Erin Blanding

Facilitator

Erin Blanding is a facilitator, leadership coach, and organizational change strategist whose work is rooted in trauma-aware, anti-oppressive, and land-connected approaches to leadership and community care.

She began her journey as a teenage activist organizing against child labour and exploitation, finding belonging and purpose in young people building collective power. This early experience sparked a now 23-year career across grassroots organizing, nonprofit leadership, and global social justice and nature-based initiatives.

Known for her creativity, resourcefulness, and entrepreneurial spirit, Erin brings a generative, build-from-what’s-here approach to the people and communities she serves.

Erin is Spring’s Leadership Fellow. She also serves as Chief People and Learning Officer at MakeWay, a Canadian national charity that builds partnerships and solutions to help nature and communities thrive together.

Erin lives in what is colonially known as Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, where you’ll find her learning from watersheds, digging and singing in her garden, forest romping with her dog Tuck, hosting canning parties for friends, crushing a CrossFit workout, making music, and finding magic in day-to-day wonder.

Márcia Kodama

Facilitator & Coaching Lead

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.

Kenny Sajous-Georges

Facilitator & Coach

Kenny is a Haitian-Canadian Integral Master Coach™ and facilitator with over a decade of experience as a facilitator in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, including roles at Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Authentic Montreal. He is passionate about fostering deep, compassionate connections to one’s innate wisdom, to others, and to the more-than-human world. 

Kenny has always believed in a more beautiful, just and life-sustaining world, and is convinced that the co-creation of such a world is only possible if more of us are empowered and if the potential and genius of traditionally marginalized people are allowed to shine for the benefit of the collective. This conviction, along with his love of coaching and his devotion to self-awareness and personal development, has made coaching with Spring a dream come true. 

At Spring, Kenny is part of the Coaching and Facilitation Programs, and has supported individuals and organizations working for digital rights, access to health, climate justice, gender equality, food justice, and more. His work is influenced by his vast experience with Non-Violent Communication and Authentic Relating Practices.

Coaching participant Nathan Metenier, Co-Executive Director of the Youth Climate Justice Fund, said of Kenny:

"Working with Kenny has been transformative. I deeply appreciated his exceptional listening skills, authenticity, and remarkable ability to truly connect and tune in with me. Kenny has a unique way of creating a coaching space for exploration without disappearing as a person—he’s fully present, both as a wonderful coach and as an inspiring individual.

"Through our sessions, Kenny helped me gain greater clarity on my role and navigate the complexities of balancing professional and personal life. His approach not only provided structure and insight but also reminded me of the importance of laughter and finding joy in the process."

Kenny lives in Sutton, Canada, and speaks French, English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. He sings, plays guitar and is now learning the piano. He has recently developed a strong interest in the practices of Unified Playfulness, which combine Mindfulness and Playfulness, as a means for personal development and as a form of activism.

Ellen Sprenger

Facilitator & Co-CEO

Ellen 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 health 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™.

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 zen practitioner.