Amis Boersma
Associate

Amis is part of our Facilitation and Coaching program teams.

Amis Agung Boersma is an Integral Master Coach™ and workshop facilitator with over 10 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 really matter to people, helping them connect to others as their truest and fullest selves.

Amis is Dutch with Indonesian roots and honored to call herself a true citizen of the world. She has lived in Amsterdam, Honolulu, Jakarta, Cartagena and Aruba. She holds a Master in Southeast Asian studies and loves studying languages. Besides languages she devours methods in which we humans can better and more deeply connect, such as Art of Hosting, Theory U and Thinking Environment. Amis loves to sing and dance, and spend time with her loved ones – preferably over a good cappuccino or cocktails.

Home base

Netherlands

Languages

English, Dutch and Indonesian

Proudest achievements

Following through with discipline and joy of my intention to become an Integral Master Coach™ and ridding myself of negative mental chatter.

You became a Spring Associate because…

I could not imagine a greater group of people to work together with to support social and climate justice leaders do their work in more resourceful and sustainable ways.

Your leadership philosophy

We each have such a unique combination of talents and strengths. Leadership, to me, is daring to tap into these yourself and building trust so that others feel supported to fully inhabit theirs as well.

Rita Brown
Intercultural Trainer & Integral Master Coach™

Rita is part of our Coaching team.

Afro-Brazilian global nomad. Cross-cultural trainer. Leadership coach. Interculturally married 20+ years. Mother. Contemplative. Dancer. Somatics student. Tropical heart. Hiker and snorkeler. Stilt walker.

Home base

Honolulu

Languages

English and Portuguese

Proudest achievements

Raising a daughter. My commitment to healing and developing human capacities in service of liberation and social justice.

Archana Deshpande
Co-Executive Officer

Archana is a creative rights advocate, strategist, communicator, polyglot and singer with over a decade of experience supporting a wide range of human rights and social justice initiatives. Archana has overseen 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 is responsible for program content and development, as well as training components. Archana holds a masters degree in International Affairs and is an accredited Integral Master Coach™.

Home base

Toronto

Languages

English, Spanish, French, and Gujarati

Ciro Fleury
Associate

Ciro is part of our FIRE and Coaching program teams.

Ciro is an Integral Master Coach™ and facilitator. He is passionate about human development and sustainability matters, and has a long history of experience in the corporate and NGO sectors. He’s also a lover of beaches and mountains.

Home base

São Paulo

Languages

Portuguese, English and Spanish

Proudest achievements

Leaving a successful corporate career to dedicate my energy and my time to social and environmental issues. Not giving up my personal development despite all the challenges that have popped up along the path.

Márcia Kodama
Lead, Spring Coaching

Integral Master Coach and Facilitator™. Japanese Brazilian Zen Monk. Avid reader and intensely curious student of human nature. Half the size of my son. I love swimming and cats.

Home base

São Paulo

Languages

Portuguese and English (and Japanese and Spanish, although I don’t work in these languages)

Proudest achievements

Courageously changing my career to arrive at a place where ‘work’ no longer depletes but regenerates, and my own growth path is to support others in theirs. Realizing that there is nothing to seek for, while realizing the aliveness that comes from seeking.

Barbara Oliveira
Associate

Barbara is part of our Facilitation and Coaching program teams.

Founder of Ecosynergy, the Collaboration Lab and The Appreciation Project. Master Coach. Sustainable Development Facilitator and Mediator. Radical Humanist. Dancer. Singer. Poet. Tree hugger and Animal Whisperer.

Barbara Oliveira (PhD, MBA, LLM) is a facilitator, 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 multistakeholder 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. She 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 which 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 is also a Master Certified Integral Coach™ and a public speaker in leadership, consensus building, and collaboration.

Home base

São Paulo

Languages

English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian

Proudest achievements

To have coached some of the most amazing social justice leaders around the world doing great work. To have launched the Appreciation Project (www.theappreciationproject.net).

You became a Spring Associate because…

Supporting social justice advocates be better leaders is a great way to contribute to a better planet.

Your leadership philosophy

Be present and witness beauty in yourself, in others and in the world. “Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” Khalil Gibran.

Denise Portes
Integral Master Coach™

Denise is part of our Coaching team.

Denise is deeply committed to develop as a human being in her spiritual path, as a student of the Ridwan school for over 11 years. Mindful practices such as meditation and self-inquiry have helped her deepen her understanding of what it is to be human and of what is sacred within us.  She is an Integral Master Coach™ and Family Constellations Facilitator with a foundation training in Body Therapy and a BA in Psychology.

Home base

London

Languages

English & Portuguese

Proudest achievements

My biggest achievement was leaving my birth country, coming to the UK and starting a new life. As well as finding myself as a woman and as a professional, all while raising my two children.

Kenny Sajous-Georges
Associate

Kenny is part of our Coaching team.

Kenny is an Integral Master Coach™. He is passionate about fostering deep human connection, compassionate self-development, and nature. Born in Canada and based in Montreal, he has also lived in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and British-Columbia.

Home base

Montréal

Languages

French and English

Proudest achievements

Leaving the comfort of my government job to pursue a more fulfilling coaching and facilitation career. Feeling pain in response to the challenges and injustices of the world yet remaining optimistic and able to love fully.

Graciela Selaimen
Integral Master Coach™

Graciela is a journalist who has been exploring multiple ways to listen to and tell stories. She believes women can heal the planet and our stories can alleviate suffering - beliefs that led to her specialization in gender and local development and a master’s degree in communication and culture. After 25 years of working with social justice organizations and activists in journeys around the globe, she decided to dedicate more energy to the journeys inside - and to support transformational work that connects mind, body, and spirit.

Home base

Rio de Janeiro

Languages

Portuguese, English, Spanish

Proudest achievements

My proudest achievement is having raised my kids, who are now two wonderful adults. They both are compassionate, fun, independent, and have deep respect for all forms of life. I'm also very proud of having friends all around the world. Most of them are people with whom I worked in the past 25 years. I love to say that I've planted beautiful flowers along the way in my professional life.

Ellen Sprenger
Co-Executive Officer

Ellen Sprenger is a strategist and advocate for social and climate justice. Since 2004, she has been the founder and CEO of Spring. She is a believer — especially in human potential and our collective ability to solve the problems of our time. She is a curious and creative optimist, an espresso enthusiast and avid meditator. 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 masters degree in Development Studies, an MBA from Erasmus University, and she 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. Ellen is from the Netherlands and Canada, and has lived in Tanzania, South Africa and the United States.

I founded Spring because...

Initially it was just me wanting to keep busy in a meaningful way after I came to Canada. But a few years in, I became more intentional about supporting emerging and experienced leaders. I chose the name Spring, and encouraged by my mentors and friends, took my own ‘leap of leadership’ to build this global team. We work directly with high-leverage individuals, organizations and movements who exist to make a difference. Spring is agile, and we have roots in the very same movements we support. We are scaling out, not up, and I believe that this way of working, with clients and deeply committed associates all over the world, creates exponential impact. We are a small but mighty powerful group of people ... and we have fun working together!

Home base

Toronto

Languages

English and Dutch

Proudest achievements

To always be ‘in development’, growing and waking up, and to resist the temptation of staying in my comfort zone. (Okay, I try.) And that I have been able to surround myself with people committed to doing the same.

Your leadership philosophy

It's about bringing together, supporting and learning from people driven by a deep sense of purpose, creativity and excellence. It’s about knowing enough to add value and know when to get out of the way. I believe this is how teams thrive, feel inspired and do their best work.

Alexander Streubel
Associate

Alex is part of our is part of our Facilitation and Coaching program teams.

Alex Streubel is a leadership and mindfulness coach. He has over 20 years of business experience as an entrepreneur, manager and consultant. As co-director of the Centre for Mindfulness at Universidad del Rosario, he led the Centre’s creation. Alex is a mechanical engineer educated at Universidad de Los Andes and holds an MBA from Duke University. He trained as a Master Integral Coach™ at Integral Coaching Canada, as an Integral Facilitator at Ten Directions and as a MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) qualified teacher at the Centre for Mindfulness at the University of California San Diego. He formally studies Soto Zen with his teacher Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi since 2012.

Home base

Bogotá

Languages

Spanish, English and German

Proudest achievements

Realizing that in the end, love is what really matters. Leaving the safety of the family business to pursue my life’s purpose and passion.

You became a Spring Associate because…

I find meaning and purpose in supporting activists and changemakers that take on what in my mind are the most critical challenges of our time.

Your leadership philosophy

To lead people, you first have to understand people. To lead and understand people, you first have to lead and understand yourself.