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Strategic Partners
The Academy for Leadership and Action is a year-round training and leadership development program that focuses on building the sustainability of movement organizations and leaders. The National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change is one of the primary venues for Academy trainings but so is your community! Academy for Leadership and Action trainings will be taking place in communities throughout the country and touch on almost every aspect of LGBT policy making, organizing, movement building and organization building.
OpenSource Leadership Strategies
Evangeline Polly Weiss brings expertise in work culture, teamwork, leadership development, adult learning, and large-scale institutional change. With a background in public health, Evangeline worked with Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the NYC Department of Health before serving as Director of Diversity and Equity Programs at Duke University, where she received the Distinguished Activist Award by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Task Force.
Gita Gulati-Partee brings expertise in asset-based methods of inquiry and engagement, organization and network development, adaptive leadership and change, strategy, and advocacy. Prior to founding OpenSource, she served as Public Policy Director with the NC Center for Nonprofits and as a Program Officer with The Cleveland Foundation. Gita has published books and articles on advocacy, philanthropy, nonprofit management, education and racial equity.
The Doctor Is In
Martha Vail’s service in the independent sector spans three decades and many roles, from volunteer (Chinook Fund, 32nd Ave. Jubilee Center) to staff (The National Faculty, Colorado Chautauqua Association, Gill Foundation) to board member (Colorado Preservation, Inc., Civil Rights Now). Her Denver-based consulting practice focuses on governance, fundraising strategy and organizational development. Dr. Vail earned degrees from Smith College and Yale University, and is an alumna of the Grantsmanship Center and the Fundraising School at Indiana University.
realChange Partners
Over the past 20 years, Mickey MacIntyre has provided countless trainings and consulting to local, regional and national organizations and communities throughout the country. Since 1996, he has provided fundraising and organizational development coaching to over 1,000 local and 50 national organizations. MacIntyre’s primary client base intersects on the issues of reproductive choice, health care and civil rights. Clients include local, statewide and national progressive organizations and institutions where MacIntyre has assisted in building their capacity for social change.
GLBT Community Center of Colorado
Hope Wisneski is a community activist who has worked in the LGBT community for over a decade. She is passionately committed to issues of social justice and creating safe space for marginalized voices to be heard. Prior to her appointment as deputy executive director, Hope served as the Center’s Director of Youth Services for four years. Hope is active locally and statewide working to create public policy, programs, and coalitions that address issues of social justice. She serves on advisory boards for the American Society on Aging, the University of Denver, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Johnson and Wales University. Hope lives in Denver, with Courtney Errico, her partner of 12 years, and their son Brendan. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to provide leadership in developing the vision for The Center and to serve Colorado’s diverse LGBT community
Terry Hildebrandt is an independent executive coach and organization development consultant. He helps senior and mid-level executives of medium and large sized businesses build high performance teams. He also helps corporate refugees transition from employees to independent small business owners. Terry is also the cofounder of the Out & Equal Rocky Mountain Affiliate and a certified Out & Equal Building Bridges Trainer. He is a doctoral student at the Fielding Graduate University studying Human and Organizational Systems. Terry lives in Denver, Colo.with his partner, Michael,
Seven Generations Consulting
Cole B. Cole holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and has worked as a community facilitator, strategist and consultant for the last ten years. Drawing on her experience as a community, Cole works at the intersection of financial management and individual donor management. Cole works to build strong internal systems and organizational culture that align with their fundraising needs. Cole also co-authored Through the Lens of Culture: Building Capacity for Social Change and Sustainable Communities.
Patricia St. Onge is the founder of Seven Generations Consulting and brings over 20 years of experience leading and working with nonprofit and public sector agencies. She provides training, consulting and technical assistance in the areas of community organizing, social justice advocacy, organizational development, cross-cultural effectiveness, consensus building and spiritual and personal coaching. Patricia has served as an interim executive director for numerous nonprofits and foundations. She is also the lead author of Embracing Cultural Competency: A Roadmap for Nonprofit Capacity Builders.
Beth Zemsky Consulting
Beth Zemsky M.A. Ed., LICSW, currently works as a consultant specializing in multicultural organizational development with organizations working towards social change and movement building. She has 25 years experience as a community organizer, educator and organizational leader including serving as the founding Director of the GLBT Programs Office and adjunct faculty in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota, and former co-chair of the Board of Directors of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Beth is the co-author the recently published article "Building Organizations in a Movement Moment" (Social Policy, Summer 2008).
Michael Bell
Michael is the co-founder, president and CEO of InPartnership Consulting Inc., an organizational development and strategic change firm specializing in global diversity and leadership development. Based in the Bay Area, Michael is a leader in the fields of organizational development, diversity and strategic planning. He designs training, leadership development programs and conference presentations, and is an expert in assisting organizations in understanding their cultures and their need for transformational learning. He is also an executive coach and consultant and a core member of two national think tanks, Fetzer Institute's "Healing the Heart of Diversity" and the "Bohemian Dialogue Research Group." Michael is a graduate of Cornell University, and his doctoral work at the California Institute of Integral Studies focused on organizational development and cross-cultural communication with a focus on "Adult Learning and Change." Michael is also an advanced facilitator using the conflict resolution model of Powerful Non-Defensive Communication.
Renna Communications
Leah McElrath Renna is an expert on communications and language with nearly two decades of experience helping people and organizations clarify and reach their goals. As a professional clinical social worker with a Master of Social Work degree from the Smith College School for Social Work, Leah has extensive experience both as a communications consultant working with individuals and organizations and as a psychotherapist working with adults and children, individuals and families. Leah has authored and contributed to the production of materials published in The New York Times Magazine, USA Today, the New York Daily News, AM New York, the Philadelphia Inquirer, theAdvocate.com, Gay.com, Time.com, the Huffington Post and other influential media outlets. Leah is an expert on communications and language with nearly two decades of experience helping people and organizations clarify and reach their goals.
Cathy Renna is nationally recognized as a media relations expert and as a leader within the LGBT community. She was a major force behind the success and growth of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), where she worked for 14 years. Since leaving GLAAD, Cathy has worked to increase the visibility of clients such as 2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai, the Matthew Shepard Foundation, the Point Foundation, Family Pride and the Williams Institute. In her 17 years working in media relations, Cathy has garnered placements in every major newspaper and television outlet in the country, including “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Newsweek and a Time magazine cover story.
