Executive Transition Consultants, A-M

Dorothy Chen-Courtin

Dorothy Chen-Courtin has been with the Executive Transitions Program since 2008 and brings over 25 years of leadership in the non-profit and for-profit arenas to our consultant pool. She is an expert on adapting and applying best practices from the for-profit sector for the benefit of non-profit clients. Dorothy’s clients have included regional and national foundations, municipalities, arts commissions and arts councils, as well as museums and cultural, educational and human services organizations.

In addition to her executive transition projects, Dorothy’s work has included organizational assessments (focusing on lifecycle strategies, environmental opportunities, board governance, operations, finance, branding, positioning and strategic communications); founder and leadership transition, search and coaching; market feasibility studies; and strategic and business planning with expansion or right-sizing objectives.

Dorothy writes and speaks frequently on non-profit leadership, management and marketing issues nationwide. She is the lead presenter for a multi-year Entrepreneurship Leadership Institute, sponsored by the Cooperstown Graduate Program, N.Y.

A Barnard College graduate, Dorothy earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Oriental art history from Columbia University and an MBA from Northeastern University. She taught marketing management and a seminar on negotiations for the Rensselaer Polytechnic MBA program in Hartford, Conn. Dorothy serves on the boards of Visitors Studies Association, Arts Extension Service of University of Massachusetts, Amherst, The Boston Club and IdeasBoston Advisory Committee. She co-chairs the WGBH Community Advisory Board and is the recent past chair of the YWCA of Boston.

“The Esplanade Association is fortunate to have selected Dorothy Chen-Courtin as the consultant who helped recruit a new executive director for the organization… In addition to being professional, talented, and knowledgeable, she is also exceptionally organized and very effective in keeping challenging work moving forward in a positive manner… Dorothy is a delightful and charming person who is a pleasure to work with and I am honored to have made her acquaintance. I am pleased to highly recommend Ms. Chen-Courtin to future prospective clients.”

Jeryl Oristaglio
Founder and recent past President
The Esplanade Association

Patricia Duarte

Patricia Duarte joined the Executive Transitions Program in 2006, bringing with her more than 25 years of experience in corporate management. Her non-profit clients are from a variety of sectors including domestic violence, homelessness, immigration, medical, funding agencies, policy development, political organizing and advocacy. Her experience also includes providing consultancy services to schools, universities, state funded agencies and municipalities.

In addition to her accomplishments in non-profit executive transitions, Patricia is a consultant with vast experience in services in human resources management and organizational development, organizational and individual assessment, executive search, staff recruitment, change process facilitation and training.

Patricia holds a B.A. in English and an executive MBA. She has earned numerous certifications in HR management, change process facilitation, survey research methods, organizational and individual assessment. Patricia lives with her family in Hopkinton, Mass., where she is an active volunteer serving on the personnel board of the Town of Hopkinton and as volunteer director of the Hopkinton Community Education Program.

“Patricia's work for us was professional and competent. She was able to generate enthusiasm in applicants to an extent that we had many, many more inquiries and applications than on any of our other searches resulting in 7 good candidates. She set up the interviews, helped us organize our evaluations and then set up the final interviews. In addition to bringing in a large number of (applicants). Patricia was able to evaluate them and select the most promising candidates for our consideration. She was able to screen them by interviewing them in person or over the phone to choose not only the true applicants but also understand how their assets matched our needs.

“Patricia's ability to develop good candidates for our consideration and her guidance in our interviews and evaluations resulted in two people who would do excellent work with the final choice matching our needs very well.”

Franklin “Pat” Pond
Little Compton Community Center Board of Directors
Little Compton, R.I.

Judy Freiwirth

For over 30 years, Judy Freiwirth has consulted to more than 250 community-based, regional, and national organizations and coalitions whose missions focus on social and economic justice, advocacy, social change, housing and community development, human service, environmental issues, education, the arts and healthcare. Much of her practice over the last 10 years has focused on social change organizations that serve communities of color, immigrant communities and low-income populations.

Judy is a charter member of the Executive Transitions Program and has conducted all aspects of executive and organizational transitions, including organizational assessment and executive coaching. She also conducts frequent national and local workshops on executive transition and cultural competency.

Nationally-known, Judy is also considered one of the leading trainers and consultants in the area of board governance and has been a keynote speaker and trainer at many national and regional conferences. Judy is a board member for the Alliance for Nonprofit Management as well as the founder and chair of the Alliance’s national network of researchers, consultants and management support organizations around the country focused on developing new models of board governance.

Judy has published numerous articles and publications with her latest articles on innovative governance models, entitled “Engagement Governance for System-Wide Decision Making” and “System-Wide Governance for Community Empowerment,” recently published in The Nonprofit Quarterly. A graduate of Clark University, Judy holds a doctorate in psychology, specializing in organization development from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology.

“We thank Judy Freiwirth for her exemplary work for our organization! Under Judy’s tutelage we learned how to conduct employee searches, interview candidates, facilitate retreats and conferences, and most importantly, how to learn to work with each other in an effective manner as we continue the struggle to end the senseless wars that are devastating so many lives. Judy served as mentor, advisor, counselor, facilitator and consultant. Under her guidance we hired a national director, deepened the capacity of the board… and successfully managed to transition from a founder-led to a board-led organization…. I will personally be forever grateful to Judy for the lessons I have learned from her, and for the over and above service she provided to our organization.”

Adele Kubein
Member
Military Families Speak Out’s National Board of Directors’ Executive Committee

Dan Gibbons

Dan Gibbons has more than 20 years of business, management and organizational development experience and has been affiliated with the Executive Transitions Program since 2006. His breadth and depth of executive transitions includes working with founders and original board members as well as successor executive directors and young boards. Dan’s diverse mission-based clientele include youth advocacy, philanthropic foundation, environmental advocacy and community development organizations.

Dan’s client-centric approach involves working closely with the search committee, ensuring that leadership and organizational needs are clearly articulated as well as character compatibility is defined. He conducts the search, assists with recruitment, and provides post-hire support for the new executive director, board and management team. Dan works diligently to ensure that the time and monetary investment provides a maximum return for his client’s new leadership.

Dan’s expertise also includes organizational change management, board enhancement and strategic planning. Dan has served as board chair for the United South End-Lower Roxbury Development Corporation for 4 years, and as a board director of the American Cancer Society, Price Unit. He has received numerous recognitions for his work. Dan has an M.A. in Urban Studies from the University of Akron.

“An executive director transition is a crucial time for any organization to go through and survive. We worked closely with Dan Gibbons at Third Sector New England who led us through a process with a structure that was sensible. We ended up with the internal candidate, but we were really clear and confident on why we chose her, and that helped the relationship thrive.”

Maria Jobin-Leeds
Founder
Access Strategies Fund 

Nancy Jackson

Nancy Jackson is a charter member of the Executive Transitions Program and has facilitated over a dozen planned executive transitions since 2004. Nancy’s executive transitions work is strengthened by her extensive experience in non-profit capacity building, training and facilitation, and as a non-profit executive director. Nancy’s clients are from a wide variety of non-profit sectors including housing, philanthropy, arts administration, humanities, theater, environmental, youth, social justice and social services.

Nancy offers an in-depth understanding of shared leadership. Until 2003, she served as co-executive director of New England Network for Child, Youth and Family Services (NEN) which she helped found in the early 1980s. NEN is an intermediary organization offering capacity building and youth development practices to non-profit youth agencies. She later served as interim vice president at the United Way of Central Massachusetts.

Nancy serves on a variety of boards relating to her athletic interests and her national involvement with facilitation certification and training. Leadership roles include executive committee service for ToP Trainers Network, a professional facilitator’s national association, and chairperson of the Association of the Cotuit Mosquito Yacht Club.

Nancy is a graduate of Colorado College and Boston College Graduate School of Social Work with a concentration in community organizing/social planning. Additionally, Nancy is a Certified Facilitator and Qualified National Mentor Trainer for the Institute for Cultural Affairs in Technologies of Participation facilitation methods.

“We were very excited to have the opportunity to work with Third Sector New England's Executive Transition Program and feel we were very fortunate to have had Nancy Jackson as our consultant on the project. Nancy really listened to us and, within the overall structure of the Third Sector program, brought a flexibility to the execution that met our unique needs.

"Nancy’s superior facilitation skills were a real asset to us as she was able to engage a diverse group of stakeholders and make them feel listened to and a part of the process while helping to get everyone moving in the same direction toward the organization’s overall goals.”

Martha Crawford
Board President
Farmington Valley Arts Center
 

Margo Kelly

Margo Kelly has been with the Executive Transitions Program since 2004 and has over 30 years of experience in non-profit leadership and management. Margo’s vast knowledge of executive search and organizational assessment is complemented by her expertise in executive coaching and organizational transitions. In addition to her experience as a strategic and highly effective manager, Margo possesses exceptional written and oral communication skills as well as the ability to facilitate difficult discussions among diverse audiences and stakeholders to a positive and productive conclusion. Her clients range across a variety of industries including engineering, architecture, the healthcare industry, human services and public access television.

Margo’s background includes numerous roles in non-profit senior management positions. Most recently, Margo served as the first chief operating officer of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (now NeighborWorks America) where she oversaw the growth and critical functions of a $118 million national organization with offices in 11 states and 250 staff.

In addition to her work as an executive transition consultant, Margo is currently an executive coach at Harvard’s Kennedy School in the Achieving Excellence Program and with the District Management Council under contract to the Boston Public Schools. Margo is a graduate of Newton College of the Sacred Heart, now a part of Boston College.

“Margo’s insight, experience and sensitivity were invaluable contributors to a successful search. All milestones were achieved on time and our understanding and expectations of the entire process were clear because of Margo’s deft handling of both individual and collective interests. SECHC is extremely pleased with the result of the search and especially with Margo’s contributions to the entire effort.”

Tristram Blake
Retiring Executive Director
South End Community Health Center, Boston, Mass.

Stewart Lanier

P. Stewart Lanier has over 15 years of experience supporting and guiding nonprofit organizations through developmental and transformational change. In addition to his executive transition work, Stewart is a member of TSNE’s interim executive pool which provides a unique perspective to his approach in facilitating executive transitions. He has worked with clients in a variety of non-profit sectors including animal welfare, community organizing, domestic violence, community centers, faith-based, healthcare, youth, state government, networks/coalitions and small community-based start-ups.

Stewart’s consulting expertise includes engaging staff and stakeholders in developing shared vision and strategy, assessing organizational and operational strengths and needs, stabilizing workplace dynamics, and developing effective operational procedures and strategic planning.

Stewart has served on the boards of the North Central Charter Essential School in Fitchburg, Mass., and the Central Massachusetts Hispanic Initiative of the United Methodist Church, and he has also led “reverse mission” trips to the Dominican Republic.

Stewart began his professional career as a pastor, has had clergy standing in the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church, USA, and maintains his ordination in good standing in the United Methodist Church. He holds a Master of Science degree with distinction from American University in organizational development, as well as a M. Div. from Candler School of Theology, Emory University.

“Stewart skillfully leads groups to productive ends, summarizes progress concisely and eloquently, and follows through with commitments. The Milford Best School project ended successfully, not only with an acceptable solution to a complex scheduling problem, but also with tremendous leadership growth shown by individual group members. Stewart possesses a warm personality, is very friendly, easy to approach, and listens to everyone's input. I recommend Stewart to any group that is serious about accomplishing difficult objectives and making substantial progress toward important goals.”

David Gebhardt
Ed. Consultant
New Hampshire Department of Education