Email Stephanie Nestlerode
Stephanie's Resume

Stephanie K. Nestlerode, MSW

Stephanie Nestlerode, founding partner of OPI, has been a strategic planner for over thirty years in a wide variety of settings - multi-hospital systems, utilities, academics, government, associations, and community collaborations. She specializes in taking organizational performance and community health to the next level. In her words, the future we create is the legacy we leave our children. Her education includes a Bachelors Degree in Social Work from the University of Oklahoma, a Masters Degree in Social Work Administration from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and a Certificate in Gerontology and Marketing from the University of South Carolina.

Email William Nestlerode

William Nestlerode, Ph.D.

William Nestlerode, a founding partner of OPI, provides technical consulting and serves as OPI's chief technology officer. He began his career as a Professor of Mathematics at the University of South Carolina. He then served as Director of Research Computing to bridge the faculty into the world of computing. During the past twenty years he has provided systems engineering expertise to MCI, BSDI, Tivoli, Hewlett-Packard, Agilent Technologies, Innerwall and ConfigureSoft. His education includes a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma, a M.A. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Email LaDonna Coy

LaDonna Coy, MHR, CPS, CDLA

LaDonna Coy works with communities and provider networks to use social media technologies that bring people together online in new ways – ways that help them connect, network, communicate, collaborate and learn to improve local conditions – designing for a better future. Her current work specializes in the design, weaving, development and production of web-based learning sessions, conferences, Interactionars™ and online communities of practice.

Formerly with the Southwest Prevention Center and CSAP's Southwest CAPT, LaDonna holds a bachelor's degree in Liberal Studies, a master's degree in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma as well as certification as a Prevention Specialist and Distance Learning Administrator/Instructor.

Email Diane Miller

Diane Miller

Diane Miller's background blends project management, civic engagement, group process design, and corporate and civic culture change expertise. As assistant director at Envision Central Texas (ECT), she was instrumental in the design and execution of numerous multi-stakeholder projects that have helped raise awareness and mobilize action on sustainability issues. Prior to her work at ECT, Diane worked in the field of organizational development, with a focus on leadership, teamwork, change processes and strategic planning. As a project manager for Pecos River Change Management, and with her own consulting firm RCR-Discovery, Diane worked with corporate clients to design and implement leadership and team development initiatives. She has a B.A. in liberal arts and has studied extensively in the areas of systems thinking, organizational and human development, and group dynamics.

Email Taylor Willingham
Taylor's Curriculum Vitae

Taylor L. Willingham

Taylor L. Willingham is a public engagement and change management consultant. She helps organizations and communities to engage in dialogue about big, thorny issues and find common ground for acting together. She founded the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum's initiative,  Texas Forums a network of individuals and organizations that use dialogue and deliberation to help people address challenging issues and find new ways to work together. She teaches Change Management and Civic Entrepreneurship for the Graduate Library and Information Sciences distance education program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she is a Fellow for the UIUC Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

She blogs at: http://www.texasforums.wordpress.com and http://www.austin-pacific.com and knows just enough about social media technology to be dangerous.

Email Glenna Gerard
www.GlennaGerard.net

Glenna Gerard

Glenna says ‘My work is my art is my life is my play…’

Glenna has pioneered in the world of dialogue. Her book with Linda Ellinor entitled DIALOGUE: Rediscover the Transforming Power of Conversation has been translated into Portuguese, German and Chinese. She has contributed many articles to a variety of international publications.

Glenna partners with consultants, leaders, individuals, and groups, in the private and public sectors to develop ways to make the principles and practices of Dialogue more accessible to people in practical forms, in their individual practice, in a business, in personal relationships, in interfaith and intercultural communities.

Glenna offers Presence Walkabouts, opportunities for leaders to partner with the Power of Place to deepen personal presence, discernment and clarity on the ‘next elegant step’ forward.

Email Elizabeth Fadell

Elizabeth Fadell, MSSW

Elizabeth has been working with organizations and individuals focused on leadership, innovation, transformation and service quality improvement for over 20 years. She is committed to a developmental approach that incorporates dialogue, whole systems thinking, strategy development, indigenous wisdom, generative leadership and breakthrough improvement. Elizabeth had worked internationally in settings ranging from wireless telecommunication companies, information technology organizations, state and municipal government, universities and public education to managing a professional theatre to organizing community dialogues dedicated to enhancing civic conversation and collective action. She is committed to the process of integrating personal discovery with organizational development. Elizabeth is the Managing Member of The Enterprise Group, a management consulting firm based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Philosophy and a Master of Science degree in Social Work with an emphasis in Total Quality Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Email Robert Bixler

Robert Bixler

Robert Bixler has designed and delivered technical assistance systems at the community, regional, state and federal levels. As the Deputy Project Director for the SAMHSA Strategic Prevention Project, he designed and managed a national outcome-based assistance system. Within Colorado as the Project Director for the Regional Prevention Center System, he created interactive data-base tools used throughout the state. He developed a technical assistance system that incorporated regionalized planning, targeted assistance based on social and health indicator data and inter-agency collaboration. As the National Project Director on the CSAP State Capacity Building and Training contract he oversaw training curriculum development, technical assistance and training delivery related to state capacity building for the United States. While Director of the Training Institute at the National Drug Research Institute he managed a program with a budget of over $3 million and whose staff trained over 12,000 workers. He conducted long-range planning and restructuring of training organizations and oversaw curriculum development. He has a Master of Divinity from Yale University and a BA in Psychology from the University of Illinois.

Email Elizabeth Doty
www.worklore.com

Elizabeth Doty

Elizabeth Doty is an organizational learning consultant, coach, and facilitator with a passion for using story to understand complex recurring problems. Time in the trenches in a variety of industries has allowed her to talk with over 400 people about the challenges, triumphs and dilemmas of doing work they are proud of. For the past 19 years she has consulted to organizations on complex operational and leadership issues, helping leaders and teams increase the alignment, integrity and engagement that allow them to generate extraordinary value.

Email Lisa Heft
www.openingspace.net

Lisa Heft

Lisa Heft is President of the Open Space Institute-US, a Fellow with Columbia University's Center for International Conflict Resolution and Adjunct Faculty with Sonoma State University's Psychology Department Organizational Development Program. She has facilitated groups of 2000+ in dialogue, consulted on conflict resolution processes for teams working in Northern Iraq and East Timor and facilitated dialogue between prison inmates. Clients on six continents include the International AIDS Conferences, U.S. Departments of Labor and Transportation, National Forum for Geosciences Information Technology, U.S. Scholar-Athlete Games, Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Inc., National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Canadian Council for Tobacco Control, the United States Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps and the Centers for Disease Control in Mozambique, the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies and Heifer International.

Ms. Heft's articles and interviews have been featured in Beyond Bullets and Bombs: Grassroots Peace Building Between Israelis and Palestinians and in Convene, Systems Thinker, Corporate Meetings & Incentives and IEEE Software magazines. Her papers on facilitation, interactive learning and community health have been translated into Spanish, Kiswahili, Swedish, Korean and Braille.

Email Ken Homer

Ken Homer

Ken Homer founded Collaborative Conversations after a decade of collaboration with the founders of the World Café. Concurrent with his work at the World Café, Ken earned a certification in Integral Coaching© through New Ventures West – where he created their Graduate Department and where he currently serves as Adjunct Faculty. In the mid-1990s, Ken was the Director of Research and Development at Sustainable Strategies, Inc., working on the creation of a year long adult education course to foster thriving communities. Ken works with clients to build their competence to design and convene conversations that include all relevant voices, address complex issues and make wiser decisions that enjoy widespread support. He clients include: NASA, Nike, Genentech, The National Park Service and the University of California at Santa Cruz. When he is not working, he enjoys hiking, reading, live music and chi kung. Ken is a long time member of, and serves on, the Stewards Circle for The Bay Area Society for Organizational Learning.

Gary Jackson

Gary Jackson (retired), founding partner of OPI, has held senior executive positions with Xerox, Cannon, Loral, Emerson Electric and Material Sciences spanning operations, international marketing, sales, human resources and organizational development. Gary's consulting experience includes manufacturing, health, service, government, private foundations, and education. He is an expert in Japanese business practices and has successfully helped bridge the diverse cultural gap existing between East and West. He holds the black belt in Kendo and applies many of these long-proven principles and values to his work.