Anna Kompanek
Anna Kompanek is an experienced project manager, trainer, and facilitator with background in business strategy, democratic governance, and economic development. In her most recent role as Director of Global Programs at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), a non-profit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, she managed an extensive portfolio of programs spanning emerging and frontier markets focused on public-private dialogue, business integrity, political and economic empowerment, and strengthening transparent and inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystems. Her global experience in coaching and facilitation includes developing high-performing teams, organizational capacity building for non-profits and business associations, strategic planning, change management, fostering resilience, multi-stakeholder dialogue, and coalition building for policy advocacy. She is passionate about leveraging facilitation as a transformative tool for shaping inter-personal relationships in teams, driving organizational change, and achieving systems-level transformation. Anna serves as Program Advisor on Business and Governance at the Oxford Analytica Foundation, and in prior roles she worked as a management consultant in Central Europe and in the U.S. Anna holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and an MBA from George Mason University. She is a Project Management Professional (PMP), a Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional-International (CCEP-I), and in her spare time a yoga teacher (RYT-200).
Sarah Ellison
Sarah Ellison is a seasoned facilitator, strategist, and organizational development leader with over 18 years of experience working in 18 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and South Asia, the Middle East, and North America. She has lived and worked in Benin and Malawi, bringing a deep cross-cultural perspective to her work. With a BA in History from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MA in International Development from American University, Sarah has designed and led strategic planning sessions, leadership retreats, network convenings, and high-impact learning events for community-based organizations, national NGOs, social enterprises, global philanthropy, and the United States Government. Sarah’s facilitation style is grounded in evidence-based approaches and shaped by her passion for community-led development, network weaving, and capacity sharing. She has a proven track record in guiding complex, multi-stakeholder processes, fostering collaboration, and helping teams align around shared goals. Her commitment to building stronger, more connected communities extends beyond her professional work. She co-founded Local Pivot, which mobilizes pro bono expertise to support local nonprofits, and contributes actively to the Local Systems Community. In her own neighborhood in Maryland, she continues her lifelong practice of service through volunteering and community engagement.
Victor Udoewa
Victor Udoewa is a Principal Service Designer in the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology at the CDC and a Senior Fellow at the International Computer Science Institute. Before that, he was the Chief Technology Officer, Chief Experience Officer, and Service Design Lead of the NASA Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (SBIR/STTR) Programs. Before NASA, he was Director of Strategy at 18F, a civic consultancy for and inside the federal government. He started the education business unit, developed a line of educational products and services, directed strategy, managed the digital strategists’ practice, and served as a designer and strategist on partner projects. Previously, as a Global Education Instructional Designer and Training Development Specialist at Google, he designed learning experiences for people in low-to-middle-income countries around the world. The education could range from experiences covering how to develop web applications and how to use the internet to improve teaching and learning, to experiences exploring how to use internet technologies in post-disaster emergency response situations as well as global digital literacy. As a part of that work, he also advised Google in global energy and access work. Prior to Google he served at USAID and DHS as a science & technology policy advisor and development engineer focusing on infrastructure, post-disaster reconstruction, climate neutrality and global health. Building on his time teaching in secondary schools, he sometimes teaches teachers as an educational specialist and adjunct professor of education focusing on science and math education through classes, workshops, and video series. He still conducts and publishes engineering, design, or education research and is a certified health crisis and trauma counselor focusing (HIV/AIDS, miscarriage, etc.). Pre-COVID, he enjoyed singing in his male a cappella group and teaching salsa classes on the weekend. He still enjoys time with his wonderful family and his local choir.
Fernando Murray
Fernando Murray is a seasoned Designer, Facilitator, and Consultant with over two decades of experience supporting organizations and communities across Brazil, Canada, the United States, and beyond. He specializes in collaborative design, participatory leadership, and group facilitation, working with corporations, non-profits, educational institutions, government agencies, and grassroots organizations to design inclusive and effective processes to navigate complex challenges. Fernando has led and contributed to large-scale engagement processes, leadership development programs, and organizational change initiatives. A highly skilled practitioner of Liberating Structures, horizontal leadership, and virtual collaboration, he has designed and facilitated training for thousands of professionals, helping teams enhance communication, decision-making, and innovation. His leadership in the facilitation field includes serving as Co-Chair of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) North America Conference (2019). His contributions have been recognized with the IAF Facilitation Impact Gold Award (2022) for leading transformative change in Canadian healthcare during COVID-19. Based in Nelson, British Columbia, he enjoys exploring the outdoors with his family in the breathtaking landscapes of the Rocky Mountains.
Henrique Vedana
Henrique Vedana has close to 20 years of experience in organizations and as a consultant for sustainable development, change process, strategy and innovation, multi-stakeholder dialogue design and facilitation, learning and creative processes. His facilitation experience in the past 12 years ranges from designing and supporting large-scale civil society conferences to small gatherings mixing business, academia, and non-profit sector. He has worked in multicultural and international teams for most of his career. He has worked remotely for the past 8 years and has designed creative online processes that promote learning, engagement and trust using a large variety of tools and platforms. Henrique has also trained over 5,000 people in facilitation and leadership skills, both in-person and remotely, in the past 6 years. He is fluent in English and Spanish, besides his native language, Portuguese. Henrique lives near Porto (northern Portugal) with his wife and two daughters.
Kara Bender
Kara Bender (she/her) is a systems thinker, organizer, participant-centered educator, and a skillful and playful facilitator. Through her consulting organization, Seed & Spiral, she encourages growing our collective imaginations for liberation through body-based, earth-centered, equity offerings. Kara specializes in team building and takes an experiential approach to all of her facilitation in order to foster a mind-body connection, which supports long-term integration and change. She has experience working with departments of Health and Human Services, universities, non-profits, philanthropy, faith-based institutions, along with, for-profit companies. Kara is actively curating customized curriculum in online and retreat settings for white folks going deeper on their anti-racism journeys as well supporting multi-racial organizations in innovative and equity focused systems re-design. Deeply committed to naming her stake and responsibility as a white woman in ending oppressive systems, she has committed over 15 years to learning with and from anti-racist communities of color and anti-racist white folks. Her biggest influences have come from serving as an affordable housing organizer, co-directing a legislative advocacy program, being a racial equity facilitator and educator, and participating in creative projects like the Carnival de Resistance, that bridged art, activism, and faith to engage communities in conversations about environmental justice. With roots on the east coast, she now lives at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, on unceded Osage land that is colonially known as St Louis MO.
Virginia Cinquemani
Virginia Cinquemani is an accredited transformational coach, sustainability trainer and facilitator with over 20 years of experience in the sustainability field. She has trained thousands of sustainability professionals throughout her career and focused on soft skills training and coaching since founding her company, Green Gorilla, in 2018. In 2010 Virginia was co-author of the technical publication Integrating BREEAM Throughout the Design Process and, in 2020, she published SustainABLE: How to Find Success as a Sustainability Professional in a Rapidly Changing World and is currently writing a book on communication skills in sustainability.
Gabriel Arteaga
As the CoFounder of Create&, Gabriel Arteaga trains local government agencies, community-based organizations, entrepreneurs, and social impact ventures on various innovation frameworks like Design Sprints, Lean Startup, storytelling and Community Experience Design (CxD) to launch their big ideas. He is a bilingual facilitator of Design Sprint and Design Thinking workshops, and created virtual and physical environments that are immersive and interactive to foster creative conversations that develop new products, services, offerings, and strategic plans. His signature framework, CxD, was developed to incorporate the needs of diverse ecosystems, using human-centered design and community organizing tactics to align stakeholders quickly, produce sustainable growth, and deliver meaningful value.
Carlotta Cataldi
Carlotta Cataldi visually maps conversations, conferences, and strategic meetings in order to help groups better understand the essence of their work. Carlotta has a special skill for listening and synthesizing conversations and creating visuals to effectively communicate what is most important. In addition, her understanding of the structures of conversation allows her to support facilitators as they design and facilitate large and small group workshops. Carlotta holds an MSc. in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability. Her mission is to support organizations and groups that want to make the world more sustainable and just for everyone, everywhere. She collaborates with universities, scientists, UN agencies, the World Health Organization, and countless nonprofit organizations from all over the world to help them simplify complex messages and bring them to larger audiences.
Deirdre Maloney
Deirdre Maloney is an international leadership and communication trainer, experienced facilitator, coach and published author. Her direct approach, combined with practical tips, relatable anecdotes, and a smidge of humor helps people enhance their leadership, their teams, their communication, their effectiveness, and their peace of mind. Through her trainings, Deirdre has presented sessions around the world for organizations like Kaiser Permanente, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Boeing, and National Association of Women Business Owners. Through her facilitations, Deirdre has helped groups like Maui Brewing Company, San Diego Humane Society, and MOXIE Theatre create strategic plans, overcome challenges, and build rapport. Deirdre has been a contributing writer for such publications as Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur and Thrive Global. Her books include Bogus Balance, The Mission Myth and her powerful Tough Truths mini-book series. In addition to her work through Momentum LLC, Deirdre is currently board president of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. Other experience includes running a multi-million-dollar nonprofit, teaching marketing for the University of San Diego, lobbying to state and federal legislators, and serving as a broadcast news producer at a variety of television stations. Deirdre is a long-time mindfulness practitioner who continually strives not to strive, and to gain wisdom by just sitting there.