Our Leadership Cohort

We are pleased to introduce you to the incredible leaders who have joined us for year 2 of our virtual leadership cohort -
Activating Change: A practical training for leaders who want to learn how to implement big change and keep equity on the table. 

Below you can learn more about who we are sharing the first part of 2023 with (more to come!). Click on the image and then hover over the photo to read what these incredible folks are up too (or scroll below - your choice)! 

Dany Pen, Executive Director
Raleigh International Bermuda

Dany Pen is a Human Rights/Court Advocate, the Executive Director of Raleigh International Bermuda; and Founder of Women's A.C.T, an international advocacy group pushing for equality, justice, empowerment and support for survivors of sexual assault, violence and domestic abuse. She was also formerly the Commissioner of Human Rights in Bermuda. In 2016, Pen was appointed to serve on the Human Rights Commission as a Commissioner in Bermuda; she would also be the first Khmer/Cambodian Woman to serve on the Human Rights Commission in the country of Bermuda.

In 2016 in Canada, she was honoured with the  "World Builder" award by OCAD University, which is the highest honours bestowed upon individuals who have made substantive humanitarian contributions to their community and culture; and individuals who are active in supporting global causes. She is also the first Khmer/Cambodian woman to be honoured with this prestigious award in Canada.

Estela Padilla, Executive Secretary
Office for Theological Concerns of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference

Estela is the executive secretary of the Office for Theological Concerns of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference (FABC) and is with the leadership team of FABC as it celebrates fifty years of 'journeying with the Asian churches' and looking forward to renewing spirituality and structures in their ministries 'towards a better Asia'. 

She is also deeply involved in the Synodal Process, a Catholic church renewal movement happening globally, as a member of the National and the Asian Synod Team; she has also been appointed to the Theologican Commission for the Vatican General Secretariat for the Synod 2021-2024. Her passion is in community-building and has been working with Basic Ecclesial Communities in the Philippines and abroad. 

As a theologian, she believes in participative and local theologizing among faith communities. She is co-founder and until now working for Bukal ng Tipan, a pastoral training center that journeys with different dioceses in the Philippines and abroad for a mission of ‘a participatory church in the world’. Estela has a doctorate degree in theology and is finishing her doctorate in Organizational Development. 

Flavia Ladino, Founder
The Future is Human(e)

Flavia started The Future is Human(e) as a way of bringing together her experience in the art of hosting, strategic communications, events management, and diversity, equity, and inclusion to create more inclusive workplaces for all.

She believes immersive experiences and audiovisual storytelling have the power to drive positive impact around the globe. With a unique focus on new masculinities and the belief that we need everyone, especially men, to join forces in tearing down patriarchal systems, she designs and hosts group conversations with audiovisual support as the key distinctive element, to enhance awareness and understanding of how to do just that.

Flavia holds a BA in Public Relations from Universidad Argentina de la Empresa and received a full scholarship from DAAD to complete a Business Certificate in Strategic Communications at the International School of Management in Dortmund, Germany. She's also held leadership positions at Impact Hub Network, driving employee engagement across cultures, languages, and experiences through storytelling; Impact Hub Antigua, and AIESEC in Argentina and Guatemala.

Floriane Ethier, Data Advisor, Data Impact and Policy
Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness

Floriane Ethier (she/they) is motivated by their empathy, driven by their curiosity and directed by their need to take action. This has led them through a path of community centered work since 2013, including activism and community organizing. They completed a B.A. in Sociology at Concordia University in 2018 and soon after joined the Old Brewery Mission’s research department. They had an essential role in the configuration, implementation, and training for the launch of Quebec’s first shared HIFIS 4 network. Later, they also became the network’s HIFIS administrator. 

Floriane lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka/Mohawk nation. It has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst many First Nations including the Kanien’kehá:ka of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Huron Wendat, Abenaki, and Anishinaabeg.

Hamad Salama, Project Leader
Sensus

Hamed Salama works with Sensus as a Project Leader for mental health in six different cities throughout the south of Sweden. His background as a family therapist has given him tools for self-reflection as well as relation-based process, system functions and inner development. 

For 22 years, Hamed has developed his leadership and is now ready to take on any challenge. Hamed believes that serving others is automatically connected to how you see and help yourself. His focus is on being present in the moment to what is really needed. 

He is glad to meet other people from around the world to exchange experience. This is his first course in English so it is a new challenge.    

Hélène Branch, Co-Founder + Strategic Organizational Consultant
Bird & Branch Consulting

Born and raised in New Brunswick, my passion for bringing people together around a common goal was sparked at a young age when I got involved in student politics and community building. I started my career on Parliament Hill in the mid-nineties where I worked for a Member of Parliament, a Cabinet Minister and in the Prime Minister’s Office, gaining valuable insights on the inner workings of government.  My interest in government morphed into a deep curiosity about how people impact organizations and how organizations impact people.  I decided to pursue my studies in organizational psychology, graduating with a Master's of Science from the University of London, Birkbeck College.

A leap of faith in 2005 led me to a small lake on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, where I quickly connected to the strong sense of community found in rural areas. Since then, I have worked with business, government, communities and non-profits on variety of projects in the fields of organizational development, change management, communications and engagement, leadership development and strategic and business planning and facilitation. 
 
I am a compulsive continuous learner keen to expand my understanding and perspectives. I enjoy sensemaking, troubleshooting, strategic thinking and challenging the status quo, preferably with a cluster of passionate collaborators. I strive to add value and create positive team dynamics to help bring out the best in individuals, groups and leaders. My family and I live in an old farmhouse in Wentzell Lake, Nova Scotia.   

Jennifer Hoos Rothberg, Executive Director
Einhorn Collaborative

Jennifer Hoos Rothberg leads Einhorn Collaborative, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to addressing America’s growing crisis of connection by advancing the science and practice of empathy, mutual understanding, and relationship building in the United States. Jenn, who joined in 2007, oversees all aspects of the foundation in partnership with its Founder and Trustee, David Einhorn, including setting strategic priorities and building collaborative partnerships that advance our ability to embrace our differences, see our common humanity, and solve our country’s biggest challenges together. Jenn is a member of the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community, the Town School Board of Trustees, and the NationSwell Council. She received her Master’s in Regional Planning and Bachelor’s in Urban and Regional Studies with Honors from Cornell University. She lives in NYC with her husband, two children, and cockapoo, Zucca. 

Jessica (Joy) Candelario, Pastoral Program Coordinator
CICM-Bukal ng Tipan Center

As pastoral program coordinator, Joy oversees the center’s various pastoral programs, courses, and collaborative engagements with various groups. As a center that works towards the vision of a more synodal and participatory church in the world, the team focuses on empowering individuals and institutions with participatory approaches to Catholic education and faith formation. It also accompanies dioceses and parishes in their vision-mission, strategic planning and training. Given their liminal role in church visioning and systemic change, the center has been contributing in the national and international level especially in the ongoing synodal process for the Catholic church. 

Joy has been engaged in pastoral ministry for more than 30 years. She was a fulltime parish worker, youth minister and counselor, and has taught pastoral courses in universities and schools of theology/pastoral ministry. For more than 10 years, she was Executive Secretary for the Youth Desk under the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences organizing regional conferences for Asian youth and youth ministers and spearheading collaborative endeavors between youth commissions, movements, and organizations in Asia. During the past national elections in the Philippines, Joy engaged in her town campaigning for the “pink movement.” This group has been transformed into a private volunteer organization working for a more politically engaged citizenry and for ethical leadership and participatory governance. 

In 2020, Joy completed her Ph.D. in Practical Theology in St. Thomas University, Miami Florida. 

Karen Simmons, Programme Director
The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, Bermuda

Karen Simmons is the Programme Director for The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, Bermuda. 

The Duke of Edinburgh is a fun-filled and flexible programme for young people between the ages of 14 to 25. The programme fosters personal growth and delivers on teaching motivation, commitment, leadership, team-work, self-discovery, and achievement of one’s full potential through participation in challenging and non-competitive activities of community service, personal skills, physical recreation and adventurous journeys. 

Karen is responsible for the operational success of The Duke of Edinburgh, including overseeing and being accountable for operations and administration of the Award Programme - Standards and Training Member, National Award Leader and Assessor for Qualifying Journeys nationally and internationally. 

The Award helps young people discover, develop and achieve their greatest potential through activities involving community service, developing personal skills, physical recreation and adventurous journeys that are completed locally and overseas. 

Karen was the former Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, Instructional Team Leader and Education Officer at the Middle and Senior School levels over 25 years in Bermuda and the United States.

Kimberley Jackson, Programme Manager - Mirrors
Government of Bermuda

Kimberley Jackson is a life coach, empowerment agent and Programme Manager for Mirrors, a personal development organization in Bermuda for young adults.  She collaborates with numerous Government departments and non-profit organizations to support positive youth development.  

Kimberley co-chairs the Youth Development Zone Community Connectors, a collective impact with a focus to be responsive to the emerging needs of the young adult population of Bermuda; and enhance the lives of young, Black men by shifting culture, mindsets and systems.  She sits on the National Youth Policy Working Group and the Bermuda National Standards Committee.  

Kimberley is committed to being a source of empowerment, promote youth activation and self-agency to transform communities.  She holds a Masters in Human Resource Development and has been working in the human services field for over 30 years. 

Lilli Cox, Director of Communications and Community Investments
St. Croix Foundation for Community Development

Lilli Cox serves as the Director of Communications and Community Investments at St. Croix Foundation for Community Development (SCF), a small, 32-year-old place-based community foundation serving the U.S. Virgin Islands. At the foundation, Lilli works to build awareness around SCF’s unique brand of philanthropy, which has an expansive programmatic wingspan that includes program administration, direct services, and grantmaking. Working with diverse members of the public, private, and civic sectors both at home and beyond the shores of the Virgin Islands, Lilli advocates for greater investments into the Virgin Islands and has an innate curiosity about how the field of philanthropy itself can innovate. Lilli is a native Californian who has set her roots in the island of St. Croix. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Western Governor’s University and a Master of Science degree in Communications from the University of Illinois. 

Lisa Pryor, DEI Consultant
Indy Equity Collaborative

Lisa Pryor has dedicated her entire career to creating safe spaces for all people. Prior to her work as a DEI consultant with Indy Equity Collaborative, Lisa educated and coached over 1,200 students from 3 years old to seniors in high school. While she served as the Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at a private school in the midwest, she challenged herself and the entire community to work towards shaping a space where everyone felt a sense of belonging. Lisa passionately pursues her dream of creating spaces in which all people feel seen, known, understood, and loved through her consultant work and as a peak performance coach for the mind, heart, and soul.

Melinda Bain, Improvement Advisor
Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness

Melinda Bain is Anishinaabe from Wabaseemoong Independent Nation from the Treaty 3 territory. She was born and raised as a guest on Mohkinstsis (Calgary) Treaty 7 territory. She carries two BAs one majoring in Law and Society and the other degree majoring in International Indigenous Studies. Melinda comes with twenty plus combined years as a professional, activist, and volunteer in numerous community programs that focus on ending homelessness. 

Not only does Melinda bring front-line experience, she has lived experience of homelessness, and brings to the table a unique lens that finds the silver lining when faced with challenging opportunities. The community views Melinda as a relentlessly passionate young woman who utilizes her powerful voice and education in advocating for positive change in social issues. The elders have taught her many values and one is to always speak with kindness, truth, and from the heart. Melinda is thrilled and over the top excited in working alongside other passionate humans within Built for Zero Canada and CAEH.

Nicola Paugh, Executive Director
Inter Agency Committee for Children and Families - Bermuda

Nicola is the Executive Director of IAC Bermuda. She is responsible for leading the organisation and driving its capacity building initiatives which strengthen Bermuda’s social sector. Prior to joining the IAC, Nicola worked in public, private and non-profit sectors.  Nicola has a doctorate in Public Policy and Administration, with a research focus on the role of personal development in maximizing social and human service provision. 

Nicola has served on a number of committee and Boards, including the Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Committee and the Government of Bermuda’s Interagency Gang Community Response (IGCR) Committee. In 2011, Nicola was selected as one of 100 women honored by the Government of Bermuda’s “100 Women, 100 Visions” initiative.

Pa Dao Yang, Equity and Inclusion Program Specialist
Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, City of Bloomington, Minnesota

Pa Dao Yang (she/her) self-identifies as Hmong/Southeast Asian/Asian American, first generation, and with a low-income and immigrant/refugee background. She was born in Lacrosse, WI and moved to North Minneapolis, Minnesota at a young age. 

Pa Dao is currently the Equity and Inclusion Program Specialist for the Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the City of Bloomington, Minnesota. Previously, her career was in higher education for 10 years serving in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion capacity roles. Outside of work, Pa Dao sits on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Education Equity Partnership and North Minneapolis Education Advisory Committee with the Jay and Rose Phillips Foundation. Pa Dao was a previous member of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Coalition of Asian American Leader’s (CAAL) Education Workgroup, CAAL’s 1st Cohort: Making Our Voices Effective for Equity (MOVEE), and Minnesota Association of Counselors of Color. 

She’s a certified Qualifying Administrator for the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and a trained facilitator for Racial Healing Circle by Coming To The Table. Pa Dao currently resides in North Minneapolis, Minnesota with her partner, two kids, and two dogs.

Phyllis Brashler, Planner & Project Manager
Minnesota Department of Health

Phyllis is a planner and project manager with the Minnesota Department of Health. A sociologist by training and a public health professional by trade, her work focuses on strengthening and improving Minnesota’s statewide public health system. 

Phyllis is currently working with a team of public health leaders at the state and local level to transform Minnesota’s public health system for the future. This means supporting innovation in public health practice; modernizing data systems; putting communities most impacted by health problems at the center of public health practice; supporting strong public health leaders; helping shift public health practice towards creating the social and environmental conditions that most positively impact health; and helping to assure a consistent foundation of public health programs and services is available across the state, regardless of where one lives. 

Phyllis believes that we all do better when we all do better and that no single profession or discipline can solve today’s complex challenges alone. Nothing makes her happier than working across sectors or disciplines to build better solutions. 

Robyn LeBlanc, Improvement Advisor
Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness

As an invested community member and a heart-forward leader, Robyn is deeply committed to doing her part to design systems and support services that are accessible to all community members. 

Born, raised, and currently residing on the East Coast, she brings to the team more than 8 years of experience working in the non-profit sector with a particular focus on community-based research, program design and evaluation, project management, and community organizing. 

Her B.A. and M.A. in Sociology has provided her with a greater understanding of the strengths and challenges facing our community around issues related to economic disparity, housing and resource security, and the varied ways in which folks come to interact with community supports and programs. 

Robyn is particularly interested in the ways in which housing systems are set up to either help or hinder the inclusion and prosperity of historically marginalized communities. Having been part of her communities Coordinated Access System and the chair of their local Built for Zero team, Robyn has found a passion in advocating for housing as a human right and deeply believes that by providing the right housing with the right level of support at the right time, we can end chronic homelessness in our community and beyond.

Sandra (Chap) Chapman, Founder
Chap Equity

Sandra (Chap) Chapman, Ed. D. is the Founder of Chap Equity, an organization rooted in the belief that, through teamwork, we can learn more about ourselves and others; discuss and discover the foundational research needed to address the needs in a community; create conversations that support individuals where they are and confront barrier issues; and create actionable steps towards building stronger educational communities.

In addition, Dr. Chap is the Deputy Director of Programs and Curriculum at the Perception Institute, where she identifies opportunities to translate the mind sciences and other essential concepts into interactive trainings that build the capacity for clients to transform their organizations. Chap facilitates workshops on racial identity development, racial microaggressions, implicit bias, identity / racial anxiety, and stereotype threat in education, healthcare, and with teams in various types of organizations. Embedded within each concept are tools for helping individuals override unconscious phenomena linked to identity and better connect behavior with values. Between 2019 and 2021, Dr. Chap worked as the lead on Identity Development for the Great First Eight Infant and Toddler curriculum development project, led by Dr. Nell K. Duke at the University of Michigan. Great First Eight is a full day, project-based curriculum designed to integrate all disciplines, prioritizing science and social studies to an unprecedented degree for the infant through primary grades, and to support educators in enacting culturally relevant pedagogy. 

Tiffany Krauss, Assistant Health Commissioner & Chief Nursing Officer
Columbus Public Health

Tiffany Krauss was appointed Assistant Health Commissioner and Chief Nursing Officer at Columbus Public Health in 2020. In her role, Krauss oversees the department’s Clinical Health and Family Health divisions.

Krauss has 24 years of combined experience working in nursing and public health, and joined Columbus Public Health in 2013. Prior to her appointment as Assistant Health Commissioner, she served as Administrator for Columbus Public Health’s Clinical Health division, where she oversaw, directed and coordinated programs and activities in the clinical health area. Before this, she served as Clinical Operations Manager and Deputy Administrator for the division, where she supervised staff and provided operational oversight and additional leadership. Prior to joining Columbus Public Health, Krauss worked as a registered nurse in both Columbus and Florida.

Krauss has a master’s degree in nursing administration and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Mount Carmel College of Nursing. She also holds associates degrees in nursing and liberal arts from Pasco-Hernando Community College in Florida.