Tonya Winders worked in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device sectors for the first 15 years of her career. Before moving into managed market access and strategic alliances, she had a number of sales and marketing leadership positions. During this period, she became involved with the Allergy and Asthma Network. AAN founder Nancy Sander and the board approached her in 2013 about becoming the organization’s second head in its thirty-year history.
Tonya is a satisfied, purpose-driven lady who loves God and others. She was raised in the Deep South, and as a youngster in the 1970s and 1980s, she was often frustrated by the injustices she witnessed. At the age of 18, she decided to leave her hometown and see the globe; Walt Disney World was her destination. She was a part of the WDW College program, where she met kids from all over the United States and the globe, which piqued her interest in travelling and learning more about various cultures.
Tonya moved on to Louisiana State University to earn her master’s degree in business and marketing while working full-time at a long-term care facility. As a young adult, the motivation and knowledge she got from being surrounded by old people who were nearing the end of their lives shaped her decision to devote her professional life to healthcare. In 1996, she met and married her husband, Brian, with whom she had five children (Kaleb-23, Kaylee-22, Karis-20, Katelyn-19 & Karson-17). She shares, “We have lived in the Nashville, Tennessee, area for over twenty years and are active in our church and community.”
Tonya became grandma to Brentlee Scott Winders in November 2021. Tonya’s husband and children all suffer from allergies, asthma, and eczema, which is a big part of why she works at AAN every day.
Tonya is the CEO of AAN and is responsible for guiding the company in the strategic direction determined by the board. She ensures that the AAN team follows its purpose, vision, and values while achieving major goals on a daily basis. Tonya is AAN’s national spokesman and key fundraiser, as well as the organization’s representative at national and international stakeholder gatherings.
The happiest part of her Tonya’s day starts with the first hour she awakes and spends time in prayer, meditation, and Bible study, often with her infant grandson at her side. She enjoys her morning coffee and he enjoys his bottle. Tonya calls this “Lolli” time, and it starts the day in the perfect direction.
Allergy & Asthma Network
Through outreach, education, advocacy, and research, AAN aims to put an end to senseless mortality and suffering caused by asthma, allergies, and associated illnesses. Every year, the team personally interacts with, educates, and empowers millions of families affected by chronic diseases to better understand and manage them. To promote illness awareness, the organization’s outreach mission area focuses on digital, social, and conventional media venues. It also takes part in hundreds of live community events each year to demonstrate what proper care entails. Patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers are all educated about evidence-based treatment by the team.
AAN works to ensure that all members of its community, regardless of where they live or their financial situation, have access to high-quality treatment. Tonya conducts surveys, focus groups, and clinical trial recruiting to ensure that the actual patient voice is heard in research and development initiatives. In fact, she and her colleagues have co-authored over fifty peer-reviewed publications and presented findings at dozens of medical conferences in the last five years. She says, “I am also the current President of the Global Allergy & Airways Patient Platform, an umbrella organization supporting over seventy patient advocacy groups across the globe. GAAPP helps to build capacity and elevate immunology and respiratory diseases in national and global policy matters.”
Tonya considers integrity to be extremely important. Respect, responsibility, and relationships are the three key principles at AAN. She makes it a point to employ people that are different from her in terms of abilities and perspectives. The company has four nationalities, different geographic areas, and at least one individual from each decade of life, from 20 to 70 years old, among its personnel of less than twenty. “Diversity, equity and inclusion metrics shape our key performance indicators across all four mission areas,” says Tonya.
Taking a Multiple Perspective Approach
Tonya takes the time each week to listen to actual people who are dealing with these chronic illnesses. She is acutely aware of their disappointments, hopes, problems, and aspirations. She researches and learns about healthcare delivery systems all around the world in order to find optimal practices and then questions existing assumptions or limits in her own system. She pushes herself to rethink healthcare delivery from an individual and public health standpoint, from a patient and healthcare provider standpoint; from a health economics and results standpoint, and from a personal financial standpoint. She asserts, “We must always balance our own bias and fully consider others’ viewpoints while keeping patients at the center.”
Tonya is constantly asking, “How do we get the right treatment to the right patient at the right time with the fewest barriers?” She further adds that one way the team has done this successfully at AAN is with its Not One More Life program, which conducts lung health screenings in high risk communities and then provides free telehealth coaching and remote patient monitoring to those with uncontrolled chronic conditions like asthma, COPD, or long-term COVID.
A View on Female Leadership
The absence of female role models and leadership training that understands the distinctions between men and women has been Tonya’s most major impediment. The majority of them are written in an alpha leadership tone. The few publications and materials written by a beta voice frequently fall short of completely embracing the benefits of being a woman. It’s why Tonya supports and feels that the best way is an omega leadership style, which combines the best of alpha and beta to produce a more powerful leadership philosophy. She has frequently been the sole woman at a meeting or the first female CEO/board chair of a generally male-dominated organization. For a long time, she tried to hide her emotions and behaved more like the male leaders in the room. It is these experiences that now inspire Tonya to mentor young women on how to excel in business without abandoning their “hayil” strength as a woman.
“Have Purpose-driven Leadership”
As Tonya sees it, the most successful leaders are servant leaders who love and care about people. They have a clear “why” behind the “what” they do every day. It is that purpose-driven calling that ensures work is fulfilling beyond a paycheck. She says, “A successful leader is also one who does not sacrifice his/her home or health for a career. I continue to believe my most important job is as a wife, mother, Lolli and friend.”
According to research, organizations are demonstrably stronger when diversity, equity, and inclusion are represented in their leadership. Tonya frequently hears from women who are unsure about their leadership abilities. It is critical to assist women in owning their leadership styles, even if they differ from those of typical alpha males. Women, she claims, are exceptionally skilled in the areas of caring, communication, and collaborative support. “As society, it is important to take the best of both alpha and beta leadership strengths in order to effectively address the largest healthcare challenges,” says Tonya.
Her advice for next-generation female healthcare leaders is to “be yourself; everyone else is taken, so fully embrace who you are created and called to be.” She further suggests taking time to care for yourself and focusing on what really matters. Tonya often asks herself, “Will this matter in 10 minutes, 10 days, or 10 years?” The keys to leaving a lasting legacy are the things that will matter a decade from now. She tries not to sweat the small stuff and instead enjoys the apparently inconsequential pleasures of life, such as a gorgeous sunrise, each person’s distinctive smile, and the irrefutable connections that exist between people, places, and events throughout their lives.
Written by Steve Sanchez.
