Tom Adams - President. Tom leads succession planning, executive transition and search projects as well as serving as the practice leader for TransitionGuides' educational services and our research and program development efforts. Tom has been leading executive transition projects since 1991 and has over 30 years experience serving nonprofit organizations as an executive director, senior manager of a national organization and as a consultant. His research and practice in the area of nonprofit executive transitions includes five years as director of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation's Community Development Leadership Project and nine years as a private consultant to nonprofit boards and foundations. He served as the project manager and lead consultant for the Annie E. Casey Executive Leadership Transition and Capacity Building Project and helped create the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations' Executive Transition Initiative. Tom writes on leadership transition and related topics and regularly presents at conferences and leads workshops. He is the author of The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide: Proven Paths for Leaders and Organizations published by Jossey-Bass in 2010. Earlier in his career, he was the first executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services and has a particular interest in coaching and supporting founders and long-term executive directors.

Tom received his BA from St. Mary's Seminary and University and his MSW from the University of Maryland School of Social Work.

Adar Ayira - Consultant. Adar has more than 20 years of management and organizational development, membership, and fundraising experience gained through her tenure in both locally and nationally focused nonprofit, community-based, social justice organizations. Adar is also an experienced anti-racism/anti-oppression education trainer. In addition to conducting "Training of Trainer" workshops in the field of anti-oppression education, she was also a long-term volunteer trainer at The Support Center of Washington. Her training workshops included "Managing a Small Nonprofit", "Asking for Money In Person" (a workshop that developed skills in major donor fundraising), "Fundamentals of Management", and "Everything an Executive Director Needs to Know About Fundraising", among others. She was also a faculty member for the Support Center's National Leadership Development Institute, co-developing and facilitating its "Leading the Organization" workshop, and providing "coaching" services to those executives who participated in the NLDI program.

Adar has degrees in Public Communications and Sociology from American University in Washington, DC.

Catrese Brown - Consultant. Catrese has worked with TransitionGuides since 2002. She leads executive transition and search projects, provides related organizational planning and post-hire services. She also a member of our training team and presents and facilitates workshops nationally on executive transition management and succession planning. With over 20 years experience in nonprofit organizations, Catrese's diverse experience includes organization development consulting, including board development, serving as an interim executive director, education and training, facilitating strategic planning processes, and managing leadership transitions.

Catrese has BA in Sociology from Chestnut Hill College and a MS in Human Resource Development from what is now Towson University. She also is a certified administrator of the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator.

Fredric Cooper – Consultant. Fred serves as a technical advisor on housing and community development strategies and finance, with emphasis on CDFI capitalization and product design. For the past 30 years his work has focused on building community assets, improving access to credit and investment for low-wealth communities and building the capacity among those who serve these communities. Prior to launching Community Development Concepts Advisory Services Inc., his consulting practice, Fred led the start of the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund, a community building entity that serves Seattle's most economically challenged and ethnically diverse community. He previously worked with the US Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, and served as its Deputy Director for Policy and Programs, and Enterprise Community Partners (then The Enterprise Foundation), a national community development intermediary. He also worked in Mississippi with resource-limited communities, helping them break through barriers that separate many people from opportunity and access to capital.

He holds a Masters of Urban Planning from the University of Illinois and bachelor's degree from the State University of New York, College at Brockport.

Ginna Goodenow – Executive Search Consultant. Ginna has worked on over 50 leadership searches for TransitionGuides since joining our team in 2007. In addition to building strong, diverse candidate pools through exceptional outreach and qualifying candidates through extensive research, she maintains a vast network of contacts among leaders in key segments of the nonprofit community. Ginna brings over 18 years of experience in marketing, communications, strategic and event planning to TransitionGuides. A large span of her career is in private sector. Her work experience has overlapped with the association and non-profit arena since 1995. Ginna has served in a leadership capacity with several national and international associations and is currently involved with a host of philanthropic organizations.

Ginna holds a BA with a triple-major in English, Marketing and Sociology from Austin College.

Doris Kiser - Administrative Consultant. Doris has been a member of our recruiting team since 2007. She develops and places online and print advertising, and manages the resume database and candidate communications. Doris has a background in writing, editing and graphic design. Prior to joining TransitionGuides, she worked in the accounting, medical billing, and graphics design fields. She is active in her church community and plays guitar for her worship team.

Doris has a BA in English from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and holds an MA in Publications Design from the University of Baltimore.

Lisa Burford - Consultant. Lisa has led executive transition and search projects for TransitionGuides since 2003. In addition, Lisa's specialties include board development workshops and retreats, facilitation and executive coaching. She is a native Washingtonian with over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit community. Throughout her career, she has served the nonprofit sector in a variety of capacities including grassroots organizations, local affiliates, as well as national nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, and universities. She is involved in a number of local initiatives, including Leadership Washington, is a founding member of Black Female Executive Directors Developing Capacity, and she has served on the committee for the Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management.

Lisa has a BS in Business Administration (BSBA in Marketing) from The American University and a Master of Nonprofit Organizations' (MNO) degree from Case Western Reserve University.

Bob Hoffman - Consultant. Bob has been a Human Resource Development consultant for over 35 years and has worked throughout the U.S., the Caribbean, and Africa with both private and public sector organizations.  As a consultant and trainer he has worked with major corporations, leading nonprofits and private foundations, including Fannie Mae and Annie E. Casey Foundations. He has also held many leadership positions, including executive director of nonprofit organizations; director of training, DC Office of Neighborhood Self Help Development; manager with the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department; and City Council member for four years. Bob is founder and CEO of Spirit Sanctuary, a mountain retreat and conference center in Elton, West Virginia, a place of meditation, spiritual healing and celebration of African-American arts and culture.

Bob has a BA from Kean University and a MA in Personnel and Guidance from Montclair State University. He has completed additional course work in Gestalt Psychology, Large Scale Systems Change and Appreciative Inquiry. He has taught at numerous colleges and universities, and is presently a Senior Fellow at the James McGregor Burns School of Leadership, University of Maryland.

Karen Gaskins Jones - Consultant. Karen serves as our senior trainer and leads succession planning and executive transition projects. Her expertise is in training design, facilitation, evaluation, and organization development consultation. Karen has over 20 years of experience as a trainer/consultant, which includes working in different international settings and within diverse communities across the United States. As a consultant, she has provided training and organization development services to a variety of government agencies and large, small and medium-sized organizations in the public, private and nonprofit sectors within the United States and abroad. Her work results in people and organizations achieving their maximum operational potential. She is certified to administer the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, the Strength Deployment Inventory and is a student and practitioner of Appreciative Inquiry and NLP. Karen is a founding member and chair of the board of directors of the Diversity Leadership Forum (DLF), a national association of multi- disciplinary practitioners devoted to the development of the field of diversity and multiculturalism. Also, she is the president of the board of directors for the Bureau of Rehabilitation, Inc.

Karen has a BA in Mathematics from Spelman College and holds a MA in Education from Texas Southern University.

Katherine Morrison - Consultant. Katherine started working with TransitionGuides in 2007. She has worked in the nonprofit sector since 1982, including 15 years as president and CEO of The Campagna Center, an Alexandria, VA-based nonprofit with a budget of $8.5 million serving 1,500 children each day. She leads executive transition projects, specializing in interim leadership, resource development, program implementation and oversight, board development and strategic planning. Katherine has served in a leadership capacity with numerous local organizations including Leadership Greater Washington, the Women's Giving Circle of the Alexandria Community Trust, the WETA Community Advisory Council, the Virginia Prevention and Promotion Advisory Council, the Rotary Club of Alexandria, Alexandria Call to Community, Washington Street United Methodist Church, Arlandria Health Clinic Coalition, Northern Virginia Coalition of Nonprofit Human Services Agencies, Hopkins House Board of Trustees and the Junior League of Northern Virginia.

Katherine holds a BA in Sociology and Psychology from Duke University and a MA in Gerontology from George Washington University.

Heller An Shapiro – Consultant. Heller An has been coaching executives and leading executive search and transition projects for TransitionGuides since 2008, completing executive searches for nonprofits with budgets from $300,000 to $30,000,000. Prior to this she was with the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation where she managed her own successful transition after 10 years as executive director. She has worked in nonprofit and volunteer management since 1984, with local, national and international nonprofits. Earlier in her career she founded MVP Arts: Managers of Volunteer Programs in the Arts, a networking and education group. She served on the board of the National Health Council and the Association for Volunteer Administration. She is frequently published in The Washington Post, professional journals and nonprofit websites. She is the author of the Christmas in April - USA Board Building Manual; a chapter in Managing Volunteer Diversity; and Emily’s First Day, a storybook and resource guide for children with mild osteogenesis imperfecta, their teachers and school personnel. As a consultant, she frequently advises Board members and CEOs on change management, growth management, strategic planning, empowering leaders, surviving organizational transition, volunteer management and nonprofit management issues and trends. She has trained prospective executive directors and coaches new executives.

Heller An holds a BA in Psychology from Vassar College, and an MA in Psychology from The American University. Honors include a President's Volunteer Action Award and Leadership America.

Karen Schuler - Vice President/Operations and Consultant. Karen's work with clients has focused on helping organizations maximize their ability to fulfill their missions by engaging in strong strategic planning, building effective Board-staff relationships and streamlining operational infrastructure. She brings more than 25 years experience in strategic planning, business management and development, including extensive work in the nonprofit sector. She has served as Chief Operating Officer and Acting Executive Director for local nonprofits and has consulted with private educational institutions and service-based nonprofits 9including female focused prevention and intervention programs) to support their executive transition management processes, revitalize business functions and improve management-Board relations.

Karen received a BA with Honors from Duke University and has an MBA in Strategic Planning from the University of Maryland.

Don Tebbe - Executive Vice President. Don leads executive transition and search projects and serves as the practice leader for TransitionGuides' leadership consulting services. Don has been leading executive search and transition projects since 1995. He spent his first decade in the nonprofit sector as an executive for several statewide organizations and as a founder and leader in several national groups. He was a cofounder of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, served as one of the early leaders in the movement to develop statewide associations of nonprofits and helped form a national unemployment insurance trust. Since starting his consulting practice in 1993, he has focused on advising nonprofits on leadership transitions as well as helping them develop more effective strategies and business models. He has served a wide variety of organizations from grassroots startups to international organizations, including the world's largest child welfare organization. Don is the author of Chief Executive Transitions: How to Hire and Support a Nonprofit CEO published by BoardSource, which won the 2009 Terry McAdam Book Award. He is also the author of For the Good of the Cause: Board Building Lessons from Highly Effective Nonprofits, a report based on case studies that explored the link between governing board behavior and nonprofit effectiveness, published by the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits.

Don holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois-Springfield where he has also pursued graduate studies in nonprofit administration.

Melody Thomas-Scott - Project Manager/Director of Education. Melody leads our education program and provides executive transition assistance and succession planning services. She successfully completed the Executive Consultant Training Program and has supported many nonprofit organizations with leadership transitions, recruitment, research, bench strength and succession planning. Her professional expertise includes marketing, public relations, meeting planning, desktop publishing, facilitation and project management. She has served as the Vice President and President of The Maryland Society of Radiology Technologists and consistently serves as an active member of community associations and serves on the public elementary education board of directors in Prince George's County and as president of the YMCA Calomiris board of directors.

Melody is a certified meeting planner, holds a BA in Business Administration from Columbia Union College and was awarded a full Academic Entrepreneurial Leadership Scholarship in pursuit of her Communications Degree at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Grizel Ubarry - Consultant. On the TransitionGuides team, Grizel serves as a project technical advisor on management and community economic development. She also serves as a coach to executives and Board of Directors who are retooling their organizations or experiencing transition. Prior to starting her consulting practices in 1985, she served as the Director of the County of Essex Division of Housing and Community Development, responsible for the planning and administration of a $7 million program assisting eighteen municipalities to improve their housing stock, rehabilitate their neighborhoods and revitalize their business districts. Prior to that she served as Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Human Resources Administration in New York. Previously she was on the staff of Aspira Inc. of New Jersey and served its Executive Director for six years.

Grizel has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Public Administration from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She has served on the Board of Trustees of the Newark Museum since 1982. She chairs the Museum Latino Advisory Board that spearheads a wide range of Latino related exhibitions and programs. Recently she received the Museum Centennial Meritorious Service award for 24 years of service. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Institute of Social Justice based in Newark.