Faculty & About
The SWIM methodology was built and refined across more than fifty organizational engagements before it was ever taught to anyone else. Certification exists because that experience reached a point where it could be taught, assessed, and certified rather than carried by one person.
Dustin Snyder
Dustin Snyder created Strategic Workforce Insight Mapping and authored its foundational text, Sink or SWIM. The methodology is deployed nationwide, from family businesses in generational transition to Fortune 1000 divisions launching at scale. Dustin's work bridges organizational psychology and executive operating leadership. Before founding Wayforward, Dustin led a 600-employee, $300M manufacturing firm to profitability as its President — organizational transformation from the operator's chair.
Ryan Vallery
Ryan Vallery is the Program Director of the SWIM certification. He holds a master's degree in clinical psychology and brings deep organizational development experience to the program, a combination that grounds SWIM's diagnostic work and real business impact. Across manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, and the public sector — sectors where meaningful change is hard to achieve — Ryan has led change initiatives that took hold. He has deployed SWIM in organizations ranging from small businesses to major hospital systems. At the national level, Ryan led the identification of process barriers for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that identified tens of millions of dollars in waste, and improving service delivery for veterans. Ryan is a combat veteran of the U.S. Army.