Anton Gardner

TONY GARDNER, M.A., is Director of Leadership Development at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service—the residential programs presented, including the Senior Executive Institute, are focused on senior executives in local government. He is a primary presenter and facilitator of the Building High-Performance Organizations (HPO) seminar at the university and for individual local governments. He also assists them with the HPO Organizational Diagnostic/Change Model’s change process. Gardner served the last ten years of his twenty-six year career in Arlington County, Virginia as County Manager. In this role, he led an organization-wide change effort to improve the county’s performance and introduced a number of economic development and redevelopment initiatives, in addition to managing the operations of this full-service jurisdiction. Twice during his tenure in Arlington County, the county received the John F. Kennedy School of Government “Innovations in American Government” award. He has been designated as a Credentialed Manager by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).