future will be those capable of combining technological innovation with thoughtful workforce strategy, meaningful culture, and authentic leadership.

Through more than two decades of experience, Dee Taylor-Akins has demonstrated that successful transformation is ultimately about people. As she enters the next chapter of her career through Org Movement and her continued work in AI-driven workforce strategy, she remains committed to helping organizations prepare for change while ensuring their people remain at the center of the journey.

Learn More about Dee Taylor-Akins:

Through her Influential Women profile, https://influentialwomen.com/connect/dee-taylor-akins

Influential Women

Influential Women provides a platform where women from all backgrounds can connect, share their perspectives, and create content that empowers themselves and others. Through storytelling, thought leadership, and creative expression, Influential Women amplifies voices that inspire change.

Editorial Team
Influential Women
email us here