We’re here to support you in accelerating your impact through leadership coaching, financial resilience and meaningful collaboration.
Our vision is a world in which the rights of all people and our planet are upheld, enabling human beings to thrive, collaborate and build life-sustaining societies. A world where money flows in service of this vision, not just profit.
We believe that bringing this world into being requires leaders at the forefront of change to navigate complexity, power, conflict, and funding while joining forces across silos, sectors, and worldviews.
Our purpose is to support a diversity of changemakers around the world — from human rights defenders and feminist movements to Indigenous collectives and philanthropic funders — to more effectively and resourcefully address systemic problems.
Since Spring's founding in 2004, we've supported our partners to achieve their goals with transformative programs, strategies and tools that inspire smart risk-taking and bold, creative new moves.
We tailor our programs to our partners needs, shifting and evolving with their specific internal and external contexts, as well as global trends. Our offerings focus on leadership coaching, financial resilience and meaningful collaboration.
Spring is a place where changemakers come to explore, grow and transform. We'll encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone and take leaps of leadership through out-of-the-box thinking and hands-on practice. Our approach includes the following steps:
We partner with human rights defenders, youth leaders, civil society organizations, funders, networks, justice movements, Indigenous and local community groups, governments and corporations to ignite human potential and nurture the leadership the world needs.
At Spring, we’re human. We come from multiple countries, cultures, movements and walks of life. We are a global community united in our belief that personal transformation and a collaborative approach are key to meaningful and sustained change. We don’t hold all the answers — but we know you do. We walk alongside you to help you focus on what matters most to you.
Caren spent most of her career in the corporate sector, working in the family’s business and two of Canada’s biggest food retailers. She was born and raised in Manila, Philippines, and moved to Canada with her husband and three children in 2005. She holds a Master of Business Administration (with Distinction) from the Asian Institute of Management.
Caren is based in Toronto, Canada. When she’s not supporting the Spring team of staff and associates to do their best work, you can usually find her knitting beautiful patterns, baking and decorating delicious cookies and taking long walks with her dog Bailey.
Archana is a creative rights advocate, strategist, communicator, and singer with over 15 years of experience supporting a wide range of human rights and social justice initiatives. At Spring, she leads the design and implementation of virtual and in-person financial resilience, facilitation, and leadership development programs. In recent years, she has overseen the successful delivery of capacity-strengthening programs for hundreds of rights and justice leaders, organizations, and networks globally.
Previously, Archana led the creation and expansion of OpenGlobalRights — a multilingual, global forum that explores human rights policies and strategies as well as managed and conducted research on human rights organizations and public perceptions of human rights in India, Mexico, and Morocco. She has co-authored various publications on the resource mobilization challenges and opportunities for human rights groups in the Global South and is passionate about finding innovative ways to sustain and expand social and climate justice initiatives.
Archana holds a master's degree in International Affairs and is an accredited Integral Master Coach™. She is based in Toronto, Canada, and speaks English, Spanish, French, and Gujarat. She gets her creative juices flowing through dancing with her daughter, painting, and singing.
Jesse is a Ghanaian-Canadian writer, activist and communications strategist with more than a decade of supporting human rights and climate justice campaigns in Canada, Ghana and Botswana. She has contributed to research, knowledge translation and advocacy for Greenpeace and Oxfam, as well as for civil society projects on child rights and gender justice supported by multilateral, bilateral, public, and private donors.
Jesse holds a Master's degree in International Development and her writing has been featured in Asparagus Magazine, NOW Magazine, the National Observer and the Hill Times.
She believes that storytelling is a powerful tool to spark change and is happiest devouring fiction, scribbling in notebooks, belting out Broadway tunes, and helping others harness their superpowers and tell their own stories.
Márcia is a Japanese Brazilian Integral Master Coach™ and Certified Integral Facilitator™ with more than two decades of supporting social and climate justice leaders. She is an intensely curious student of human nature and is passionate about supporting changemakers to gain more self-awareness, make change when change feels impossible, and become fully themselves in the most healthy and sustainable way.
Márcia started her career working as an engineer in the corporate sector, deeply buried in systems, processes, databases and financial models. During this period, she learned that even when you set up the perfect system, everything still depends on the people actually using the system. She’s been voraciously learning about human development ever since, building a rich knowledge base of how people learn, develop and evolve. After her first life as an engineer, Márcia used this knowledge in her work with numerous for-profit and nonprofit organizations as a consultant and coach, integrating organizational development and leadership development.
At Spring, Márcia leads the coaching program and she has also been a part of the Integral Coaching Canada faculty since 2014. As an ordained Zen Buddhist monk, Márcia’s personal and professional life is deeply informed by her Zen practice which supports her to be fully present in her coaching. Márcia's previous clients have described her as an active and discerning listener and one coaching participant shared that she "asks probing questions in a gentle and open fashion. Her sessions and homework [were] tailored to my goals and leadership style. She helped me to lead more effectively and with a greater sense of inner balance during a period of complex organizational change."
She lives in São Paulo, Brazil, with her son and two cats, and speaks Portuguese, English, Japanese and Spanish. Márcia is also trying to learn Korean and is a swimmer, immersive traveler and avid reader of books on all topics — from economics and Buddhism to psychology and Tarot.
Lucas is a writer, facilitator, researcher, and lover of poetry—all of which he brings to the creative work of social change and his role at Spring as Collaborations Lead. Originally from northern Wisconsin (United States), Lucas lived for several years in Colombia, where he designed and led creative experiences for human rights practitioners as a part of the team at JustLabs. (For more on this work, see his publication, Narrative Spices: An invitational guide).
He has also worked on the editorial team of OpenGlobalRights, as a fellow with the action-research center Dejusticia (Colombia), as a teacher with the Fulbright Program (Colombia), and as a volunteer at the Corrymeela peace-building community (Northern Ireland). Lucas is happiest petting dogs, sitting by trees, reading poetry, attempting to write it, canoeing, and enthusiastically but mediocrely dancing salsa. His favorite way to give is by washing other people’s dishes.
Rani is a communications specialist, craft enthusiast, and aspiring permaculture practitioner. She has dedicated more than a decade to uplifting the voices and solutions of structurally excluded communities around the world. Before joining Spring, she led communications efforts at the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action to amplify gender-just climate actions led by local youth and indigenous and rural groups in the Global South.
In her career, she has also produced online content for a national public news outlet in Washington, D.C., supported youth communities in Indonesia with audiovisual storytelling, led communications for the World Bank's community-driven development projects in Myanmar, and co-managed a participatory journalism project that disseminated user-centered information to refugees across southern Europe.
Rani grew up in Washington, D.C. with Dutch and Indonesian roots, and has also lived in Australia, Argentina, Indonesia, Myanmar, and The Netherlands. When she's not engaging with Spring's global community, you can find her swimming in the closest natural body of (warm) water, populating her home with plants (and preventing her cats from eating said plants), trying out a new spicy dish, collecting local crafts, or keeping up to date with the latest exhibits, cultural festivals, and art classes in her current home base of Athens, Greece.
Lucía is a Mexican independent consultant and human rights practitioner with 15 years of experience with a focus on gender, philanthropy, research, project management, stakeholder coordination, and resource mobilization. In recent years, she has worked with corporate foundations to inform their philanthropic strategies in East and Southeast Asia.
Currently, Lucía is the treasurer on the board of FERN, an organization working to achieve environmental and social justice with a focus on forests and forest peoples’ rights in the policies and practices of the European Union. She was the Director of Programs at the Prospera – International Network of Women’s Funds, supporting the growth of dozens of women’s funds worldwide, and has also served on the International Human Rights Funders Group (IHRFG) Advisory Committee for Advancing Human Rights: Knowledge Tools for Funders initiative.
Lucia holds a master’s degree in International Law and Gender from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona speaks Spanish, French, and English, and is a seriously dedicated Korean learner for life. She’s based between North America, Central Europe, and East Asia. You can usually find her on the potter’s wheel, collecting textiles from all over the world and seeking warmer climates.
Ellen Sprenger founded Spring in 2004 and is committed to making space for more complexity and humanity in collaborations for social and climate justice. She is a believer — especially in human potential and our collective ability to address the problems of our time. Her areas of expertise include multi-actor conference facilitation, future-scenario development, financial innovation and resilience for justice organizations globally, and executive coaching.
Previously she held several management positions at Oxfam-Novib and was the Executive Director of Mama Cash, a feminist foundation based in Amsterdam. Ellen holds a master's degree in Development Studies, an MBA from Erasmus University, and is an Integral Master Coach™ and Certified Integral Facilitator™. She is a member of the Board of 350.org, a movement working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
Currently based in Toronto, Ellen is from the Netherlands and Canada and has lived in Tanzania, South Africa, and the United States. She is a curious and creative optimist, an espresso enthusiast, and an avid meditator.
Lisa is a social impact professional with experience in education, stakeholder engagement, digital media, and project management. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with numerous organizations dedicated to diverse areas such as immigration/settlement, mental health, sustainability, and human rights. Lisa holds a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Alberta and a Master of Science in Creative Business and Social Innovation from EDHEC.
Lisa enjoys snuggling with her two dogs, admiring aesthetically pleasing art and fashion, and eating delicious food. She also loves dancing, reading a good mystery book, or the entertaining world of reality TV. Her home base is Edmonton, Canada.
Spring coaches are certified Integral Master Coaches™ and have worked with more than more than 650 people in 74 countries (speaking six languages) to help changemakers reach their leadership development goals.
Remko is a strategist, Certified Integral Facilitator™ and Integral Master Coach™ with over two decades of experience working with civil society. He brings lightness and common sense to high-stakes settings. Remko’s professional journey has taken him from his native city of Rotterdam to Bangladesh, India and Mozambique, working in various advisory and leadership positions for international NGOs and their networks of partners. He has also ventured out into the field of academia and innovation labs working on strategies for social and environmental justice.
Now based in Lannach, Austria, Remko has an insatiable curiosity about the mystery and potential of developmental work. When not at work, he loves to play in nature, is a people power believer, a fly fishing addict, and father of three lively little men. He speaks Portuguese, English, Dutch and German.
Amis Agung Boersma is an Integral Master Coach™ and workshop facilitator with over 15 years of experience in the field of international activism and social change. She believes people tend to keep their best features hidden – sometimes even from themselves. Often passions, talents, desires, and hopes for the future get buried under the overflowing to-do lists of daily life. As a coach, workshop facilitator, and gatherer, Amis shines a light on the things that matter to people, helping them connect to others as their truest and fullest selves.
Amis is Dutch with Indonesian roots and is honored to call herself a true citizen of the world. She has lived in Amsterdam, Honolulu, Jakarta, Cartagena and Aruba.
She holds a Master's in Southeast Asian studies and loves studying languages; she speaks English, Dutch, and Indonesian and devours methods in which we humans can better and more deeply connect, such as Art of Hosting, Theory U, and Thinking Environment. She is currently based in The Netherlands and loves to sing, dance, and spend time with her loved ones – preferably over a good cappuccino or cocktails.
Rita is an Integral Master Coach™, cross-cultural trainer, and somatics student with a deep commitment to healing and developing human capacities in service of liberation and social justice. She became a Spring coach to partner with leaders striving to impact communities from a more grounded, awakened, caring, and effective place. Rita believes in the existing deep capacities of leaders and is committed to creating a process of challenge and support that will allow them to recognize and access those capacities.
Early in Rita’s career, she worked for world-class private and academic institutions such as Banco Real / ABN AMRO Bank and Dartmouth College. As an intercultural professional, she’s trained dozens of senior executives and managers from over 20 Global 2000 companies in industries as diverse as telecommunications, fast-moving consumer goods, international trade, and finance. Her master’s degree is in Social Justice in Intercultural Relations from SIT Graduate Institute.
Rita was born within the vibrant Afro-Brazilian culture in Salvador, has lived across North America and Europe, and worked in eight countries. Now based in Honolulu, Hawaii, her practices and sources of inspiration include family, meditation, hiking in the rainforest, dancing, travels, deserted beaches, photography, and poetry.
Archana is a creative rights advocate, strategist, communicator, and singer with over 15 years of experience supporting a wide range of human rights and social justice initiatives. At Spring, she leads the design and implementation of virtual and in-person financial resilience, facilitation, and leadership development programs. In recent years, she has overseen the successful delivery of capacity-strengthening programs for hundreds of rights and justice leaders, organizations, and networks globally.
Previously, Archana led the creation and expansion of OpenGlobalRights — a multilingual, global forum that explores human rights policies and strategies as well as managed and conducted research on human rights organizations and public perceptions of human rights in India, Mexico, and Morocco. She has co-authored various publications on the resource mobilization challenges and opportunities for human rights groups in the Global South and is passionate about finding innovative ways to sustain and expand social and climate justice initiatives.
Archana holds a master's degree in International Affairs and is an accredited Integral Master Coach™. She is based in Toronto, Canada, and speaks English, Spanish, French, and Gujarat. She gets her creative juices flowing through dancing with her daughter, painting, and singing.
Ciro is an Integral Master Coach™ and facilitator who is passionate about human development and sustainability matters. He brings 25 years of experience from the corporate sector, where he held executive leadership positions in areas such as country management, strategic planning, organizational development, and sustainability; and from the nonprofit sector, where he merged his corporate experience with social and environmental matters.
Based in São Paulo, Ciro is also a lover of beaches and mountains.
Sarah is an Integral Master Coach™ and has co-created leadership and personal development programs for civil society leaders in Africa and Asia. Through this work, Sarah supports high-impact leaders and organizations — mostly in the nonprofit sector — to lead with more wisdom, awareness, and resilience, so that they can more effectively drive change.
She believes that we all need to find our way to lead so that we can share our unique gifts with the world. For her, leadership is about creating space for others, listening with curiosity, and not taking herself too seriously.
Before becoming an independent consultant, Sarah started off her career as a sports radio broadcaster with the BBC and a writer on women’s football for the Times newspaper in the UK. She then moved to Kenya to start and grow a girls’ football and rights program, Moving the Goalposts, which grew from supporting less than a hundred girls at the beginning to now supporting over 9,000 girl members. She is currently based in the United Kingdom.
Márcia is a Japanese Brazilian Integral Master Coach™ and Certified Integral Facilitator™ with more than two decades of supporting social and climate justice leaders. She is an intensely curious student of human nature and is passionate about supporting changemakers to gain more self-awareness, make change when change feels impossible, and become fully themselves in the most healthy and sustainable way.
Márcia started her career working as an engineer in the corporate sector, deeply buried in systems, processes, databases and financial models. During this period, she learned that even when you set up the perfect system, everything still depends on the people actually using the system. She’s been voraciously learning about human development ever since, building a rich knowledge base of how people learn, develop and evolve. After her first life as an engineer, Márcia used this knowledge in her work with numerous for-profit and nonprofit organizations as a consultant and coach, integrating organizational development and leadership development.
At Spring, Márcia leads the coaching program and she has also been a part of the Integral Coaching Canada faculty since 2014. As an ordained Zen Buddhist monk, Márcia’s personal and professional life is deeply informed by her Zen practice which supports her to be fully present in her coaching. Márcia's previous clients have described her as an active and discerning listener and one coaching participant shared that she "asks probing questions in a gentle and open fashion. Her sessions and homework [were] tailored to my goals and leadership style. She helped me to lead more effectively and with a greater sense of inner balance during a period of complex organizational change."
She lives in São Paulo, Brazil, with her son and two cats, and speaks Portuguese, English, Japanese and Spanish. Márcia is also trying to learn Korean and is a swimmer, immersive traveler and avid reader of books on all topics — from economics and Buddhism to psychology and Tarot.
Barbara Oliveira (Ph.D., MBA, LLM) is a facilitator, Integral Master Coach™, process designer, change agent and conflict transformation mediator, strategic negotiator, and host of meaningful conversations. Barbara is passionate about human connection and the potential that multi-stakeholder participatory approaches offer to create innovative and inclusive solutions for sustainable development challenges. Throughout her career, she has added expertise in using systemic approaches such as Theory U, Appreciative Enquiry, Systemic Constellations, Deep Democracy, and the Thinking Environment, in addition to Consensus Building and interest-based negotiations/mediation, and has developed sustainable leadership models for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and young women leaders.
Barbara co-founded the Collaboration Laboratory focused on fostering a culture of facilitation and participatory decision-making in Brazil and founded Ecosynergy – Facilitation and Capacity Building for Sustainability. Through Ecosynergy, she facilitates, trains, and coaches NGOs, businesses, government agencies, international organizations, and academic bodies in their initiatives to become more integrated, collaborative, and better engaged with their stakeholders, in Brazil and abroad. Barbara also founded the Appreciation Project and is a public speaker in leadership, consensus building, and collaboration.
Based in The Netherlands, Barbara is a radical humanist, polyglot, dancer, singer, poet, tree hugger, and animal whisperer.
Denise is an Integral Master Coach™ and Family Constellations Facilitator with a foundation training in Body Therapy and a BA in Psychology. In her coaching, she creates a safe non-judgmental environment and brings qualities of deep listening and intuition to her work, which allows her to attune to her client’s needs and support them in reaching their goals. Denise’s approach aims to integrate the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being of her clients.
Denise grew up in Brazil and has lived in the UK for two decades. She is deeply committed to developing as a human being in her spiritual path as a student of the Ridwan school for over 11 years.
Kenny is an Integral Master Coach™ and has over a decade of experience as a facilitator in the public (Citizenship and Immigration Canada), private, and non-profit (Authentic Montreal) sectors. He is passionate about fostering deep human connection, compassionate self-development, and nature. He believes that everyone holds a piece of the puzzle we are collectively faced with; Everyone is a leader in some way, and allowing that leadership to express itself can only make for a better world for all.
Kenny is based in Montreal, Canada, and has also lived in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and British Columbia.
Graciela Selaimen is a journalist who has been exploring multiple ways to tell stories to foster social justice. She works with philanthropic institutions and civil society organizations to refine strategies and practices focused on strengthening narrative power and institutional development of organizations and social movements. Since 2021, she's been leading the work of IRIS (the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling) in Latin America and is a consultant and coach working with Spring.
As an Integral Master Coach™, Graciela works with social justice leaders in their personal and professional development, supporting transformational work that connects mind, body, and spirit. Her coaching approach focuses on a deep recognition of interdependence, trust in the wisdom of the heart, and confidence in our ability to overcome the illusion of separation.
Graci has a specialization in gender and local development and a master’s degree in communication and culture from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Ellen Sprenger founded Spring in 2004 and is committed to making space for more complexity and humanity in collaborations for social and climate justice. She is a believer — especially in human potential and our collective ability to address the problems of our time. Her areas of expertise include multi-actor conference facilitation, future-scenario development, financial innovation and resilience for justice organizations globally, and executive coaching.
Previously she held several management positions at Oxfam-Novib and was the Executive Director of Mama Cash, a feminist foundation based in Amsterdam. Ellen holds a master's degree in Development Studies, an MBA from Erasmus University, and is an Integral Master Coach™ and Certified Integral Facilitator™. She is a member of the Board of 350.org, a movement working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
Currently based in Toronto, Ellen is from the Netherlands and Canada and has lived in Tanzania, South Africa, and the United States. She is a curious and creative optimist, an espresso enthusiast, and an avid meditator.
Alex is an Integral Master Coach™ and facilitator, a Zen Buddhist monk, and a passionate explorer of the human condition. With roots in both Colombia and Germany, his approach is as diverse as the clients he works with in Latin America, North America, and Europe. He believes that human potential is the world’s greatest untapped resource.
After 20 years in telecommunications and heavy industry, he realized his true passion was human development so he decided to change course. After training as a leadership coach, he co-founded the first Center for Mindfulness at Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá. In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, he initiated "Mindfulness en la Nube", bringing meditation and well-being to all kinds of people, not just in Colombia but throughout the region.
Alex holds a Master of Business Administration from Duke University and a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. He’s also a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teacher from UC San Diego’s Center for Mindfulness and the most important foundation of his work is his ongoing training as a Zen practitioner with Two Arrows Zen in Utah, USA, since 2012.
He is also an incredibly proud husband and father of twin daughters, lives in Bogotá and escapes on his bicycle to recharge when he gets the chance.
Our global network of experts, whom we call Spring Associates, come to Spring to create, share knowledge, and grow. Many are or were executive directors, finance directors, program directors, strategists, and fundraisers of organizations and movements creating change. You may see them in our Spring ecosystem as trainers, facilitators, event producers, program designers, and coaches.
Amany Alhadka has over 20 years of experience working in the areas of operations, finance, and organization management. Throughout her career, she supported many organizations and field operations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She specializes in building and strengthening the operational capacity of start-ups and organizations that are growing and scaling.
Before joining Prospera – International Network of Women’s Funds as Senior Advisor Operations Excellence, she was the Vice President for Business Transformation of the Equality Fund and the Vice President for Finance and Operations of the MATCH International Women’s Fund, both in Canada. She also worked at CARE International in Egypt, the USA, and Canada, and MEK Foundation in Egypt.
Amany holds a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Accounting and Auditing from Cairo University. She obtained her Public Accountant Certification from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and has certificates in the training of trainers and meeting facilitation. She is based in Ottawa, Canada.
Ikal Angelei is a Kenyan politician and environmentalist who was born in Kitale, Kenya. She is co-founder and Director of Friends of Lake Turkana, a grassroots organization that seeks to foster social, economic, and environmental justice in the Lake Turkana Basin.
Ikal completed a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Political Science at Stony Brook University in New York. In 2012 she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, particularly for her voicing on behalf of Northern Kenyan Indigenous communities about the environmental implications of the Gilgel Gibe III Dam.
Remko is a strategist, Certified Integral Facilitator™ and Integral Master Coach™ with over two decades of experience working with civil society. He brings lightness and common sense to high-stakes settings. Remko’s professional journey has taken him from his native city of Rotterdam to Bangladesh, India and Mozambique, working in various advisory and leadership positions for international NGOs and their networks of partners. He has also ventured out into the field of academia and innovation labs working on strategies for social and environmental justice.
Now based in Lannach, Austria, Remko has an insatiable curiosity about the mystery and potential of developmental work. When not at work, he loves to play in nature, is a people power believer, a fly fishing addict, and father of three lively little men. He speaks Portuguese, English, Dutch and German.
Amis Agung Boersma is an Integral Master Coach™ and workshop facilitator with over 15 years of experience in the field of international activism and social change. She believes people tend to keep their best features hidden – sometimes even from themselves. Often passions, talents, desires, and hopes for the future get buried under the overflowing to-do lists of daily life. As a coach, workshop facilitator, and gatherer, Amis shines a light on the things that matter to people, helping them connect to others as their truest and fullest selves.
Amis is Dutch with Indonesian roots and is honored to call herself a true citizen of the world. She has lived in Amsterdam, Honolulu, Jakarta, Cartagena and Aruba. She holds a Master's in Southeast Asian studies and loves studying languages; she speaks English, Dutch, and Indonesian and devours methods in which we humans can better and more deeply connect, such as the Art of Hosting, Theory U, and Thinking Environment. She is currently based in The Netherlands and loves to sing, dance, and spend time with her loved ones – preferably over a good cappuccino or cocktails.
Daniela has over 15 years of experience advancing human rights and social justice at the global, regional, and national levels. She is an Integral Master Coach™ and has supported the development of organizations and their leadership from over 20 countries, with a focus on strategy development, program development, board leadership, and change processes.
Daniela is currently the Americas Senior Development Manager at Greenpeace International. Before Greenpeace, she worked at Making All Voices Count, an innovative program that tests and documents learning on whether technology can foster transparency and accountability. She also led one of the most pioneering organizational changes in the development sector at the time: the internationalization of ActionAid and later on, she led the transition of the Oxfam confederation to one Oxfam in Southern Africa.
A global citizen, Daniela is based in São Paulo, was born in Brazil, and has lived in South Africa, the UK, and Kenya. In her free time, she reads, dances, spends time with her beloved friends, and teaches yoga.
Ciro is an Integral Master Coach™ and facilitator who is passionate about human development and sustainability matters. He brings 25 years of experience from the corporate sector, where he held executive leadership positions in areas such as country management, strategic planning, organizational development, and sustainability; and from the nonprofit sector, where he merged his corporate experience with social and environmental matters.
Based in São Paulo, Ciro is also a lover of beaches and mountains.
Sarah is an Integral Master Coach™ and has co-created leadership and personal development programs for civil society leaders in Africa and Asia. Through this work, Sarah supports high-impact leaders and organizations — mostly in the nonprofit sector — to lead with more wisdom, awareness, and resilience, so that they can more effectively drive change.
She believes that we all need to find our way to lead so that we can share our unique gifts with the world. For her, leadership is about creating space for others, listening with curiosity, and not taking herself too seriously.
Before becoming an independent consultant, Sarah started off her career as a sports radio broadcaster with the BBC and a writer on women’s football for the Times newspaper in the UK. She then moved to Kenya to start and grow a girls’ football and rights program, Moving the Goalposts, which grew from supporting less than a hundred girls at the beginning to now supporting over 9,000 girl members. She is currently based in the United Kingdom.
Wangechi is a financial management practitioner with 16+ years of experience in the development sector. She currently works at the Aga Khan Foundation and has worked on grants funded by various donors of both a restricted and unrestricted nature. She previously worked at the Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) and Education Development Trust (formerly CfBT Educational Trust). Wangechi has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting, an Executive Master’s Degree, and is a Certified Public Accountant.
As part of the FIRE delivery team, she likes that the program encourages participants to think out of the box (even in finance and accounting!) because this always gives birth to innovative ideas that lead to transformative approaches and results. Wangechi is passionate about people being the key drivers of building a just society. Besides her love for coffee, you will find Wangechi in Nairobi, Kenya, reading classic novels and listening to podcasts on markets and history.
Megan is an artist with a vast technical background and can be called a rockstar of the creative world. Boasting a holistic understanding of multiple creative arts spanning a roughly 16 year career, while being an activist passionate about the empowerment of girls, womxn and the LGBTQ+ community, Megan exists at the intersection of the creative and cultural industries and social change.
Megan holds a Certificate in Digital Media Studies with a focus in Music Technology, Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts, a Master in Arts and Culture Management, and has a special interest in life coaching for creatives.
Hailing from the twin island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, she is also an avid songwriter and performer, loves connecting with people of all cultures and prioritizes having the ocean waves underscore her daily life. She considers herself a citizen of the planet, having traveled considerably during her career, and is energized by her chosen family and professional networks that span the globe.
Budhsi is a vibrant, skilled, and passionate facilitator, trainer, and sustainable development professional with more than 20 years of experience in program development and management in several international development organizations both in Indonesia and abroad. She is committed to social and environmental justice and a firm believer in the power of individuals and communities to create and inspire sustainable change.
Budhsi has extensive experience in designing and facilitating interactive learning processes for various purposes, including decision-making, conflict management, training, and program planning and evaluation. She believes that the awareness of one's breath, body, space and energy are fundamental to facilitation.
She is the co-founder of Inspirasi Tanpa Batas, or INSPIRIT, an innovative social enterprise established in 2002 and based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Before INSPIRIT, Budhsi worked with and supported The Asian Community Trust, PACT, the International Development Research Center, and CUSO Indonesia. While living in Tokyo, she also was a Radio Announcer for the NHK Japan’s Indonesian language program and worked on an archeological site.
Budhsi has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan and a Master of Public Policy from the National University of Singapore. She speaks English, Bahasa Indonesia and a little bit of Japanese.
She grew up wanting to become the next Dr. Dolittle and as an only child, she had a lot of imaginary friends. Budhsi still uses her vivid imagination today when working on creative art projects and loves anything and everything related to arts and culture. Her other love is animals and she enjoys spending time with the adorable group of dogs and cats under her care in her home base of Bekasi, Indonesia.
Mukami is an African queer feminist activist and mother of two with an 18-year career working at the intersection of organizational development, human rights, and social justice. Her career has focused in particular on the resourcing and organizing for and by LGBTIQ persons and sex workers. Mukami applies her values of feminism, social justice, service to others, integrity, and excellence, as well as professional and social skills towards making this world a just and loving place to live in.
She is currently the Executive Director of UHAI - the East Africa Sexual Health and Rights Initiative, an activist LGBTIQ and sex workers fund. Before joining UHAI, she worked for the Kenya Human Rights Commission and was actively involved in the sexual and reproductive health rights program, particularly the right to safe and legal abortion and the rights of LGBTIQ people. Mukami also serves on the boards of the Black Feminist Fund, the Global Philanthropy Project, the Human Rights Funders Network, Funders Concerned About AIDS, and the African Philanthropy Network. She previously served on the boards of Greenpeace Africa, the East African Philanthropy Network, and the Sex Worker Donors Collaborative.
Mukami is a coach-in-training and has been certified as an Integral Associate Coach. She has a Master of Business Administration in strategy and a bachelor's degree in Building Economics and Management — both from the University of Nairobi. She has a postgraduate degree in Human Resource Management and is a certified public accountant trained by Strathmore University.
Mukami is based in Kilifi, Kenya, and speaks English, Swahili and Meru. She is passionate about bringing up her children to thrive even as they exist in the patriarchal, racist, imperialist, and sexist world that she finds herself in.
María José is currently in charge of a program at the Northwest Fund, FONNOR, that strengthens the organizational and leadership capacities of over 50 Mexican civil society organizations, with an emphasis on collaborative learning. She has worked in project management and development for over 10 years and has been involved in coordinating national and international events for over 15 years
Previously, María José worked at UNDP as well as other non-profits and managed her own business. She holds a degree in International Relations, and a master’s in Management of Non-profit Organizations, and has studied International Cooperation for Development.
María José is passionate about seeding her garden, traveling, and walking in nature. She loves good wine and conversation during dinner with her loved ones. She is based in Queretaro, Mexico.
Over the last 25 years, Elizabeth has helped hundreds communicate with heart, raise serious capital, collaborate, lead, and develop people and the systems that bring out their best. She’s been a consultant, coach, and facilitator to over 200 organizations. She’s been at the helm of four organizations, built signature projects from the ground up, and guided leaders and teams in NGOs, foundations, social enterprises, and companies.
Elizabeth previously worked with teams as a music director and conductor — founding and conducting a professional symphony orchestra, running a record label (two Grammy nominations!), and bringing unlikely partners together to create magnificent work on the stage. She has taken what she knows as a musician and an activist to create learning paths and tools that her clients love to use and embody in their organizations.
Elizabeth believes that whole people working in whole systems can, without a doubt, spring missions forward. Based in Oakland, California, she thrives on creativity, action for humanity, arts, nature, and great conversation.
Adriana has over 20 years of experience working in the areas of operations, finance, compliance, people and culture, and organization management at the Ford Foundation. There, she made many improvements in operations and finances across institutions, implementing different systems, ERPs, and workflows. She also participated in the “bureaucracy busting project” to significantly enhance operations and modernize the Ford Foundation's structures and systems.
Adriana has expertise in collaborative processes and team building in diverse and multicultural environments and likes to explore facilitating difficult conversations and helping people's talent development. She is particularly interested in the financial sustainability of Brazilian civil society organizations and holds a bachelor's degree in Accounting. She is a certified accountant in Brazil and also earned her Master of Business Administration in Accounting and Auditing at Fluminense Federal University and in Project Management at the University of São Paulo.
She is the mother of two wonderful girls and is passionate about different cultures, and people and learning new things. Adriana is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Immaculate has over 11 years of experience working in financial management and the social justice sector, especially with Indigenous peoples. She has experience working with donors on restricted and unrestricted grants, along with expertise in financial operations and fund management, capacity building, and strategies for resource mobilization. She believes in finance capacity building that is practical and can support social justice organizations to adapt according to the changing economic, social, and political situations in their context.
Born and based in Kenya, she currently works at Friends of Lake Turkana Trust as Head of Finance and Administration. She has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Master of Arts in project planning and management.
Nancy is an international banker transformed into a compassionate activist for social and economic justice. She has over 25 years of international finance experience, specializing in microenterprise development and its intersection with reproductive health. She has developed curricula on financial analysis, performance monitoring, strategic planning, and budgeting with organizations globally.
Before becoming an independent consultant, Nancy was a Financial Advisor to ProMujer, a microfinance organization in five South and Central American countries that integrates access to credit with empowerment and business skills training, savings, and reproductive health education and services. Nancy was a fellow of the Gates Summer Institute at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
She received a Master in Business Administration in International Finance from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She currently serves on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida and is Treasurer of Global Doctors for Choices. She is a past board member and treasurer of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) and the Florida Community of Mindfulness.
Nancy has a daily meditation practice and facilitates workshops on mindfulness, compassion, and leadership. Smitten by her two granddaughters, Nancy splits her time between Florida, United States, and Nova Scotia, Canada, where she enjoys rowing, kayaking, sailing, and cooking vegetarian meals.
Barbara Oliveira (Ph.D., MBA, LLM) is a facilitator, Integral Master Coach™, process designer, change agent and conflict transformation mediator, strategic negotiator, and host of meaningful conversations. Barbara is passionate about human connection and the potential that multi-stakeholder participatory approaches offer to create innovative and inclusive solutions for sustainable development challenges. Throughout her career, she has added expertise in using systemic approaches such as Theory U, Appreciative Enquiry, Systemic Constellations, Deep Democracy, and the Thinking Environment, in addition to Consensus Building and interest-based negotiations/mediation, and has developed sustainable leadership models for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and young women leaders.
Barbara co-founded the Collaboration Laboratory focused on fostering a culture of facilitation and participatory decision-making in Brazil and founded Ecosynergy – Facilitation and Capacity Building for Sustainability. Through Ecosynergy, she facilitates, trains, and coaches NGOs, businesses, government agencies, international organizations, and academic bodies in their initiatives to become more integrated, collaborative, and better engaged with their stakeholders, in Brazil and abroad. Barbara also founded the Appreciation Project and is a public speaker in leadership, consensus building, and collaboration.
Based in The Netherlands, Barbara is a radical humanist, polyglot, dancer, singer, poet, tree hugger, and animal whisperer.
With over 12 years of experience in institutional communications, Carolina excels in creating and building communities, particularly in the digital realm. At Spring, she is committed to leading the organization’s social media strategy, ensuring brand consistency, managing data efficiently, and curating engaging content on various platforms and events to build impactful and sustainable online communities.
Carolina firmly believes in the restorative power of nature's processes and is dedicated to ensuring their sustainability to address the evolving needs of human life, thus contributing to the fight against inequality. Her most notable achievement centers on her remarkable capacity to maintain a harmonious equilibrium between mental well-being, professional advancement, and self-discovery. This equilibrium empowers and propels her towards making impactful contributions to causes that resonate with her values related to gender, digital access, the environment, and financial equity.
Hailing from Mexico, Carolina is a true bibliophile who finds solace in books and combines her love for reading with a good cup of coffee. A passion for cultural diversity guides her gastronomic adventures, while the Mexican coastlines hold a special place in her heart.
Kenny is an Integral Master Coach™ and has over a decade of experience as a facilitator in the public (Citizenship and Immigration Canada), private, and non-profit (Authentic Montreal) sectors.
He is passionate about fostering deep human connection, compassionate self-development, and nature. He believes that everyone holds a piece of the puzzle we are collectively faced with; Everyone is a leader in some way, and allowing that leadership to express itself can only make for a better world for all.
Kenny is based in Montreal, Canada, and has also lived in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and British Columbia.
Mo Salomon is the founder of Korumo Coaching for Transformation. As a coach, they are passionate about working with people who are going through a transition. Mo enjoys supporting clients to navigate what feels like a wilderness experience: learning to trust their instincts, stripping down to basics, letting go of what is no longer serving them, opening up to the unfamiliar, and finding their way through toward their purpose.
Mo has a background in anthropology and a PhD in participatory rural development. They have worked in different development and research settings, and on assignments in Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Based in South Africa, they are a yoga teacher, runner, mindfulness blogger, and Ennea 7.
Graciela Selaimen is a journalist who has been exploring multiple ways to tell stories to foster social justice. She works with philanthropic institutions and civil society organizations to refine strategies and practices focused on strengthening narrative power and institutional development of organizations and social movements. Since 2021, she's been leading the work of IRIS (the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling) in Latin America and is a consultant and coach working with Spring.
As an Integral Master Coach™, Graciela works with social justice leaders in their personal and professional development, supporting transformational work that connects mind, body, and spirit. Her coaching approach focuses on a deep recognition of interdependence, trust in the wisdom of the heart, and confidence in our ability to overcome the illusion of separation.
Graci has a specialization in gender and local development and a master’s degree in communication and culture from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Emi has expertise in designing collaborative processes for project development. She has worked in the NGO sector and social business sector, contributing to fundraising, community engagement, and consultancy projects.
Emi holds a master's degree in Business Administration and is certified in Cultural Biology from Escuela Matríztica de Santiago in Chile. Based in São Paulo, Brazil, she loves gardening, nature, sewing, and her godchildren.
With over 15 years of experience, Andrea has worked as an independent consultant focusing on financial sustainability, resource mobilization, communications, and financial planning. From her early days as a fundraiser for cultural organizations until now, she has worked with a multitude of organizations tackling diverse social, cultural, environmental, development, and health issues, including HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Andrea has also devoted herself to academia and has co-authored several publications on organizational strengthening and resource mobilization in Mexico. Andrea holds a master’s degree in Cultural NGO Management from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Based in Mexico City, Andrea enjoys supporting organizations to achieve their potential and increase their capabilities to achieve their goals. You can count on her to ask questions about what we can learn from situations, from each other, and how we can use our experiences to create something better.
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