Avi Kruley
Avi Kruley co-founded The Next Big Step (a 501c3 nonprofit) in 2022 with the vision of one day co-creating a new intentional community. That dream continues to live on in the work Avi does today, consulting with individuals and organizations striving to put intention into practice. Avi thrives in the liminal magic of transitions and the juicy complexity of relationships. Her diverse toolbox of experience and education empowers her to build bridges between ideals and daily life. A passionate player in the world of Intentional Community for over a decade, Avi is inspired by the transformative power of this unique intersection of people, place, and purpose. She studied how to effectively infuse values into the systems that govern us while earning a dual degree MBA/MPA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School. Born as the daughter and youngest in an interracial and interfaith family, living in and embracing diversity is Avi’s natural state. She brings the richness of her full queer self and the four decades of lived experience into her work, encouraging those around her to do the same. Avi works best with clients who enjoy co-creation, appreciate a focus on interpersonal connection, and are willing and ready for change. Using a whole-systems approach, she uncovers underlying dynamics, develops shared understanding, and identifies leverage points for focused action. For those who are part of a group that is struggling with division and/or disconnection, Avi helps design and facilitate intentional gatherings that catalyze cohesion. She holds intention, intimacy, and integrity as guideposts while working at the confluence of purpose, strategy, and relationships.
Melinda Varfi
Uri Noy Meir
Uri Noy Meir was born in a small village near the sea of Galilee and is now based and lives in central Italy, on shores of Lake Trasimeno. He is well versed and experienced in facilitating with activating the untapped collective intelligence and dormant creativity in communities, organizations and multi-stakeholders eco-systems. Uri has trained with the world’s leading experts in Theatre of the Oppressed, Dragon Dreaming and Social Presencing Theatre, and uses them as trans-formative ingredients with which to empower communities and individuals in diverse settings and contexts. He believes the powers of the arts in growing and making visible our interconnectedness and support the well-being of people, organizations, and the world. Trained and mentored by Hector Aristizabal (ImaginAction.org) he dedicates his energy to bring the transformative power of the arts to turn “wounds” into “blessings”, and illuminate the “what is” and “what if” in communities, organizations and whole systems. Uri trained with the founder of Dragon Dreaming (dragondreaming.org), a holistic method for the implementation of creative, collaborative, sustainable projects, John Croft, and he is accompanying inspirational projects, social innovators and community leaders worldwide in applying it. As an Advanced Practitioner of Social Presencing Theatre, he participated in the inaugural Presencing Institute’s Social Field Research Summer School, and he is part of a global network of researchers sensing and iterating new pathways for awareness-based system change. Uri has a graduate degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and Latin American studies.
Angela Eni
Angela Eni is the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the Central and West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE), a multinational food security program implemented in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo. She also doubles as the WAVE Country Director for Nigeria’s North Central and South-West regions. Angela is passionate about food security and collaborates with technical experts from across the globe in her effort to mitigate crop yield losses caused by plant viral diseases through transboundary plant pathogen monitoring/early warning, policy advocacy, development and implementation of response preparedness plans, as well as regional, national and institutional capacity building. In her role as an Associate Professor of Plant Virology at Covenant University Ota, Nigeria, Angela is passionate about equipping African youths with skills and tools for global competitiveness. Prior to joining Covenant University in 2009, Angela spent over 10 years at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan and was the interim Head of the Virology and Molecular Diagnostics Unit of IITA for over two years. She is a Fellow of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) and a firm advocate for Africa to feed itself and contribute to feeding the world, giving Africa’s vast agricultural potential. Her area of expertise includes capacity building, program design, training, facilitation, monitoring and evaluation.
Rizwaan Akhtar
Rizwaan Akhtar is a facilitator, trainer, and civic leadership development professional with over fifteen years of experience helping individuals unlock their potential to create positive social change and foster inclusive communities. He is the Senior Director of Learning, Development, & Inclusion at Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE) where he designs experiences that support leaders to engage politically and build more just and liberatory systems. Based in Chicago, Rizwaan is a Board Member of the Chicago Community Bond Fund and a former Local School Council member of Reilly Elementary School. Before LEE, he led an international team at World Learning, overseeing an initiative that trained over 2,500 young people in civic leadership and peacebuilding efforts in Iraq and the U.S. His expertise includes dialogue facilitation, conflict resolution, cross-cultural communication, and people management. Rizwaan is a Fellow of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, is proficient in Arabic, Spanish, and Urdu, and holds an Executive Nonprofit Management Certificate from Georgetown University, an M.A. in International Education from the SIT Graduate Institute, and a B.A. in Psychology and Middle East Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mira Bangel
Mira (German/Iranian, based in Spain) is an experienced process facilitator and team coach, passionate about fostering participation, authenticity and collaboration for a meaningful purpose. She is convinced that collaboration and effective participatory processes can help us cope with the world’s most pressing challenges. With 16 years of experience in the development of active communities, business and entrepreneurship across Europe, Mira is an expert (and constant learner) in the development of collaboration processes, and in the co-creation and meaningful transformation of teams and organisations. Mira enjoys supporting organisations and groups that feel ‘stuck’ and face challenges and faces intellectual, systemic and human complexity with enthusiasm. Mira is an Art of Hosting (participatory leadership) host and a trainer of Sociocracy 3.0, Design Thinking and non-violent communication. For the past 5 years she has been supporting the European Commission as facilitator and consultant for knowledge management strategies, decision making, process consultancy, communities of practice and organisational change. Mira has lived and worked in 14 countries around the globe, holds a Bachelor degree in Communication Management, a Master of Science in Environmental Decision Making, is certified SCRUM Master and currently in the certification process with CNVC. Mira is co-founder of SenseTribe, she is also fluent in 6 languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Dutch.