Ayana Dunlap

Ayana Dunlap is the Assistant Vice President of Operations and Information Technology at Bank Policy Institute in Washington D.C. where she oversees the daily operations within the organization’s IT department. Duties include leading IT projects such updates, migrations, and upgrades, preserving and securing assets and information security, as well as developing and implementing policies and procedures. With just 4 years of experience in IT, she brings rich insights on how to climb the corporate ladder without a bachelor’s degree. She was recently featured in CNBC’s Ditching the Degree series as they highlighted Ayana for earning a 6-figure salary in IT after being laid off from the hospitality industry during the pandemic in 2020.

Ayana holds a Liberal Arts Associate’s Degree from Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania. In 2020, amidst the pandemic, Ayana attended non-profit tech bootcamp, Per Scholas, where upon graduating she obtained several industry leading certifications such as CompTIA’s Network+ and Security+. In the spirit of continuing education, she later went on to receive her PMP (Project Management Professional) certification and currently preparing for other industry cloud and security certifications.

Outside of work, Ayana is passionate about church ministry, giving back to the community, and mentoring others as they pursue their dreams. She believes with faith, hard work, and access to the right resources you can achieve any goal in mind.

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