Meet Simonia Blassingame
Veteran Spotlight
Service - US Navy (25 years)
Rank – Captain (CAPT) same as Colonel for Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force types!
Bio – Captain Simonia Ridley Blassingame, USN (retired), SPHR, SHRM-SCP earned her MS in Operations Research at the Naval Postgraduate School and her MS in Educational Leadership at Troy University. As an innovative Senior Human Resources professional, she often restructured, redesigned, conceptualized, and implemented major initiatives to support strategic Navy objectives. She has a comprehensive background in a variety of human resources disciplines that include talent management, leadership and development, and data analytics. Additional competencies include strategic planning, budgetary oversight, program management, collaboration, stakeholder relationships, change management, operations management, and process improvement.
Currently, she is the Director of Continuing and Professional Education at Gordon State College. She is also a lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School and the founder of SANE Leadership Incorporated. In each of these roles, where she coaches clients using various assessments to help individuals grow in personal leadership, reduce tension and workplace conflicts, and raise emotional intelligence. This improved performance has helped individuals reach goals and guided teams to higher levels of organizational effectiveness. She has served as a Chamber of Commerce President/CEO and board member of several non-profit organizations.
Reason I joined – I was looking for some additional scholarship money to help me stay at Spelman College in Atlanta. I was interested in attending medical school, so the Navy ROTC leaders asked me to consider becoming a Navy Flight Surgeon. At every rotation, they offered me another great job in a fabulous location – so I never left.
Interesting Fact – I don’t typically get seasick, but I almost always get carsick on long rides and airsick on long flights. Looks like God blessed me with study sea legs!