The Execution Governance Architect Behind $1.5B+ in Performance Impact, 10+ Years of Sustained Results, and 837% ROI
HOUSTON – HOUSTON, TX — Dr. Dana D. Wells ’93, the architect of execution governance and creator of DW&A Capability-Centered Execution™, has been named a 2025 Aggie Impact Award recipient for redefining how senior executives govern execution risk before capital is committed. A nationally recognized leader in execution governance, Dr. Wells was selected by the Texas A&M Black Former Student Network (BFSN). The award honors alumni whose careers demonstrate professional distinction, service to society, and lasting contributions to the Black Aggie community.
Dr. Wells is the Chief Transformation Officer and Executive Arbiter of DW&A, an Execution Governance and Risk Determination Firm engaged by senior executives and transformation sponsors when execution failure would expose capital, enterprise value, or leadership credibility.
Her execution governance frameworks are used in complex energy, retail, and industrial enterprise transformations where misgoverned execution would expose nine-figure capital investments, long-term enterprise value, and leadership credibility to irreversible risk. Her work determines whether execution risk is survivable before capital is committed, positioning her upstream of traditional strategy, operations, and transformation functions.
“Texas A&M shaped every part of my Aggie Impact, my values, my leadership, and my commitment to building systems that help companies, career seekers, and communities grow and thrive,” said Dr. Wells. “As a second-generation Aggie and the daughter of an Aggie Pioneer, I do not just carry this legacy forward, I operationalize it through execution governance, enterprise transformation, and leadership development that creates durable results.”
Redefining Executive Leadership Through Execution Governance
Dr. Wells operates in a category that most firms do not govern: execution risk.
She created DW&A Capability-Centered Execution™, a proprietary governance system that determines whether organizational capability is sufficient to sustain execution under real-world pressure. The system evaluates decision authority, leadership alignment, workforce readiness, escalation paths, and accountability infrastructure to prevent capital from being committed to structurally unsustainable initiatives.
Execution risk is not operational. It is existential.
Her work is engaged when leaders must answer one question clearly:
Is execution risk survivable given the capability that exists today?
A Leader With Measurable, Board-Relevant Impact
Dr. Wells’ career is defined by enterprise-level outcomes, not consulting theater:
- $1.5B+ in documented performance impact across complex global initiatives
- 10+ years of sustained results
- 837% ROI delivered by governing execution risk across enterprise transformation initiatives
- 30+ years of lifecycle advisory and transformation leadership spanning pre-commitment design through post-commitment remediation
- High-stakes consulting engagements with organizations including Petco, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Flowserve
- Advanced academic foundation: Ph.D. in Human Capital Management, MBA, and MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
- Founder of DW&A, an Execution Governance and Risk Determination Firm governing capital exposure, leadership accountability, and execution survivability
Her work integrates strategic rigor, organizational capability, and governance discipline into systems senior executives can trust when approving high-stakes initiatives.
A Full-Circle Moment of Leadership Continuity
At the 2025 Aggie Impact Gala, Dr. Wells was introduced by Terry A. Young, her first professional mentor and the former Assistant Vice Chancellor of Technology Transfer for The Texas A&M University System.
Mr. Young traveled from Costa Rica to personally introduce Dr. Wells, underscoring the full-circle arc of her career.
Early in her career, Dr. Wells worked at the Texas A&M University System Technology Licensing Office, where Mr. Young supervised her and helped shape her foundational leadership development. Under that leadership team, the office expanded into a System enterprise, generated more than $6 million in licensing revenue, covered all operating costs, and produced profit.
That formative experience prepared Dr. Wells for major corporate transformations, including large-scale mergers and acquisitions and global enterprise change initiatives.
Legacy Leadership With Structural Impact
Dr. Wells is a second-generation Texas A&M Aggie whose late father, Rev. Milton E. Wells Sr. ’68, was among the first Black students to attend the university between 1963 and 1970.
That legacy is not symbolic. It is embedded into the governance systems Dr. Wells builds to ensure leaders, capital, and capability are aligned before failure becomes inevitable.
Through mentoring, leadership development, and economic mobility initiatives, Dr. Wells translates execution governance into upward mobility for emerging leaders and historically underrepresented professionals, aligning enterprise rigor with community impact.
About Dr. Dana D. Wells ’93
Dr. Dana D. Wells is a nationally recognized leader in execution governance with more than three decades of experience guiding complex organizational change, designing governance systems, and governing execution risk at enterprise scale.
She is a Certified Human Capital Strategist (HCS), a PROSCI Certified Change Manager, and holds a Ph.D. in Human Capital Management, an MBA, and an MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
As Chief Transformation Officer and Executive Arbiter of DW&A, she delivers systems that determine whether execution risk is survivable before capital is committed, integrating strategic rigor, risk intelligence, and measurable performance into board-relevant governance infrastructure.
Learn More
To learn more about the execution governance work that earned Dr. Wells the Aggie Impact Award and her advisory work at DW&A, visit www.dwnainc.com.
