Traaen and Associates, LLC
CEO - Teri J. Traaen, Ed.D., D.P.A.
Teri J. Traaen, Ed.D., D.P.A. is the owner and Chief Executive Officer of Traaen & Associates, LLC. Traaen & Associates, LLC is a full service human resource management company with three service divisions. These divisions include: technical human resource management services; employee and labor relations services; and training and organizational development. The Firm works with clients to move their organization to their highest potential in terms of customer service, ethics based leadership and employee development while retaining leading profiles in their individual and designated markets.
Dr. Traaen’s professional experience includes over thirty years in the human resource field. Her professional service includes leading highly complex human resource teams in small, medium and large municipal government sectors, an urban K-12 public school district, as well as a community college/county partnership for federally funded job training and development in support of rural economic development. She has served as a labor negotiator for management throughout her career, focusing on collaborative solutions to the conflict based situations most often navigated when salary and benefits packages are less than desired by both labor and management. Dr. Traaen’s professional experience is supported by two earned doctoral degrees, including a doctorate of public administration and a doctorate in higher and adult education.
Career accolades for Dr. Traaen include induction into Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs Alumni Hall of Fame, as well as being the recipient of the Faculty Associate Excellence in Teaching Award for her work as an adjunct faculty member in the College of Public Programs. Dr. Traaen’s graduate research centered on ethics based leadership with Arizona city and town managers, with replication of this original case study work in four other states in the U.S. and throughout many jurisdictions in the United Kingdom. This project culminated in the publication of her first book on ethics titled A Matter of Ethics – Facing The Fear Of Doing The Right Thing, JAI Press, 2000. The emphasis in this book focused on designing and developing embedded ethics initiative and training programs for public sector organizations.
Dr. Traaen is underway with the authorship of her second book on ethics leadership. This book will be titled A Matter of Ethics – The Role of HR In Navigating An Organization Through Unprincipled Leadership. This book will focus on the often challenging role for HR professionals in bringing forward highly controversial organizational matters that can if exposed, bring career trauma to not only internal colleagues but the health and well being of the current HR Department. Post graduate professional development has included attendance at the JFK School of Government’s seminar on The Art and Practice of Ethics Based Leadership and serving as guest seminar faculty for the Santa Clara University Markkula Ethics Center Public Officials Ethics Camp.
Community involvement has been a long standing commitment of Dr. Traaen’s. She has served in multiple leadership roles for the Arizona Association of School Personnel Administrators, the Arizona Chapter of the International Public Management Association for HR and most recently as the President for the Western Region of IPMA-HR. Previous service includes membership on the Arizona Governor’s Commission on Violence Against Women and service on the Judicial Merit System Commission for the Superior Court of Maricopa County. She began service as Assistant to the Bishop for Advocacy for the Grand Canyon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in late 2007. Since 2007, she has also served as a registered lobbyist at the Arizona State Legislature for an Arizona not for profit organization.