Who We Are


Our Mission

To create strong perseverant organizations, leaders, managers, and teams by evaluating needs, following the data, listening to our clients, co-creating and implementing change solutions that are relevant, innovative, and realistic to drive industry advancements, efficiency, and profitability or impact.

Our Purpose

We create opportunities and drive success with quality solutions.

Our Core Values

  • QUALITY
    We put quality first and build services and solutions to maximize profitability, performance, productivity, efficiency, and improved workplace culture.
  • AWARENESS
    We listen, learn, and communicate to create solutions to meet clientele and community needs.
  • INTEGRITY
    We operate with the intent to gain trust and garner satisfaction.
  • PASSION
    We treat clients as more than just an organization by getting to know the people and their values by giving them the attention and detail they deserve.

 

Why Connections 4 Success?

We provide a personable and energetic partnership. Our services are grounded in best-practice theories and methodology while always being centered on our clients' needs.  We determine the best services to deliver quality solutions and improvements for your organization by:

  • Listening
  • Asking the right questions
  • Analyzing and observing current operations
  • Being a partner in your organization's improvements, growth, and positioning

 

We ACCELERATE SUCCESS TM by providing the following multiple business evaluation processes to determine your vital needs and areas for improvement:

  • Quantitative & Qualitative Evaluations
  • SWOT Analysis
  • Risk Assessments
  • Stakeholder/shareholder Interviews

Meet the Team

Vanessa Dodds 

CEO/President & Founder

Vanessa Dodds, CEO/President of Connections 4 Success, is a business strategy, professional development, and workforce development expert with over sixteen years’ expertise and experience across corporate and small businesses, trades, public sector, and nonprofit industries. She is an accomplished leader within the Greater Pittsburgh region with a proven track record of helping organizations grow. She serves on the Carlow University’s Alumni Advisory Council, is a National Small Business Leadership Council member, and is the past President of the Rotary E-Club of District 7305.

Most recently, Vanessa received the Pittsburgh Business Times 2020 Women of Influence award. Her business acumen, leadership, experience, and capability to solve problems across multiple industries are what make her methods and insights so valuable. Vanessa helps corporate industries tackle important issues like accountability, productivity, and workforce development.

Vanessa has successfully implemented business alignment, process and procedure implementation, process management, strategic growth objectives, fiscal and operational management, program development, and organizational training for numerous award-winning for-profit and nonprofit organizations in the Greater Pittsburgh region. Her work has been imperative to these companies’ ability to create business growth, sustainability, skills development, and methods of successfully pipelining talent into their businesses.

She has been actively shaping workforce solutions for the Greater Pittsburgh, Allegheny County region for over a decade. From 2014 to 2015, she served on Mayor Bill Peduto’s Workforce Development Taskforce, combined with Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s office to create a more robust skills training program for Pittsburgh and Allegheny County’s youth and young adults. Vanessa was the primary curriculum creator of the current Learn and Earn Program being used today. This program was created to be a three-tier training program enabling young adults to advance into higher-level internships as they gained industry and soft skills. Her work has been critical in helping to address the 80,000-labor shortage occurring in our region by 2025.

Vanessa’s leadership as CEO, innovator, and owner of Connections 4 Success has enabled her team to implement business alignment successfully, innovative strategies, growth opportunities, and efficiency for corporate, small businesses, and nonprofits at the forefront of their industries.

 

We are ready to help grow and enhance your business today!

View Our Services

Schedule A Meeting

 

Vanessa Dodds

Vanessa DoddsDenise Lukart

Trusted By

YWCA