Our Associates

We are fortunate to be able to include in client projects, as needed, several highly skilled colleagues who bring depth in different areas such as large-scale change, building collaborative agreement and workshop design:

Nancy Aronson has consulted to education, healthcare, business, and community organizations since 1980. She has developed and applied innovative collaborative processes for managing change, has extensive experience designing and facilitating large-scale change efforts, and supports and coaches leaders. Nancy contributed chapters to Future Search in School District Change and The Handbook of Large Group Methods. She co-developed the Collaboration Imperative seminar and the System Coherence Framework for Change Leadership.

Jill Golde is particularly effective at building professional partnerships to analyze and address individual and organizational issues. She supports individuals, teams and organizations through a genuine connection with people, a willingness to take risks, a sense of humor and an ability to share her perceptions in ways that others can hear. In recent years, Jill’s client work has included an appreciative focus, helping individuals and organizations illuminate their core vitality and strength to build a vision that truly stretches towards their ideal. Jill is known for partnering with clients to gain staff involvement, commitment and alignment in order to ensure successful project outcomes.

Ferne Kuhn's background in designing, implementing and facilitating organization-wide change efforts, career and leadership development programs and executive coaching all focus clearly on outcomes. Ferne has applied her business experience, managerial expertise and understanding of organizational power and systems dynamics in education, health care and financial services in both the corporate and non-profit world.

Dorel Shanon is an independent consultant with experience in leading teams and groups. For the past decade she has worked with non-profits to facilitate leadership development, strategic planning and implementation, team development, and workplace communication. In addition to helping many of her clients develop and strengthen their Boards of Directors, Dorel has served on the Boards of several Philadelphia non-profit organizations. She is especially interested in facilitating processes that result in the realization of visions for individuals, groups and organizations, and in infusing work with a spirit of appreciation and joy.

Lonnie S. Weiss is a designer and facilitator of policy development initiatives, strategic planning processes, and collaborative working sessions. She specializes in complex planning and policy situations that span multiple sectors and professions, and helping leaders develop facilitative and collaborative leadership approaches. Lonnie applies the principles and methods of group dynamics, strategic planning, adult learning, Appreciative Inquiry and collaborative practices in her work. She works at local, state, regional and national levels with not-for-profit organizations, governmental agencies and private industry.

Nancie Zane, Ph.D. is a social psychologist and a Principal with
Praxis. Her work over the past twenty years has centered on the development of diverse leadership teams and the establishment of effective employee relationships within the corporate, non-profit and public sectors. She also coaches mid- and upper-level managers in Wharton's Advanced Management Program as well as in a range of Praxis client systems. In addition to working at the individual and group levels, Nancie works with organizations in transition to help them re-align their organizational mission, culture, and structure through innovative visioning and strategic planning processes. Nancie is currently on the faculty of the Dynamics of Organization Program at the University of Pennsylvania.