About Me
The most meaningful way to succeed is to help others succeed. - Adam Grant
I launched my facilitation, consulting, and coaching practice in 2012 to support innovative organizations and collaborative partnerships that are working together to solve complex problems and have a positive impact on the world. My passion is in helping individuals and teams increase their capacity to be resilient in the face of complexity and uncertainty. This passion shows up in my work coaching individual leaders, in facilitating teams and groups through conflict and change, and in the customized training I provide through the Collaboration Program in Natural Resources and other customized training programs for clients.
I am hired to provide a range of services in support of my clients: internal organizational development and capacity building, leadership coaching, customized training, facilitation, conflict resilience and transformation, and mentoring emerging practitioners. I have over 20 years of experience working in and with nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, public agencies, and private businesses. My work has taken me through a wide range of issues, fields of study, and areas of interest, including: public health, natural resources and the environment, leadership development, and green building and sustainable development. My formal education reflects this diversity of experience: I have a BA in environmental history from Carleton College, a Masters in Public Health from the University of Michigan, graduate coursework in environmental policy and natural resources from the UM, and am an accredited professional coach through the International Coach Federation.
I live in Laramie, Wyoming with my husband and our senior citizen dog Rosie. I work locally, regionally, and nationally from my home base near the Snowy Range Mountains - sometimes traveling to my clients, and often connecting virtually. I have additional satellite home-places in the Colorado mountains, in northern New England, and in Oregon. When I am not working, I can be found roaming the nearby hills on foot and on ski, chaos gardening, planning our next adventure, upping my sourdough game, or curled up with a good book.
Testimonials
Deb is a unique package of very smart, funny, engaging, extremely strategic, and a great group facilitator — all in one dynamo of a person. She brings a wealth of practical tools, a strong technical background, structural and organizational thinking, and experience with a wide variety of organizations, communities, and people. I highly recommend her for groups undertaking a collaborative, public engagement, and/or strategic planning process.
Ryan Golten
Senior Associate, Consensus Building Institute
I have known and worked with Deb, both as a colleague and client of hers, for about 10 years. Through every interaction I have found that Deb's ability to focus on the core of an issue, her willingness to find creative and realistic solutions, and her honed skill at working with diverse types of people, makes her an asset to any team or conversation. I appreciate her honesty, awareness, and pragmatic approach. It is for these reasons and more that I find myself working with her again and again, and am always happy when that is the case.
Hillary Mizia
Executive Director, Shadowcliff Mountain Lodge
Prizm Sustainability
"Deb is a priceless addition to our team. Her sensitive understanding of group process, her warm and humorous approach, her deep skills in understand planning processes all make her one of the finest facilitators ever! She is a gem and an asset to whatever program has the joy of working with her."