Creative Strategy. Lasting Impact.

Change is about people. Strategy is about people. Achieving your mission is about people. Are you set up for your people to do their best work? Are your stakeholders on board and engaged?

 

You have a mission. Do you have the strategy, implementation plans, and governance that allow your organization to thrive and fulfill this mission?

The climate and nature crises are happening now and will impact your work. Do you know how you will meet the biggest challenges of our lifetimes?  

Have you said this before?

  • “We need to change what we’re doing because we aren’t reaching our goals.”

  • “We have a lot to do and we aren’t finding the right people.”

  • “Climate change is going to impact our work and we aren’t sure what we can do.”

  • “Our success depends on getting buy-in from our stakeholders.”

  • “How can we scale to meet the opportunities we see coming?”

  • “We need alignment between our leadership team and our board.”

We can help you solve your biggest problem. Together we will:

  • Develop a strategic plan and clear path forward.

  • Get the right people on board and engaged.

  • Create systems that enable you to fulfill your mission.

Services

  • Let's Work Together on a Strategy for Your Mission-Driven Organization

    With over two decades of leadership experience, we partner with you to craft strategies that deliver transformative results:

    • Scale your organization and its impact

    • Cultivate stakeholder buy-in on critical initiatives

    • Recruit top talent and strengthen your team

    • Enhance board and leadership effectiveness

    • Create compelling conference and convening programs

    • Actively engage your network of members and stakeholders

  • Let's Move Your Climate Strategy Forward

    Whether you already have a plan for how your organization is going to respond to climate change or you need to get started, I can help you move from ideas to action:

    • Build knowledge and capacity for leadership and teams

    • Assess opportunities and risks

    • Craft a strategy and implementation plan uniquely suited to your organization

    • Create consensus–internally and externally

    • Communicate your vision, engage your audience, and bring others along on your journey

We're ready

“Michelle did an amazing job of helping us recruit and hire several new staff aligned with our culture, mission, and values. Previously, we had struggled to find the right people. With Michelle’s guidance, we now have a new hiring approach, new people, and a completely different – and very positive – dynamic in our office. She brought our team a new way of making decisions, adapting the strategy to meet our way of working and respecting our values and desired outcomes.

The outcomes speak for themselves: our existing and new staff are working together incredibly well, people are no longer struggling with coming into the office, collaboration is happening daily, and staff is empowered to work in a way that is consistent with our values.

We would hire Michelle again for just about anything! She is reliable, has a wonderful presence, interacts well with staff — she is a great thinker and she gets things done. When you hire Michelle you get someone who crafts a process that works for you.”

Lynette Dias, President, Urban Planning Partners, Inc.

“Over several years in my role as Chair of ULI San Francisco, I had the incredibly rewarding experience of working with Michelle in her role as Executive Director.  Michelle was my north star in this role – always present, reliable, driven, highly motivated, exceptionally inquisitive, and incredibly collaborative – as we navigated many challenging situations and experiences.

What made it genuinely fun was how creative and open Michelle is to finding different ways to solve tough problems. She is adept at eliciting ideas from others and creating a joyful environment where ideas can be positively batted around and discussed, allowing new solutions to emerge. Michelle leads with heart and curiosity, and is not afraid to pave the way for a grand new idea or initiative.

An example of this collaborative, creative, and trailblazing spirit was the development of the Housing the Bay conference – a first-of-its-kind initiative and event for us. Michelle strategized with the board, members, and stakeholders in a process that was deeply collaborative and brought people together around important housing issues all year long. Michelle was able to elevate critical topics, such as racial equity, that also helped to build relationships with groups with whom we had not previously engaged. Housing the Bay is now on its 8th year and has created a true community of housing advocates and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area.”

Kim Diamond, Past Chair, ULI San Francisco, and Principal, KD Shae Development

logo for pollinate energy

“Our social enterprise in India had grown very quickly and we needed to update our board’s structure and governance to meet this evolution. As an innovative organization we needed to do this in way that would have longevity and bring everyone on the journey. Michelle provided guidance and relevant resources to help us navigate these changes. Her approach was flexible, technically useful, and very supportive – we improved the structure to one that is still in place today.”

Monique Alfris, Co-Founder, Pollinate Energy

Clients We’ve Worked With

UN Environment Program’s Global Alliance of Building & Construction

USGBC California

Urban Land Institute

Urban Land Institute San Francisco

Urban Planning Partners, Inc.

World Green Building Council

Green Building Council of South Africa

Old Mutual Property Group

UN-Habitat

Green Building Council of Australia

Green Building Council of New Zealand

Pollinate Energy

Vivit Group Worldwide

UrbanGreen, LLC

Ecospecifier