Donna Brazile is Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.  A veteran Democratic political strategist, Brazile is the former Campaign Manager for the Gore-Lieberman 2000 -- the first African-American to lead a major presidential campaign.  Prior to joining the campaign, she was Chief of Staff and Press Secretary to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia where she helped guide the District's budget and local legislation on Capitol Hill.  Brazile is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Washingtonian Magazine's 100 Most Powerful Women in Washington D.C. and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Award for Political Achievement.

Judy Sorum Brown is an independent educator, speaker, consultant, poet and writer, whose work in organizations revolves around themes of leadership, change, learning, strategy, dialogue, creativity, diversity and renewal. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Michigan State University and has served as a White House Fellow, Special Assistant to the US Secretary of Labor, Chief Financial Officer, Assistant Dean and Director of Executive Programs of the College of Business and Management at the University of Maryland, and Vice President for Seminars and Cooperative Programs of the Aspen Institute. She is the author of The Sea Accepts All Rivers and of The Choice.

Ronald Dubberly has over 30 years of experience as an urban library administrator and consultant. Mr. Dubberly’s expertise is in developing master plans for libraries; assessing library facilities and recommending capital improvement projects; developing building programs, planning for services and their delivery; improving organizational design; analyzing management practices; providing management services; and matching senior management needs of libraries with qualified personnel. Mr. Dubberly was Director of Libraries of the 35-branch Atlanta-Fulton Public Library for ten years. Chief among his manay accomplishments was his conceptualization, construction and opening of the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History, the only facility of its type in the Southeast fully devoted to these subjects. He also served for twelve years as the Director of the Seattle Public Library.

Herbert Elish was named Director of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in December 1998 and retired in February 2005. In 1971 he became the Commissioner of Sanitation of New York City and then the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Administration. Other positions include Vice President of Citibank N.A., Executive Director of the Municipal Assistance Corporation of New York, and Senior Vice President and member of the management committee for International Paper. In 1986 Mr. Elish joined the Dreyfus Corporation as Senior Vice President and in 1987 was named Chairman and CEO of Weirton Steel Corporation, from which he retired in 1995. From 1996-2000 he chaired the City of Pittsburgh Housing Authority.

Mark Gordon is a Founding Partner and Managing Director of Vantage Partners LLC, President of Conflict Management, Inc., Chairman of Conflict Management Group and Senior Advisor to the Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard Law School. As a negotiation and relationship management specialist, he has advised corporate clients, launched strategic alliances, mediated the settlement of litigation, and facilitated and conducted workshops for executives, union officials, government officials, military officers, and diplomats in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America. Mr. Gordon also has worked for the U. S. State Department, the Democratic National Committee, Senator Hubert Humphrey, and Ralph Nader, and has taught at the University of Stockholm. Mr. Gordon has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Cecy Kuruvilla of Kuruvilla Associates is an Organization Development/Diversity Consultant who provides strategic and tactical support, consultation, training and retreat facilitation to organizations. Previously, she was Director, Office of Diversity at Freddie Mac in McLean, Virginia for 2 years and Senior Organization Development/Diversity Specialist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland for 6 years.  As an independent consultant, she has facilitated  workshops at AT&T, DuPont and Lucent Technologies. She has conducted Diversity Training for Mobil Co., GSA, Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Reclamation under the SCENDIS contract. Cecy holds an MS in Human Resources/ Organization Development from American University, Washington, D.C. and an MA in Psychology from the University of Mysore, India.

Rick Maurer consults to leaders and their teams on ways to handle change effectively. A speaker and writer, Rick has written five books, two on resistance to change. Clients include Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, Fannie Mae, MTV Networks, Charles Schwab, Deloitte and Touche, the government of Guyana, and the International Monetary Fund. His company, Maurer and Associates, brings a range of experience in managing change, work redesign, management development, and facilitation.

Martha Miller is a management consultant. She has worked extensively on projects focusing on cross-cultural communication, creating effective work teams and managing diversity. Her clients include General Electric, General Motors, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and the U.S. Foreign Service. She was asked by NASA to advise them on cross-cultural dynamics affecting optimal crew selection for the planned Space Program. Miller received a Ph.D. from Harvard University. A Dartmouth Fellow, she was selected as the representative to the Aspen Institute’s Executive Seminar, and taught for several years at Yale’s School of Organization and Management, where she became Associate Dean. She is the Editor of the journal Small Group Research.

Denice Rothman is President of Management Performance Concepts, Inc. Dr. Rothman has nearly twenty years of experience in non-profit and public sector management, planning, group facilitation and training and research. Dr. Rothman is a trained presenter for the Drucker Foundation Self-Assessment and utilizes this planning model. She also has unique experience working with urban libraries. In the mid-1990’s, she began volunteering for the Southeast Library Information Network which launched a free-net across South Florida. From volunteer work, Dr. Rothman moved to manage a team of tri-lingual trainers who demonstrated the free-net in urban neighborhoods and rural libraries. Other library engagements included staff development for University of Miami librarians and librarians at the main branch of the Broward County Library. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Florida International University.

Dale Thompson is the Library Director at the Providence Public Library.  Under her direction, this esteemed urban Library with its nine branches throughout Providence achieved national recognition from the White House and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) by receiving the Institute’s 2001 National Award for Library Service. Dale herself received the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council’s 1999 Robert Goodrich award for outstanding fiscal responsibility and financial stewardship. Kim Chace, an astute financial investor, nominated Dale and the Providence Public Library.  Dale is a member of the Rhode Island Legal/Educational Partnership Board, The Rhode Island School of Design Library Committee and the URI Graduate School of Library and Informational Services Advisory Committee. She is the Co-Chair of the Rhode Island Library Association’s Legislative Action Committee and an Evaluator for the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Coaches

David Coleman is an organizational psychologist and business consultant to both professional service firms and corporations, primarily in the areas of strategic planning, dispute management, and executive coaching. He is co-creator of the executive coaching program at the International Monetary Fund, has presented to national audiences on executive coaching, and is a highly-regarded teacher in the Organization Development Certificate Program at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia. He has more than fourteen years experience in coaching managers from CEOs to first-line supervisors in both private and public sector organizations. He is also the creator and owner of ODSeminars.com, an on-line educational resource for change agents and consultants.

Catherine Fitzgerald is an organizational psychologist and principal of Fitzgerald Consulting, a company that offers executive coaching to senior executives. Her clients have included Fannie Mae, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Fitzgerald received a Ph.D. in Psychology from SUNY Buffalo and did postgraduate work at Yale University. Fitzgerald is an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University where she teaches about leadership, adult development, and complexity of mind. She has also taught courses on leadership development and organizational change at the National Leadership Institute and School of Public Affairs, both at the University of Maryland. She is the co-author of Executive Coaching and of Developing Leaders.

Patrick Flanagan has been an executive coach and organizational consultant in the Washington, D.C. area for over twenty years. As an executive coach, Dr. Flanagan works with individual leaders in a confidential and comprehensive manner. Coaching centers on helping individuals to broaden their leadership skills, improve communication and relationships, clarify and prioritize goals, manage stress, and enhance work performance to better achieve organizational results.  Recent clients include Fannie Mae, Capital One, NASA, Overture Technologies, Price Waterhouse Coopers, State Farm Insurance Companies, Verizon, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  Dr. Flanagan has been an adjunct faculty member at the National Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland/University College and the Human and Organizational Development Program at Vanderbilt University.  He is licensed as a Clinical Professional Counselor and nationally certified as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor. He received his Ph.D. from Catholic University.

Cheryl Green is a seasoned organization development professional with global experience working with individuals, teams and organizations in diverse industries and functions. Her primary practice area is in executive development which includes executive succession, talent management and the coaching of senior executives in the private and public sectors.  She is the former Director of Executive Development and Organization Effectiveness with Motorola, Inc.  She spent three years with the NutraSweet Company in marketing and strategy positions after serving individuals and organizations in the public sector.  Cheryl holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and an M.B.A from Northwestern University.  Her diverse clients include Nextel, Merck, Smithsonian Institution, Washington Mutual, International Paper, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Akin, Gump, Hauer, Strauss & Feld, World Bank and CIGNA.

Ellen Harvey is a licensed psychologist and executive coach with 16 years experience consulting for private and public sector organizations on the issues of executive and management development, training design and delivery, and organizational development.  Dr. Harvey has provided coaching and consulting for  the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, Fannie Mae, and Capital One. She specializes in leadership development, strategic thinking, performance management, productivity, and interpersonal relations. In addition, Dr. Harvey is on the faculty of the National Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland. Prior to consulting, Dr. Harvey was a Senior Psychologist for the U.S. General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C. She holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. 

Mark Leach is a consultant, researcher and writer working mainly with not-for-profit organizations in the areas of public health, the environment and international development. He helped develop and run the Sustainable Development Services (SDS) Project, which assisted development agencies in reducing their dependence on grants and becoming more financially sustainable. Dr. Leach coordinated and staffed the Asian NGO Leadership Fellows Program; developed new theory and change interventions to improve interorganizational partnerships; and designed and facilitated numerous organization change efforts. During his six years with the Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group he worked to create culturally inclusive and high-performing organizations in the private and public sectors. His formal training includes a B.A. in Political Science from Williams College, a Masters in Public and Private Management from Yale University and a Doctorate in Organizational Behavior from Boston University.

Regina Romero is a managing partner of Psychological and Educational Associates, Inc. in Washington D.C. As an adjunct faculty member of the National Leadership Institute, Romero is both a trainer and an assessor for the Leadership Development Program, and Foundations of Leadership. She has a broad range of experience in group dynamics and organizational life in both the private and public sectors. She consults with a variety of groups on issues of transition, team-building, leadership and authority. Romero earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the George Washington University and is a member of the Association of Black Psychologists and the American Psychological Association. She is the author of "The Icon of the Strong Black Woman: The Paradox of Strength" in Psychotherapy with African-American Women by Leslie Jackson and Beverly Green.