Tarek Maassarani
Tarek Maassarani is a mission-driven attorney, program strategist, university professor, and project director with 20+ years leading federally funded initiatives across justice, equity, and climate resilience. He has litigated human rights cases, managed multi-agency partnerships, developed countless programs, published books and articles, and trained civil society and government agencies. As CEO of Sustainable Construction Solutions, he applies his legal and programmatic expertise to sustainable infrastructure, advancing fireproof, non-toxic, and low-carbon materials and methods aligned with resilience and decarbonization goals. Under his leadership, the company has delivered successful pilot projects and expanded public-private partnerships. Maassarani began his career providing civil legal services law at the federally-funded Neighborhood Legal Services Program, where he served as a Covington & Burling Westwood Fellow and later as a senior staff attorney. At NLSP’s Nani Helen Burroughs office, he represented underserved residents across housing, employment, public benefits, consumer protection, and discrimination cases, while also managing law student interns and supporting D.C. Bar legal clinics and Spanish-speaking workers’ rights seminars. He then served for over a decade as a consultant and trainer for the U.S. Institute of Peace and director of the Salam Institute, in which capacities he managed five-to-six figure USAID and State Department-funded civic engagement and peacebuilding programs across Africa, Afghanistan, and domestic military bases. He facilitated training for educators, nonprofits, African peacekeeping forces, U.S. Army units, and foreign service officers, and co-authored curricula on religious peacebuilding, conflict resolution, trauma resilience, and nonviolent action. As co-founder and technical lead of Restorative DC, Maassarani designed and scaled a citywide restorative justice initiative across Washington, D.C., delivering technical assistance to over 40 schools, coordinating a diversion program for the Department of Human Services, and advising the Office of the Attorney General on the creation of a nationally recognized in-house restorative justice unit. He later co-directed Central Virginia Community Justice, where he launched a restorative diversion program in partnership with local prosecutors, expanded referral networks, and formalized regional implementation. More recently, he served as lead trainer for the U.S. State Department–funded #Influencers4Peace initiative, which engaged 150 social media leaders across Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Niger to promote social cohesion and counter violent extremism.
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.
Omar Corona
Omar Corona has over 10 years of experience working with teams and organizations at both small startups and multi-national corporations ranging in sectors and industries such as fintech, consumer goods, entertainment, and management consulting, to name a few. Working with leadership in various stages of re-orgs and culture transformation initiatives, Omar has helped both train teams on the OKR framework for first time implementations and analyze and execute complete org-wide goal setting process improvements to better align teams toward strategic intents and, ultimately, create high performing teams and individuals through a well-balanced distribution of ownership and leadership. Coming from a product management background, Omar has the sensibility to always be aware of and balance the crucial factors of emotion, relationships, and business needs in order to get to effective decision making while never sacrificing the human experience.
Darla Marburger
Darla Marburger is a seasoned facilitator, mediator, and impact strategist who has guided more than 300 hours of strategic planning, team building, and cross-functional alignment for nonprofits, government agencies, and commercial organizations. As President and Founder of Greater for Good, she helps mission-driven organizations sharpen their strategy, strengthen team cohesion, and work more effectively toward meaningful impact. With 12 years of nonprofit capacity-building, 12 years of analytics consulting, and a decade shaping state and federal education policy, Darla brings a rare blend of systems thinking, data-informed decision-making, and human-centered facilitation. She is a trained mediator and a valued practitioner of the Better Teams™ team building model, helping disjointed teams build trust, clarity, and connection for a work experience that is more productive and fulfilling. A former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, she has led high-stakes initiatives, managed billion-dollar grant programs, and represented organizations through numerous speaking engagements—from Congressional hearings to national associations. Known for her calm presence, analytical insight, and ability to synthesize diverse viewpoints, Darla helps groups quickly feel understood and confidently move toward shared solutions. She is based in Austin, Texas, United States of America.
Dylan McKenzie
Dylan McKenzie helps people learn, create, and take action by translating complexity into engaging, practical learning experiences. He has spent over a decade designing programs that connect creativity, education, and business, empowering people to build sustainable practices and unlock new opportunities. Dylan co-founded the NYU Game Center Incubator, where independent developers launched successful games and learned how to sustain their creative work. During his tenure, he helped grow the NYU Game Center from a two-class pilot into the world’s top-ranked game design program. At Teamshares, he led education for a national network of employee-owned small businesses, designing and scaling a learning system that supported over $4 million in wealth transfer to blue-collar workers. Now, Dylan is developing Project Rhythm, a music-learning game that helps beginners bridge the gap from curiosity to creating their first track. His consulting work spans clients such as ESPN, the Canadian Consulate, and the Sloan Foundation, with projects ranging from product exploration to curriculum and grant design. As a facilitator and program designer, Dylan centers his practice on clarity, creativity, and collaboration, helping technical and non-technical teams alike learn by doing and turn ideas into meaningful impact. He holds an MA in Arts Entrepreneurship and a BS in Media, Culture, and Communication, both from New York University.
Hayden Humphrey
Hayden Humphrey is an Uplifter, out to help individuals and organizations break out of the script, so they can create differently. Hayden is a highly experienced trainer and facilitator, having designed and delivered hundreds of learning and collaboration experiences over the last ten years with organizations like Whirlpool, GrubHub, HomeChef, and General Assembly. He is especially adept at team-building events, off-site and retreat facilitation, and leadership development programs for new managers. He’s also a highly trained mindset coach, having worked with hundreds of individuals over the last six years on breaking out of their limiting beliefs and reaching their full potential. Hayden is an ACC accredited coach through the International Coach Federation. He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he likes to stay active, read non-fiction, and spend time with his family.
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.
Darian Rodriguez Heyman
A nonprofit strategist, philanthropic advisor, and keynote speaker with 20+ years of tactical experience, Darian has supported transformational initiatives across the sector. He launched Craigslist Foundation’s acclaimed Nonprofit Boot Camp as their ED, helped the UN develop the SDGs around climate and gender, co-founded 2XGlobal to funnel billions to women-led businesses, and helped direct over $200M to Black-led nonprofits. As a thought leader, he has keynoted globally and authored the bestselling Nonprofit Management 101 and Nonprofit Fundraising 101, establishing himself as a trusted voice for mission-driven leaders worldwide. Through his consultancy Helping People Help, Darian provides executive coaching and consulting specializing in AI implementation, fundraising, board development, and strategic planning for mission-led organizations. More recently, Darian authored his newest bestselling book, AI for Nonprofits (Wiley, 2025), featuring insights from 57 sector leaders and actionable strategies for using AI to advance fundraising, marketing, program delivery, and operations. As founder of AI4NP.org—a fiscally sponsored initiative by NTEN—he’s building a digital Learning Hub for AI for good resources and launching a national Learning Lab series to build sector capacity around responsible AI adoption.
Ann Hillary Lewis Monge
Ann Hillary Lewis Monge is an experienced organizational coach and team facilitator with over a decade of experience supporting individuals, teams, and social organizations across Latin America. She holds a Master in Business Administration from EAE Business School in Barcelona and a degree in Industrial Engineering from Tecnológico de Costa Rica. Ann specializes in organizational transformation, capacity building, mentoring, and facilitation, using frameworks such as Management 3.0, Agile, Theory U, and Design Thinking. She has designed and led dynamic learning processes, including workshops, Communities of Practice, and group coaching sessions, fostering collaboration, empowerment, and applied learning in diverse contexts. Her professional experience spans roles as a Change Management Consultant at FIFCO, Organizational Transformation Facilitator at World Vision, Projects and Innovation Manager at Aldesa, and Organizational Development Coach at Kubadili, where she has guided social organizations on leadership, resilience, and strategic growth. She has also facilitated international youth leadership programs and large-scale agile community events, including Ágiles Latam 2024. Ann is a bilingual facilitator, fluent in Spanish and professionally proficient in English. She holds certifications in Agile Team Facilitation (ICP-ATF), Project Management (CAPM®), Lean Change Management, Design Thinking, Management 3.0, OKR Professional Certification, and Graphic Facilitation. Her work focuses on enabling organizations and teams to realize their full potential through people-centered change, inclusive facilitation, and innovative learning strategies that strengthen collective impact.
Keara Cormier-Hill
Keara Cormier-Hill is a dynamic, trauma-informed facilitator with over 15 years of experience creating inclusive, engaging, and strategically grounded learning environments. With a background in sociology, adolescent counseling, and design research, she brings a rare blend of warmth, critical inquiry, and systems thinking to every space she holds. Keara has designed and facilitated sessions with a wide range of participants, from youth in the Dominican Republic reimagining community service, to state leaders evaluating social programs, to health tech teams exploring user insights. She’s skilled at guiding groups through sensitive conversations, especially those involving vulnerable populations, equity, or lived experience. Her trauma-informed approach creates space for honest dialogue and deep reflection, while her ability to connect the dots between individual stories and systems-level change helps participants move from insight to action. Whether she’s helping a team develop a theory of change, leading a participatory design sprint, or facilitating a multi-stakeholder strategy retreat, Keara’s style is collaborative, friendly, and highly adaptive. She’s able to meet people where they are while gently pushing them to think bigger.She is also the founder of The South Design Research Studio, where she leads regionalco-design and research projects across the American South, Latin America, and the Caribbean.