Staff & Faculty Bios

Debra Alexander has many years of experience working in the higher education, non-profit and for profit, social justice, and public service sectors. Deb is passionate about promoting and sustaining employee engagement, building positive relationships, and improving performance. Diversity, equity and inclusion, and relational culture are central to her work and approach. She serves as an OD (organization development) consultant, DEI strategist and HR Advisor. She and her husband, Ben Alexander, have created award winning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training videos and instructional products that are used by organizations across the country. She is a former Federal employee and senior leader with the Office of Personnel Management and the Federal Reserve Board, and served for ten years as a Special Government Expert for the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Transportation. Her dissertation, entitled Radical Inclusion, examines culturally informed strategies for mitigating and reducing the effects of bias. She completed the18 month post-graduate program in Organization and Systems Development from the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and holds an M.S. in Human Resources and Organization Development from the American University and a B.A. in English Literature from Hampton University. Deb is currently on the faculty of Georgetown University’s Organizational Consulting and Change Leadership program. Deb is a member of the ODNetwork, NTL and the Academy of Management. She is Chair of the Board of Directors for Relational Uprising, a non-profit that fosters resilience within organizations and communities working for social change.

Jaci Anderson is centering the wellbeing of women of color in her work as an organizational development consultant and certified leadership life coach. With a mandate to defy burnout and lead liberated, Jaci’s passion is re-humanizing workplace culture through leaders who are resourced by the strengths of their identity narrative. Jaci holds a BA in Psychology and Religious Studies, an MA in Global Leadership, and over 25 years of leadership development, training, facilitation, and organizational development in non-profit sectors including homelessness, anti-human trafficking, and community organizing in Los Angeles County, Morocco, South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo. Jaci hails from Long Beach, California where she enjoys writing mediocre poetry and breakdancing.

Nicky Avant-Brown, PCC Like a rocket, her coaching is the vessel that clients access when a much broader perspective is needed. From a more spacious point of view, clients get to see their full operating systems--the world and themselves in it. By observing from different angles, clients become better positioned to see options, opportunities, limiting beliefs and ways forward. For over 21 years, Nicky has been exploring the impact of our systems- and rule-based society on individuals. As workshop facilitator, department supervisor, program director and coach trainer she has led empowerment programs centered on internal capacity building, culture-change, leadership and healing for organizations. As a Professional Certified Coach (trained in Transformational Life Coaching and Healing Centered Community Coaching), she considers herself to be an intuitive partner, a wise ally and a reflector of the space between what you didn’t know then and what you do know now. She brings a sense of wonder and curiosity to every session. Her coaching opens space for traditional and non-traditional leaders to slow down and catch up to themselves, to explore need, to envision success and to create fresh boundaries & agreements before taking brave steps toward.

Abukamau (Abu) Ali-Ibrahim is Founder and Principal at Intrepid Partners Consulting, LLC, an organization and human systems consulting practice. As an organization consultant, he focuses on organization development and change; leadership coaching; and team effectiveness. Abu has worked extensively in corporate settings including tech, telecommunications, oil and gas, mass transit, and apparel manufacturing. His corporate experience has included labor relations, human resources management, organization development, leadership development, and culture change initiatives. With previous experience as a member of the UAW and Teamsters, Abu is equally comfortable working in both non-union and union environments where he has enjoyed mutually respectful relationships with the leadership of the TWU, IAM, IBEW, and UNITE in labor-management relations. Abu has an M.S. in Organization Development from American University, an M.S. in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin—Madison and a B.A. in Social Science from Michigan State University. He holds certificates from the Georgetown University Leadership Coaching Certification Program, ICF, the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland’s International Organization and Systems Development Program and the Principles and Practices of Organization Development Program at Teachers College—Columbia University. He’s also an alumnus of the Stanford University Interpersonal Dynamics Facilitation Program.

Michele Berry coaches and consults with leaders and teams to achieve results while learning and thriving. Michele’s methods are facilitative; she helps clients develop skills to help themselves. One-on-one work, especially with leaders in significant transitions, is both a core skill and a personal passion. As a founding partner in Imagine Us, a multi-racial and multi-generational organizational development consulting firm that centers racial and intersectional identity equity, inclusion, and justice, Michele works with unions and nonprofits to improve their results, create generative cultures, and transform their leadership. She helps leaders to be intentional about navigating issues of identity, power, and culture. She draws on over twenty years of experience in leadership development and coaching, including a background in the private sector, giving her a unique perspective on creating deliberate cultures to help everyone to bring their talents and purpose. Michele has a BS in Industrial Relations from Cornell and an MS in Organization Development from American University. Michele is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI), the Denison Model, and the Center for Creative Leadership assessment suite. She is a local volunteer leader with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).

Geo Bowersmith is a life-long activist, a coach and an organization development consultant who partners with mission-driven clients to advance social justice. They work with labor, nonprofits, foundations and organizations to build more equitable and inclusive processes, practices and culture. Geo enjoys coaching leaders who are responsible for moving DEI initiatives in their workplaces and working with organizations to build their capacity for using an intersectional lens to navigate power and privilege across race, class, gender and other identities. Geo brings more than 30 years of experience working with grassroots organizers, activists and movement leaders. They have designed and led initiatives to bring organizations into greater alignment with their values and to create workplace cultures of belonging. Geo has designed and led manager and leadership development programs as strategies to shift organizational culture. Their consulting work is informed by their experience working on organizing, legislative and electoral campaigns; holding senior director roles in national and local organizations; and as a chairperson of a direct-service board of directors. Geo earned a graduate certificate in Organizational Consulting & Change Leadership from Georgetown University; studied Presence Based Coaching; and is an ICF certified coach. Geo Bowersmith Coaching & Consulting is a trans-owned and operated business.

Kaye Craft, the President of K. Craft Associates, Inc., is an organization development consultant, a master facilitator/trainer, and a C-Suite executive coach and leadership development practitioner. For each engagement and work assignment, Kaye keeps her eye on each level of system: individual, group, team, and organization, knowing that sustainable change, the best project and business results, and the best work relationships come from the integration and alignment of the work throughout the system. Kaye’s current work engagements are focused in three areas: cultural change and building relational cultures, diversity, equity and inclusion, and leadership and senior team development. She works in the US and globally. Kaye clients are from non-profits, energy, media, union, and academia. As an executive coach, Kaye and her clients address such topics as: accountability vs. control; creating an inclusive, relational, positive, and achieving climate and culture; leading the new generation of young workers; leading, coaching and mentoring across differences such as race, gender identity, sexual orientation, gender, culture, generation, etc.; influencing and leading others in such a way as to recognize and leverage their talents; conscious and responsible use of power; and work-life balance. Kaye holds a B.A. from Hampton U, an M.S. from Columbia U, and an M.B.A. from NYU. In addition, she completed the Certificate Program in Organization and Systems Development at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. She now holds the ICF designation of Professional Certified Coach as well as the designation of Board Certified Coach.

Dr. Chears is a management consultant, coach, and racial justice advocate. Rooted by his values, he strives to give all by leading with humility, humor, and empathetic listening. In his professional practice, he focuses on assessing the needs of stakeholders and assisting in the development of workable solutions while honoring the humanity in everyone. He seeks to create safe spaces where connection and mutuality can be achieved to create successful outcomes. Through his years of diverse experience, he has served as a trusted advisor, confidant, collaborator, mentor, problem solver, and strategist. Core areas of focus include change management; racial, social, and economic justice; strategic planning; leadership and team development; and executive coaching. His has strong experience working with the progressive, social, governmental, and philanthropic sectors with union leaders and teams, progressive movement initiatives, and coalition building for racial justice and equity. His passion is working with organizations and leaders striving to make a difference. He holds a doctorate in Education from Fielding Graduate University and a BA in Psychology from Yale University. Dr. Chears is also a racial healing practitioner using methodologies developed through the Truth, Racial Healing, Transformation (TRHT) initiative focused on confronting the hypocrisy of a racial hierarchy.

About twenty years ago Toni Dunton-Butler began her consulting firm, A Silver Thread, Inc. and she and colleagues partnered with leaders in Fortune 100 companies, non-profit organizations and small women-owned businesses to make conscious, creative and practical decisions to create equitable, inclusive, transformed workplaces in the US, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. Coaching has become the heart of her practice. As a coach, her conscious intention is to be a deeply present partner with her clients to, challenge, guide and support as they become more deeply curious, re-discover and re-claim the depth and breadth of the wisdom they already hold in their minds-bodies-spirits. She supports them to BE in the world as the whole, powerful, beautiful people they have always been and to create spaces where they lead, were all will thrive. She created the retreats, Releasing Our Voice: An experience for women in leadership and The Sweet Spot of Sisterhood: Black women explore living in the wealth our ancestry, our families and each other. She also designed and facilitated the workshop Every Woman Has a Voice for Hennah.dk- women of color who work for a more inclusive Danish Society at the Verdens Kultur Center, in Copenhagen, Denmark. She holds certifications in Healing Centered Coaching (ICF), The Leadership Circle Profile, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Percept Orientation and Self Differentiation: Training Theory and Practice. Toni is from the Eastern Shore of VA, home of the Mattawames people and has lived her life on the east coast from Buffalo N

Lainy Fersh is a partner in Community Matters, a consulting firm based in Providence, RI and Boston, MA. Established in 2001, Community Matters works with non-profit organizations, labor unions and public institutions to define and pursue new goals, effective strategies, and systemic changes. Community Matters specializes in multi-sector ventures, and a strong grasp of labor and management practices, public education, youth development, and urban policy inform its work in local, state, and national arenas. Lainy brings extensive experience in non-profit management and organizational development from her long-term leadership of an advocacy and constituency-based organization with a deep commitment to racial justice and organizational equity and inclusion. Her work with organizations often includes: strategic planning, meeting planning and facilitation, program development, supporting teams, and leadership coaching.

Champion Fleming is an organizational change consultant and leadership development coach based in Oakland, CA. They identify as white, trans, and gender-expansive. Champion is inspired by the idea that small groups can create big change and they believe when we focus on who we want to become and engage with intention and a sense of possibility, wonders may never cease. Champion’s clients include national non-profits, government agencies and labor unions who are committed to racial and economic justice achieved through wholehearted relationships that center our mutual liberation. Since 2016 Champion has created white learning spaces that focus on unlearning, healing and accountability that allows white leaders to engage with true solidarity in movements for lasting transformation. As a social justice advocate Champion has worked for decades on LGBTQIA+ rights, AIDS awareness, food justice and racism. Champion is highly skilled as a speaker, teacher, trainer and facilitator. They exude warmth and acceptance yet see and speak difficult and direct truths. Their approach builds bridges and fosters engaged connection. Champion holds an M.A. Consciousness and Spiritual Leadership.

Sheri Graubert has been a public speaking and presence coach for over fifteen years. She works with leaders within Social Justice organizations to promote public presence, and develop confidence in presentation and communication skills. In particular, she has had a long working relationship with BOLD/Rockwood and SEIU-HCPA. She regularly coaches nurses and healthcare workers. She also does drama-based training, related to supporting organizational equity. As an actor, she has worked in theatre, film, and television; she has performed on five continents, most notably at the Public Theatre in New York City and the National Theatre in London. However, people seem to get most excited by her tiny part in Sex and the City: she pretended to eat salad on camera but, off-camera, got to eat french fries with Sarah Jessica Parker. As a playwright, her work has been produced all over the USA, in Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, and the UK. However, Sheri is most proud of her longest-running play, Rick Spacey and the Space Cadets, which is regularly performed for children in New York hospitals. Sheri used to regularly perform in these same hospital wards, and it was some of the most rewarding work she has ever done.

For over 25 years, Dr. Charlyn Green Fareed's expertise has been in human and organizational development in both non-profit and for-profit organizations. Her primary focus is supporting the personal and professional development of African American women leaders in organizations as well as in communities. Dr. Green Fareed founded a non-profit dedicated to serving the whole-life development of African American women and conducts action research on culturally-based health and wellness issues related to Black women. Charlyn approaches her life and work from a perspective of equity and inclusion. This approach challenges individuals and organizations to build diverse and inclusive work environments that expands personal, interpersonal, and organizational effectiveness. She is a lifelong learner who strives to remain open to better understanding self and others. Dr. Green Fareed holds a doctorate in Human & Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University. She completed coaching certifications in Evidence-Based Coaching, Trauma-Informed Coaching and holds certifications in Diversity Facilitation from NTL Institute and Race Relations Facilitation from Stir Fry Consulting. At Fielding Graduate University, Dr. Green Fareed completed certificates in Transformative Learning for Social Justice and Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement. Charlyn is a native of Philadelphia and lives in the Atlanta, GA area.

As a coach and consultant, Christy Hawkins Davis helps leaders, teams, and organizations elevate their thinking and deepen their impact. She brings sharp insight, a strong capacity for connection, and a thorough understanding of organizational and individual transformation. With 25 years of experience in and around the labor movement and progressive advocacy (including 10 years on SEIU staff), Christy honed her skills as a campaigner and capacity builder and solidified her commitment to racial, economic, and social justice. Her background in communications provides a strong foundation for facilitation, planning, and process design projects. Christy holds certificates in Organizational Consulting and Change Leadership from Georgetown University and Evidence-Based Coaching from Fielding Graduate University as well as a BA in Public Communication from the American University. She lives in Washington, DC.

Mary Heffernan has provided organizational consultation services for over 25 years. She also has experience founding and directing non-profit organizations as well as working in local government. Early in her career, Mary was both executive director of a statewide nonprofit, and Director of Affiliate Development for a national non-profit with 35 state affiliates throughout the country. Current consultation services are primarily with clients wishing to improve their long-term effectiveness through enriched communication skills, planning, conscious leadership and appropriate infrastructure. Services include board and staff development, leadership training and coaching, strategic visioning design and facilitation, organizational assessments, cultural competencies, and conflict resolution. She also brings knowledge and skills in the areas of philanthropy, advocacy, fund-raising, organizing, policy development and supervision. She is a graduate of Wellesley College.

Bob Hudek has spent 45 years as a front-line organizer, executive director, and campaign director in social change organizations. He compassionately walks side by side with leaders as they tackle transformational change, refine their strategies, and nurture fellow leaders. From 2015 until 2021, he was Senior Coordinator for Organizational Leadership at the Service Employees International Union BOLD Center, where he played key roles in the union’s racial justice and manager leadership initiatives. Prior to joining the staff of the Bold Center, Bob spent nearly five years with SEIU in Wisconsin, where he supervised campaign staff and member leader teams at ground zero in the fight for worker justice against Scott Walker’s attempts to kill public sector unions Bob has been Executive Director of two state level coalitions, was the national field director for Citizen Action and the Citizen/Labor Energy Coalition and helped lead several national issue campaigns. Bob is an executive coach, organizational development expert, trainer, facilitator, and strategic planner with a focus on racial justice. Highly attuned to the daily challenge of maintaining resilience and stability in the face of relentless attacks, Bob became a certified yoga instructor and spearheaded a training program in mindfulness and yoga for organizers.

Seth Hufford is the founder of The People Group - a consultancy focused on leadership and organizational development rooted in equity and inclusion. He incorporates various life experiences to create individual, institutional, and systems change. Building people’s capacity to strategically address issues, he facilitates the creation of better-functioning relationships, workplaces, and communities. Working across a variety of sectors, Seth has engaged diverse groups of people from community activists to business executives. He has facilitated teams both large and small to tackle complex challenges through relationships and co-creation. He has a passion for listening to client needs, designing customized interventions, and facilitating people to achieve their goals.

Rick Huntley is a highly skilled leadership, organization and equity and inclusion change consultant, coach, facilitator and teacher with demonstrated ability to successfully facilitate organizational learning, skill development and system-wide change using organization development theory, experiential learning and individual growth. He is the President and Chief Consultant with Rick Huntley Consulting. His firm comes with extensive experience providing midsize to large organizations with a clear snapshot of their current state then developing a strategic organizational roadmap for system-wide change, using a “Power, Leadership, & Change” framework. Rick was on the instructional team at the American University, Masters of Organization Development Program, and currently an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Learning, teaching in its Executive Certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. He recently co-authored “Journeys of Race, Color and Culture: From Racial Inequality to Equity and Inclusion. Rick completed graduate study at Howard University in Washington, DC, and earned post-graduate certificates in Organization and Systems Development from the Gestalt OSD Center in Cleveland and the International Gestalt Organization Leadership and Development Program. He consults to labor, non-profit, and corporate sectors.

Cliff Jones is a sought-after trainer and consultant recognized for his work in equity and inclusion, building alliances across differences, team development, conflict resolution, supervision, and facilitation. He is a consultant and Partner at Capacity Building Partnerships, an organizational development consulting firm formed in 2019 in Portland, Oregon. Cliff has over 30 years’ experience in organizational development consulting working in all sectors, leveraging best practices in one sector and sharing them with other sectors. Capacity building and partnerships are cornerstones of Cliff’s work with organizations.

His consulting focus areas include strategic planning, board development, cross-cultural effectiveness, workplace mediation and conflict resolution, effective supervision, team building and staff development, and civic engagement. Cliff is a co-founder of Tools for Diversity, which was a comprehensive curriculum led by a multi-cultural training team focused on solutions to problems caused by privilege, prejudice, discrimination, disparities, and oppression.

Prior to his consulting work, Cliff was an experienced community organizer, legal advocate, policy analyst, and health promotion advocate. He has been an Executive Director, Program Manager, Front Line Staff, Board Member, Chair and Treasure. He has a B.S. in Community Service and Public Affairs from the University of Oregon with a focus on social psychology and community education.

Mona Khan is a leadership and equity coach. She identifies as cis-female, GenX, a Third Culture Kid, culturally Muslim, and Desi (South Asian); a carrier of economic, heterosexual, and skin color privilege. She worked for many years in human rights philanthropy and international public health. Mona is a Co-Creator of Social Identity Coaching Lab, which supports people, teams and organizations working in the US and globally to get real about equity. Clients come primarily from the philanthropic, educational, social justice & nonprofit sectors. At the core, Mona co-creates spaces of community & co-conspiracy for equity, belonging and transformation; where folx can build trust, be present in their full human, and amplify the wisdom across multiple perspectives. As a coach, she fiercely protects the space in which a client can find and inhabit their voice and co-conspires with them to cultivate resilience and stand in their power.

Dr. Anne Litwin has been an organization development consultant, coach, and trainer for more than 30 years in a wide variety of organizations throughout the world. Anne was the CEO of her family business and was past chair of the Board of Directors of the NTL Institute of Applied Behavioral Science. She specializes in leadership and team development and DEI coaching and consulting. Anne is based in St. Louis, MO, USA. Dr. Litwin provides team building, executive coaching and training to help executives, managers, and other professionals enhance leadership capacity by strengthening their interpersonal, cross-cultural and strategic skills. She works with clients to improve their ability to communicate their ideas, to listen, to give and receive feedback, to manage conflict, and to deal effectively with system power dynamics. Dr. Litwin helps her clients understand how to take international regional differences into account as managers, colleagues, and with customers. She is co-editor of the book, Managing in the Age of Change, along with numerous articles on international consulting, gender differences and women’s leadership. Anne has written a book on women’s relationships in the workplace, entitled, New Rules for Women: Revolutionizing the Way Women Work Together (2014) based on her research.

Kathia Laszlo is a compassionate leadership coach, organizational consultant, and facilitator with 30 years of international experience across North America, Latin America, and Europe. Kathia develops collaboration and innovation capacities for systemic transformation and organizational effectiveness from the inside out. Her work addresses a wide range of leadership and organizational needs such as start-up support, leadership transitions, organizational restructuring, diversity and inclusion, racial justice, team development, conflict resolution, and strategy design. As a leadership coach, Kathia uses her keen listening and intuitive skills to guide her clients to a deeper understanding of unconscious patterns and assists them in becoming self-aware leaders focused on purpose. She combines her scholarly and professional expertise in systems thinking, feminine and indigenous ways of knowing, regenerative design, mindfulness, and collective wisdom to support leaders in transforming themselves and their organizations into caring, inclusive, and collaborative cultures. She was a faculty member at several universities in the US and Mexico where she taught systems thinking, leadership and sustainability in their MBA and Ph.D. programs for 20 years. Kathia is from Monterrey, Mexico, and came to the USA as Fulbright Scholar for her Ph.D. in Human Science with a specialization in Social and Institutional Change. Kathia is a certified executive coach in the Leadership Circle Profile and is fluent in English and Spanish.

Brian Lohmann is a consultant who specializes in public presentation skills and presence coaching. He has worked for clients in the financial sector, sales and marketing, performing arts, as well as twenty years in the world of organized labor. His practice is grounded in principles and skills learned from four decades as a professional performer, acting teacher, writer, improviser and director. He is based in California where he lives with his wife and two children.

Kelly Macías, Ph.D. is a consultant specializing in organizational development, diversity, equity and inclusion and leadership development. She has spent more than 20 years working with non-profit, educational, government, and international organizations supporting their programmatic and institutional efforts to increase their effectiveness and further equity and social justice in the world. Kelly has worked extensively in Colombia, as well as in Ecuador, Ghana, Lebanon, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. From 2015-2017, she worked full-time at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) where she managed the union's equity and inclusion programs in locals across the United States and Canada, coached senior leaders at the international headquarters as well as local union leaders and co-facilitated a union wide leadership development program for elected officers, senior leaders and directors and led the development of a leadership program for women and gender expansive people of color in the union.

Ernest Mark, CPCC, PCC, brings twenty years of experience as an executive coach and organizational development consultant. He works with leaders and organizations, who are stuck in various transitions and helps them navigate change with choice, ease and balance. Ernest helps his clients connect with their passion, values and what's most important in life with a clear leadership stance and presence. “I believe that transformation happens quickest through the body and pay attention to this in my coaching in subtle and direct ways, bringing attention to breath, posture, stance, energy and awareness.” “Ernest brings a tenacity to facilitating a difficult group and manages to get the best out of us. He is the perfect person for this job.” Anthony Panarese, Oakland Director Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Ernest is credentialed by the International Coach Federation as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and serves as coach/faculty/trainer with organizations, such as the SEIU BOLD Center, Leadership that Works and Rockwood Leadership Institute. Ernest has been a presenter for conferences hosted by the International Coaching Federation, the Association for Black Foundation Executives and Leadership that Works. Based out of Oakland, California, Ernest also enjoys being a soccer dad and spends many weekends shuttling carloads of soccer girls to parts of California he previously didn't know existed.

Kathrina Moore-Richardson’s work within the non-profit and philanthropic sectors is focused on the strategic planning and alignment of an organization's social & racial justice vision, goals and impact on their respective communities. She thrives on working with clients to identify innovative ways of thinking, leading, behaving, and designing systems and structures for organizational success. A native Spanish speaker, Kathrina is able to work across diverse communities to design and manage systemic global programs and projects that leverage technology and measurably increase learning, community engagement and impact. Kathrina is a dynamic facilitator, consultant, and executive coach. She brings forth more than 25 years of experience working with business and non-profit organizations, specializing in organizational development, culture change management & communications, racial equity, talent management strategy, and curriculum, meeting and program design. She has extensive experience working with senior global leadership teams across private, non-profit, and philanthropic institutions. Some of her more recent work includes engagements with the PICO CA, ACLU SDIC, The Advancement Project CA & National, Greenlining Institute, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Color of Change, Race Forward, SEIU IU, Local 2015, SEIU TX, Local 503 & Local 925. Kathrina is a qualified administrator for the Intercultural Development Inventory; certified Situational Leadership Trainer from the Center for Leadership Studies; a certified Interpersonal Leadership Styles Inventory (ILS) Trainer; and trained in the Art of Transformational Consulting led by Robert Gass, co-founder of the Social Transformation Project and the Rockwood Leadership Institute; a Senior Consultant/facilitator for SEIU’s BOLD Center & Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr Fund. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Psychology from the University of Notre Dame de Namur, and has completed coursework at San Francisco State University in the Masters program for Public Administration.

Reva Patwardhan has 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. As a coach and facilitator, she helps social impact leaders clarify, prioritize, and advance their strategic values, and build diverse, happy, and productive teams. While she works with all genders and ethnicities, she specializes in supporting women of Asian and Middle Eastern descent. Reva co-facilitates small groups (called t-groups) with the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She serves on the Board of Directors at Rethink Media. She is also a coach with Leaderspring, LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics), and Aletheia: A School of Integral Unfoldment. She is a certified Integral Coach.

Ray Pifferrer is a certified professional leadership coach who specializes in helping BiPOC and LGBTQ leaders spring into new leadership and social impact challenges. Ray brings a 30+ year deep and broad background in coaching leaders of multicultural and global teams to: • identify and build upon their unique leadership strengths and assets • redefine leadership to allow for broader ways of displaying leadership competencies • craft, execute and measure an individual leadership development plan in a concentrated time period • increase positive social impact across differences in distance, culture and perspective Ray is also the executive producer of ThinqTanq, a series of video conversations between leaders of color where we discuss common leadership challenges and solutions. He's led many interdisciplinary training teams (both US-based and international) for a variety of social impact and corporate organizations. Ray brings his lived experience as a multiracial, multiethnic Latino gay man from a first-generation immigrant background to all of his coaching and consulting work. He holds a B.A. in Sociology from Clark University; an M.Ed. in Adult Learning / Instructional Design from UMASS Boston; and completed both the Linkage Leadership Coaching and Coaches Training Institute certification programs. He is a certified coach for the Leadership Circle Profile and the LMAP 360.

Ana Mercedes Polanco is a coach, storyteller and organizational consultant who is passionate about accessing the ancestral wisdom that lives inside humans and nature. Every person and organization has the potential to reimagine how they relate to and activate our collective wellbeing. Ana’s work focuses on navigating change through a cultural, liberatory and relational lens. She applies this knowledge from her own lived experiences as a daughter of multi-racial/ethnic immigrant parents, political organizer, and lover of global philosophy, liberation strategies and systems change. In 2016, Ana became deeply focused on bridging ancestral knowledge with modern day psychology, and ecology systems as a way of helping women of color and organizations lead authentically in complex times. Emergent Coaching: Becoming Nimble in Complex Times, reflects the depth of work Ana and other practitioners are doing to help reimagine spaces for justice, healing and liberation. Ana is a faculty member at Georgetown University’s Organizational Development Leadership Program, the founder of the Wild Dreams Coaching Program for Women of Color and a family constellations facilitator. Ana’s academic roots come from American University, the University Of Wisconsin Law School, Coaching for Transformation as well as other women-led cultural, spiritual and political learning spaces.

Allison Porter is an insightful and caring organizational development practitioner whose work, at its core, is about liberation. She works with individuals, teams, and whole organizations on practical things like structure, change, and navigating conflict, and always, at the center, there is her belief in the power of love & justice. Allison is a deep listener and thought partner for dreaming big and working through the sticky issues of organizational life. She brings new lenses and powerful questions to get things unstuck. She centers racial justice and gender equity as a personal and professional practice. We got into this mess with generations of harm and cultural conditioning. To imagine something different will involve hope, healing, creativity, and persistence. Allison has been a community organizer & a union organizer, sitting with people and hearing their stories. She and others built a school for organizers called the Organizing Institute, where thousands of workers and students got their start in the labor movement. The OI challenged the “male, pale, and stale” labor movement to change, and gave them the pathway to do so. Education: Duke University, BA; American University/NTL, Master’s in OD; Neuroleadership Institute, Coaching Certification and certificate in Neuroleadership.

Tony Bennae Richard is a Change agent, OD consultant, certified healing-centered leadership coach and disabled veteran who served in the United States Navy for 24 years as a hospital corpsman, healthcare administrator, executive coach and organization development consultant. Since retirement, his focus has been working with community-based organizations, non-profits, academic accreditation bodies, labor unions and earth justice organizations. He is adjunct faculty, Georgetown University’s Institute of Transformational Leadership; Facilitator, Cornell University’s International Labor Relation's National and Southern Labor Leadership Initiative; Facilitator, Rockwood Leadership Institute; Lifetime member, Kappa Kappa Psi and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

Denise T. Rouse has worked over 15 years as coach, consultant, change agent, facilitator and trainer and instructional designer. She has extensive experience in coaching leaders across all levels of organization systems. She provides individual and group coaching and facilitates coaching conversations that may be considered difficult, for the benefit and growth of the client, the group and the organization. Denise is skilled in using a variety of assessment tools for clients, including 360-degree assessments, MBTI, FIRO-B, StrengthsFinder and PROSCI’s change management methodology.

Lisa Silverberg is an OD Consultant, facilitator and coach who brings passion and experience to her work with organizations advocating for economic, social and racial justice. Technically, Lisa brings skills in capacity building, leadership development, planning, facilitation and coaching; personally she brings contagious optimism, steadfast commitment, heartfelt honesty and abundant humor--not always in that order! Lisa leverages recent findings in neuroscience and somatics to help leaders focus not only on what they are DOING as leaders, but who they are BEING as leaders. Lisa, who is a graduate of Georgetown University’s OD Consulting and Change Leadership program, is in her fifth year co-teaching “Essential Facilitation Skills” and in her second year as Director of the program. Lisa’s initial training as a coach was with the CTI, and then she re-trained with Doug Silsbee, founder of Presence-Based Coaching. A perennial learner, Lisa holds a graduate degree in Sociology from American University and has continued her professional development through NTL, the Strozzi Institute, Wendy Palmer's Leadership Embodiment program, The Art of Transformational Consulting, The Embodied Social Justice Certificate Program, and many others. Lisa is certified in several self assessment instruments including MBTI, ILS, FEBI, and Andiron’s Polarity Navigator.

Kad Smith focuses on providing practical solutions while keeping an eye out for profound possibilities. He specializes in training & facilitation, leading teams through significant changes, and working with leaders who are seeking thought-partnership in their leadership journey. Kad has 14 years of relevant experience that led him to start Twelve26 Solutions. A native of West-Berkeley, CA, Kad describes himself as a lifelong “bay-destrian”. He is most passionate about changing the material conditions of BIPOC folks across the country. He spends a significant amount of his time focusing on civic engagement, political education, climate justice, and imagining the bridging of world-views across the globe.

Terrill Thompson, MSOD is an organizational consultant and coach with Banyan Coaching and Consulting. Their passion lies in sharing strategic thinking, deep listening, compassion, and innovative human-centered approaches with each organizational partner. Terrill enjoys and is adept at untangling messy situations to find leverage points for lasting transformational change. They are deeply committed to issues of racial and social justice and building strong, inclusive organizations and communities. Terrill works with clients at the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual levels to overcome blocks to reaching individual and collective aspirations. Goals range widely from owning individual and collective power, to equitable leadership, to compassionate boundary setting. Terrill supports leaders to develop their emotional and cultural intelligence, which is key to their ability to promote vibrant, resilient, and sustainable organizations. Terrill lives in community on a permaculture farm and brings their life experience as a white trans nonbinary person and a member of a multiracial family to their commitment to build a more equitable world.

Paco Valencia has more than 30 years of military, government, and private sector experience. He uses his behavioral science theory, training, education, and work experience to provide custom designed consulting services. Paco served 25 years in the United States Navy traveling worldwide to facilitate performance improvement workshops and seminars. He worked closely with Admirals and Generals and was responsible for managing large systems transformational change throughout the organization. He successfully led activities and interventions like culture and readiness surveys, performance assessments, Executive/Mid –level/Individual Contributor Coaching, stakeholder analysis, focus group facilitation, and communication strategies of merger activities. Paco is adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership and Georgetown University and is a native Spanish speaker. Paco Valencia is a retired United States Navy Senior Chief with more than 30 years of military, government, and private sector experience. He has used his behavioral science theory and practices training, education, and work experience to provide custom designed consulting services to over 15 federal and state government agencies, more than 30 military installations, and private sector organizations to include the unions associated with these government, federal, and private agencies and organizations. Paco has presented performance improvement principles and leadership development training curricula to over 10,000 diverse military and civilian personnel. While on Active Duty in the USN, he traveled to Naval Bases worldwide to consult Commanding Officers and their Board of Directors, to facilitate strategic planning, performance improvement workshops and seminars, and to present training sessions to all levels of the command. Additionally, he was one of the lead consultants during the merger of the two largest Navy and Army hospitals in the National Capital Region. He worked closely with Admirals and Generals and was responsible for managing transformational change throughout the organization. He successfully led activities and interventions like culture and readiness surveys, performance assessments, Executive Coaching, stakeholder analysis, focus group facilitation, and communication strategies of merger activities. Additionally, Paco is adjunct faculty at Georgetown University (Diversity Equity and Inclusion Program). He holds an Organizational Development Masters Degree from American University, a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science from Saint Leo University, is a Certified Executive Coach, and is certified in multiple psychological assessments. Paco Valencia has more than 30 years of military, government, and private sector experience. He uses his behavioral science theory, training, education, and work experience to provide custom designed consulting services. Paco served 25 years in the United States Navy traveling worldwide to facilitate performance improvement workshops and seminars. He worked closely with Admirals and Generals and was responsible for managing large systems transformational change throughout the organization. He successfully led activities and interventions like culture and readiness surveys, performance assessments, Executive/Mid –level/Individual Contributor Coaching, stakeholder analysis, focus group facilitation, and communication strategies of merger activities. Paco is adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership and Georgetown University and is a native Spanish speaker.

KC Wagner is the Director of The Worker Institute at Cornell ILR’s Equity at Work Initiative. Using an intersectional len and a multi-disciplinary, equity centered and systems change approach, she has specialized in the prevention of sexual harassment, gender bias, bullying, gender-based violence and promoting inclusiveness and ally ship in the workplace for over 30 years. KC’s applied research includes cultural audits and educational needs assessments that centers workers voice using a participatory model of survey design and implementation; and methodologies that empowers and engages workers to be active in research that has influenced educational programming, public policy and cultural change initiatives. KC has provided educational coaching for employee who have violated their employers polices, implemented educational programs for unions in DFR and Title VII settlement agreements and testified as an expert witness in sexual harassment court cases. She has received awards from Cornell’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women, the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the US National Committee for UN Women. KC holds a Masters in Social Work from Hunter College School of Social Work and a Master’s of Labor and Industrial Relations from Rutgers University.

Eben A. Weitzman, Ph.D. (Colombia) is a social and organizational psychologist specializing in the resolution of conflict. Professor Weitzman does organization development, equity and inclusion, and conflict resolution work with organizations in the public and private sectors, including in education, government, law enforcement, social services, business, and labor. He is actively engaged in building interfaith understanding, collaboration and peace in Nigeria with the USAID-funded Tolerance project; among teenagers in Israel/Palestine with the NGO Ultimate Peace; and between federal law enforcement agencies and the Muslim and Sikh communities in Massachusetts through the BRIDGES project. He was the founding Chair of the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance, and directs the Graduate Programs in Conflict Resolution at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Lara Weitzman is CEO of Re\Vision Labs, a coaching and organization development firm specializing in unleashing the power of values based leadership and creative problem solving to achieve excellence. Lara has worked with the BOLD Center since 2004, where she built and directed the Coaching Program from 2010-2021. For the past 25 years, she has worked with individuals and organizations to build healthy cultures through values based strategies, transforming leadership behavior and team dynamics, and building workplace cultures of equity and belonging. Whether the work is leadership, team or group coaching, or organizational change, Lara’s work is trauma informed, somatically grounded and centers power analyses. From this place she guides leaders and systems to transform behaviors and processes around race, gender and other dimensions of difference with both palpable change and deep compassion. Her work moves organizations toward greater purpose, stronger relationships and performance excellence. Lara has worked extensively in labor, non profits and corporations, as well as LGBTQIA+ and Jewish organizations. She served on the coaching faculty of the Center for Progressive Leadership and the Rockwood Leadership Institute. She is a former modern dance choreographer, has a Master’s in Cultural Studies from Carnegie Mellon and coaching certification from NYU.

Eva Young is an innovative and results-focused leader with over 20 years’ experience in the field of organizational learning and development. Eva is also a certified coach who supports leaders as they strive to inspire and sustain more positive results in their lives and communities. Eva holds a Master’s degree in Social and Organizational Learning from George Mason University; is a Certified Coach from the Newfield Network; and is a Community Fellow of the Massachusetts, Institute of Technology. Her commitment to changing the leadership landscape and to the development of future Latina leaders led her to establish La Trenza Leadership, a non-profit organization that provides leadership development opportunities for an intergenerational community of women and girls of color. Eva Young is a spiritually and purpose centered consultant working in organizational learning, capacity building, and culture change. Eva supports individuals and teams to access their purpose, values, wisdom, and capacity to thrive by listening to what they are longing for. Eva co-designed the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Leaders for female leaders. She co-designed and co-facilitated the Pipeline Project 21st Century Fellows to develop LGBT leaders of color. Eva is the co-lead and a member of the design and facilitation team of the Service Employees International Union’s BOLD Center, Sowers of Creative Leadership Initiative for women of color and gender expansive people of color. Eva is committed to learning and embodying Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+ and feminist practices and ways of being to support her transformational work. She has worked with diverse communities in the public, private, philanthropic, non-profit, and labor sectors promoting intersectionality, racial justice, equity, inclusion, co-powering, self and collective care, healing, and play. Eva holds a Master’s degree in Social and Organizational Learning from George Mason University; is a certified coach from the Newfield Network; and is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Community Fellow. Eva was raised in Panamá, and lives in Washington, DC. Eva Young is an innovative and results-focused leader with over 20 years’ experience in the field of organizational learning and development. Eva is also a certified coach who supports leaders as they strive to inspire and sustain more positive results in their lives and communities. Eva holds a Master’s degree in Social and Organizational Learning from George Mason University; is a Certified Coach from the Newfield Network; and is a Community Fellow of the Massachusetts, Institute of Technology. Her commitment to changing the leadership landscape and to the development of future Latina leaders led her to establish La Trenza Leadership, a non-profit organization that provides leadership development opportunities for an intergenerational community of women and girls of color.