Skip to main content

UFacilitate

Erin Bresnahan

Erin Bresnahan is a bilingual (English/French) strategic advisor and facilitator whose work bridges evidence, action, and human dynamics. Over 15+ years, she has partnered with foundations, multilateral institutions, civil society organizations,and companies in more than 90 countries. Today, as Co-Founder and COO of AvoMotion Advisory, Erin co-leads a firm serving nonprofits, foundations, multilateral organizations, and private sector clients of all sizes, facilitating strategic planning workshops, board retreats, and multistakeholder convenings. What sets her approach apart is the pairing of rigorous, data-grounded strategy work with genuine facilitation craft: she builds the KPI dashboards and measurement systems a room will need after the workshop ends. Erin holds an MA in International Affairs from Carleton University with a specialization in international development and conflict studies, and a Bachelor of Business Administration.

Neharika Dembla

Neharika Dembla is a facilitator, strategist, and social impact professional with international experience across the UK, Thailand, India, Guatemala, and other global contexts. Her work spans organisational culture, DEI, sustainability, innovation, entrepreneurship, customer experience, and community building. With a background in law and an MSc in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management from Imperial College London, Neharika brings a strong human centred and entrepreneurial approach to her work. She has designed and delivered programmes focused on gender equity, employee engagement, behaviour change, wellbeing, and inclusion, working with organisations ranging from global companies to startups, NGOs, and community organisations. As a multiple time co-founder, Neharika has hands-on experience turning ideas into experiences, products, and communities. This includes co-founding Friends of Friends in Thailand, where she designed curated offline experiences for groups of up to 80 people, as well as developing ventures in education, wellbeing, and sustainable food. Her approach is grounded in curiosity, creativity, and understanding people before designing solutions. She draws on design thinking, customer journey mapping, stakeholder engagement, and her experience across different cultures to create inclusive and engaging experiences that help people connect, contribute, and move ideas forward.

 Kāvya Raman

Kāvya Raman believes design is the use of power to shape what’s possible. She designs and facilitates spaces for change with organizations, movements, governments, and communities learning how to become good future ancestors. Her work focuses on shaping strategies, practices, and ways of working that help people and institutions cross thresholds with care, courage, and imagination. Over the past fifteen years, Kāvya has lived and worked across war zones and megacities including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Turkey, Jordan, Haiti, Egypt, Italy, and the United States, navigating cultures, languages, and ways of knowing, being, and belonging. Her experience spans social impact design, facilitation, coaching, organizational leadership, and program strategy with nonprofits, foundations, international organizations, and governments, including collaborations with The International Rescue Committee, The Gates Foundation, Oxfam International, Global Affairs Canada, and the U.S. Department of State. Her superpower is adaptation.

Ashley Johnson

ashley johnson

Ashley Johnson is a leadership development advisor, facilitator, and executive coach with more than 15 years of experience helping leaders scale their impact when their roles grow. Through Brightwell Leadership, Ashley partners with organizations to design strategy and experiences grounded in real organizational context. Her work spans leadership development programs, team alignment, and coaching leaders through the shifts in thinking and behavior that growth demands. She is known for bringing both strategic clarity and genuine humanity to her work, helping leaders and teams move from insight to action in ways that are thoughtful, practical, and built to last. Before founding Brightwell, Ashley held senior leadership development roles at global organizations including Hilton, Levi Strauss & Co., and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals. During that time, she led enterprise leadership strategy, leadership and executive development programming, and large-scale leadership capability building. Ashley holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and is an ICF-certified coach, CliftonStrengths trainer, Korn Ferry 360 and ATD-certified facilitator.

Michael Fryer

michael fryer

Michael Fryer has been creating spaces in which people can explore the things that really matter for the past 29 years. His work has taken him all over the world and given him an opportunity to gain insights into the core ingredients of healthy teams and communities. He learned his trade in Northern Ireland with The Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation center. Their focus on the importance of relationships, and on listening and intentionally creating a space in which new perspectives can emerge, resonated deeply. From 2018-2024 he taught applied skills-based courses as a Professor of Practice at the University of San Diego’s Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies. Accompanying and guiding a team as they journey from confusion, frustration and apathy through to engagement, clarity and enthusiasm about their next steps is always such a privilege. Michael focuses on highlighting the links between seemingly random and unrelated ideas, themes and perspectives and then connecting them with the challenges being explored with a team. Through asking better questions, Michael helps teams move past simplistic explanations for complex challenges and transform deeply rooted conflicts and change processes. He has most recently focused on helping senior leaders navigate the inevitable challenges of digital transformation initiatives. He lives in the beautiful mountains near San Diego with his wife Vanessa and young daughters Eloise and Lucette.

Gautam Paul

gautam paul

Gautam Paul brings over two decades of international leadership experience across media, technology, and professional services. He has a proven track record of driving performance, transformation, and growth in volatile and complex corporate environments. Having revitalized underperforming teams, scaled high growth organizations, and led cross functional groups across the UK, India, and New Zealand, Gautam combines strong commercial acumen with deep insight into human motivation and leadership effectiveness. His coaching approach blends strategic clarity with practical execution, enabling senior leaders to strengthen their influence, navigate change with confidence, and build resilient, high performing teams. Gautam has advised executives in startups, established enterprises, and global firms, equipping them to align teams to strategy, manage competing stakeholder demands, and deliver measurable business impact in times of uncertainty. Known for driving growth through clarity and culture, Gautam has supported leadership teams to achieve breakthrough results by sharpening goals, strengthening communication, and embedding accountability. In one instance, he coached a stagnant leadership team to double their results within a year by focusing on mindset and collaboration rather than pressure alone. He has also guided leaders launching new ventures to assemble, mentor, and align high performing teams, enabling successful initiatives and strategic partnerships. His work consistently helps leaders turn complex challenges into opportunities for growth and impact. Across his engagements, Gautam emphasizes expanding leadership presence, deepening strategic focus, and unlocking individual potential to ensure sustained high performance and meaningful results.

Aru Daswani

aru daswani

Aru Daswani is an ICF PCC accredited leadership coach and facilitator working one to one with leaders, teams and organizations in the deep inner transformation needed for a positive impact in society and the planet. She creates safe spaces to allow for the shift of consciousness and the inner development needed for the evolution of humanity, using the Inner Development Goals framework as a catalyser for transformative change.

Laura Ines Romero

laura ines

Laura Inés Romero s an executive coach and leadership development consultant with more than 20 years of international experience leading global teams, driving organizational transformation, and helping leaders thrive in complex, multicultural environments. Drawing on her background in technology, business, and organizational development, she partners with managers and leaders to strengthen self-awareness, build stronger relationships, and create more engaged, high-performing teams. Throughout her career, Laura has held leadership positions at IBM in both Argentina and the United States, as well as at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Argentina and Washington, D.C. She has led globally distributed teams across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, managing organizations of more than 1,000 professionals while leading initiatives in employee engagement, organizational culture, talent development, diversity and inclusion, Agile transformation, and leadership development. As a certified executive coach with more than six years of coaching experience, Laura combines strategic business thinking with emotional intelligence and deep listening. Her coaching helps leaders navigate change, increase their leadership effectiveness, communicate with greater authenticity, and develop the confidence to lead through uncertainty. She believes that meaningful leadership begins with creating space for reflection, self-awareness, and genuine human connection. In addition to coaching leaders, Laura has trained new coaches, facilitated leadership and creativity workshops, and designed leadership development programs for managers and emerging talent. She also volunteers as a facilitator of an emotional education program for young adults and is the founder of YellowSeeds, where she helps individuals and organizations build more conscious, human-centered workplaces through coaching, facilitation, and leadership development. Laura is an International Coaching Community (ICC) Certified Coach, a Certified Scrum Master, and holds an MBA in Business and Technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciece. Her multidisciplinary background enables her to bridge business strategy, technology, and human-centered leadership to help individuals and teams grow with purpose and impact.

Carmen Franco

Carmen Franco is passionate about co-creating transformative experiences with her clients, helping organizations and leaders explore their potential to increase their impact. Using her varied background and experiences in start-ups, Fortune 500 corporations, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations. Carmen is committed to enhancing organizations, your practice, team, and/or company via 1:1 and/or team coaching — be it face-to-face or virtual. Having lived and worked in other countries, like Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia, speaking multiple languages, Carmen also has a unique awareness and sensitivity to coach effectively in cross-cultural business environments. Her coaching approach draws on her keen understanding of leadership, organizational culture, business, diversity, equity and inclusion, social justice, teams, and individual change. Carmen embraces diversity and is a champion for psychologically safe, respectful, inclusive workplaces.  In addition to clients across the U.S. She has clients in many countries, including China, Singapore, France, Germany, India, Philippines, and Saudi Arabia.

Joey Leskin

joey leskin

Joey Leskin is a Masters-educated Leadership Consultant from London who has been designing and facilitating experiential and educational events for audiences across the globe for over a decade. He specializes in communication and management skills training, team culture development and event facilitation, bringing innovative solutions to companies, organizations and foundations that span sectors from international development to science and technology. He also has a particular focus on inter-cultural dynamics and the power of diversity, having had experience in over 70 countries. Notable clients include the British NHS, the Center for Cultural Power in Washington D.C. and Falling Walls Science Foundation in Berlin.

Get monthly facilitation tools, insights & stories.

Join thousands of changemakers making systems change happen with our monthly insights newsletter.