Member Spotlight, Tara Beckman
- Mar 2
- 2 min read
Background
Tara Beckman brings more than 25 years of experience in change management, strategy, and enterprise transformation. A proud Canadian-American who split her childhood between the U.S. and spending summers in Vancouver, B.C., Tara grew up navigating different perspectives—an experience that quietly shaped her ability to bridge viewpoints and build alignment across complex stakeholder groups.
Path to Change Management
She earned her BA in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University, initially planning to pursue psychiatry before discovering that organic chemistry had other ideas. After beginning her career in clinical and crisis mental health, she later completed her MBA and transitioned into management consulting—bringing behavioral insight into the business world long before “change agility” became a buzzword.
Biggest Obstacle Getting Established in Change Management
Having worked formally in the change management field for over two decades (and informally even longer), Tara now operates at the intersection of strategy, people, process, and technology. Her current focus spans enterprise transformation, business architecture, and data-driven decision-making—but change is always embedded in the work. For Tara, change management is what turns strategy into sustained results. She believes in helping people understand what’s within their control, why change is happening, and how they can actively shape the outcome.
Biggest Reward from this Career
One of the most rewarding moments in her work? Watching the light bulb go on for business sponsors and project leaders as they realize that change management isn’t “extra”—it’s the lever that accelerates readiness, adoption, and ultimately value realization. Improving the employee experience while increasing execution velocity is where she sees the real impact.
Bucket List Yet to Accomplish
Outside of work, Tara loves traveling and spending time with family and friends. A recent highlight was exploring Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka with her family. Next on her bucket list: Italy and Scotland. She’s always open to recommendations.
Fun Fact
Tara was part of the scrappy founding team that launched the ACMP Pacific Northwest Chapter 14 years ago—the first ACMP chapter in the United States—alongside Suzanne Hilton-Esaki, Sarah Hutchinson, Ali Noonberg, Kim Bailey, Beth Montag-Schmaltz, Erin Daly, Whitney Ferguson, Karl Hunrick, Bradd Busick, and Nancy Richards. That early chapter-building work still reflects how she approaches transformation today: collaborative, entrepreneurial, and community-driven.
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