Our Team

Spartina’s team has extensive business consulting experience–developed over decades–supporting a wide range of corporate, government, and nonprofit clients around the globe.

Tony Silbert

Co-Founder, Partner

Tony is innately curious, charismatic, and approachable – he knows how to engage and light up a room.

Tony Silbert, MSOD has over 25 years of experience in business consulting, organizational development, training design and delivery, positive change leadership development, and coaching. He brings strengths-based and participatory approaches to strategic planning, innovation, leadership development, and culture building.

He is Dean of the Appreciative Inquiry & Strategy program at the National Training Laboratories Institute, teaches the Capstone (Strategic Management) in Providence College’s MBA program, and provides leadership development training with the UMass Boston, Center for Collaborative Leadership.

Tony has supported private and public sector organizations across the globe. His industry experience includes: Healthcare, Financial, IT, Government, Pharma, International Development, Non-profit/Social Enterprise, Telecommunications, and Logistics.

Tony co-authored the book Healing Conversations Now: Enhancing Relationships with Elders & Dying Loved Ones (with Joan Chadbourne, ©2011 Taos Institute). He holds a Master of Science in Organization Development from American University/NTL Institute.

Jen Hetzel Silbert

Co-Founder, Partner

Jen is a master bridge builder and connector, gifted for engaging diverse audiences and creating the space for conversations that matter.

Jen has an unshakable belief that every person is worthy of learning, working, and earning to their full potential. She brings over 20 years in positive organization development in cities, schools, Fortune 500 companies, and indigenous villages around the world.

A master group facilitator, leadership coach and force for positive change, Jen brings an infectious energy to her strength-based approaches to strategic planning, leadership development, culture building, and social innovation. She has a knack for challenging conventional thinking, a skill that has supported some of the highest rankings of the CIA, refugee survivors in post-civil war Liberia, as well as a statewide planning process that engaged thousands on complex issues such as education equity and earning power. A serial mentor to youth and emerging leaders, Jen founded Learning401, leading school advisories, workshops, and student-run story slams that gave voice to the public that is public school. Prior to founding her own consulting practice, Jen was an organization development consultant and leadership coach for Bearing Point, EDS, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and IBM.

A TEDx speaker, author, blogger, and marathon coach turned soccer mom to two powerhouse girls, Jen is based in southern Rhode Island, where she is a paddle boarding beach bum dog loving yogi.

StrengthsFinder profile: Connectedness, Arranger, Positivity, Achiever, Maximizer

Dave Siebs

Co-Founder, Partner

s experience and passion lie in Management Consulting, Business Modeling and Design.

Prior to founding Spartina, Dave was a Vice President at CACI International, in Arlington, VA, where he supported M&A activity and directed business operations of a 3,000 person business unit. Dave was previously a Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte Consulting where he supported clients in Insurance, Manufacturing, Banking, and Federal Government segments.

Dave served in the Foreign Service with the U.S. Department of State and had postings in the Middle East and Asia. A Veteran of the Iraq War, Dave served in the U.S. Navy.

Dave is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he earned masters degrees in Business and Information Systems.

An avid sailor, Dave earned his “Shellback” by crossing the equator during a 4,000 mile, month-long Pacific Ocean transit on a sailboat from San Francisco, California to Papeete, Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Erin Corrigan

Senior Consultant and Coach

Erin Corrigan is passionate about understanding what makes people tick. A learning and development expert with a specialty focus in luxury retail, Erin believes creating a culture steeped in strategy drives results at every level in an organization. She discovered her abiding interest in understanding people while earning her BA in cultural anthropology from Rutgers University. Through her perspective in anthropology, Erin quickly understands how people operate and how they put values into play. Understanding begets transformation, and transformation opens the door to peak performance.

Dr. Cathy Royal, PhD

Social Justice Behavior Scientist

Cathy is a teacher, sage, and beloved Nana for helping people discover how to bring antiracist practices into their life and work.

Dr. Cathy Royal is a highly respected Applied Behavioral Scientist, educator, executive coach, and Organization Development practitioner. Her leadership in Systems Thinking, Social Justice and Appreciative Inquiry has rendered her a powerful social justice advocate since the civil disobedience of the 1960s. Cathy uses her “lived experiences” and always speaks from her heart in coaching social enterprise leaders in authentically aligning roles/structures to vision/values.

Recently Cathy teamed up with Jen and Tony to facilitate 900+ remote participants at Portland State University’s Equity + Social Justice Summit. She is a Board member (2020-2023) and member Emeritus of National Training Laboratory (NTL) Institute. In addition to co-editing the book, Lessons from the Field: Applying Appreciative Inquiry, Cathy is author of the Theory of Quadrant Behavior – a framework to help us to be more alert in engaging with systemic ‘isms’ and dismantling its various forms. Shortly after completing her Ph. D at The Fielding Institute, Cathy served as a trainer and consultant to the World Bank. She’s Adjunct Professor at American University NTL Institute and Colorado Technical University and is based in Washington DC where she is the mother of three “only” children and globally beloved “Nana” to every life she touches.

Damian Ewens, MSE

Senior Consultant and Coach

Damian is a consummate teacher and adventurer gifted for creating unique learning experiences that harness individual purpose in concert with community.

Damian Ewens is an educator, entrepreneur, and ocean adventurer with a passion for helping all people feel alive and in concert with their self, purpose and the environment. For over 20 years, he has taught in, launched, and led inclusive learning communities, non-profits, and tech start-ups that create opportunity for all. Most recently, he founded and runs Ocean State of Mind, a mindfulness-based ocean science and research initiative supporting thriving oceans and humans: a project of the Ocean Foundation. He is a certified mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) teacher who runs MBSR programs for colleges, companies and ocean advocates. With certifications in free-diving and ocean rescue and risk mitigation, he also guides ocean retreats that foster deeper connection to self, community and nature. Damian holds a Masters degree in Education from Stanford University. He is a lifelong surfer who lives in ‘the Ocean State’ with his wife, photographer Stephanie Alvarez Ewens, and two daughters.

Amri Johnson, MPH

Inclusion+Behavioral Science Strategist

Amri is an inclusion, organizational effectiveness, behavioral science expert and consultant who gets it: when inclusion wins, everyone wins.

For over 20 years, Amri Johnson has been instrumental in helping organizations and their people create extraordinary business outcomes. He is a social capitalist, epidemiologist, entrepreneur, executive coach, and inclusion strategist.

Amri’s dialogic approach to engaging all people as leaders and change agents previously at the research division of Novartis, as Global Head of Cultural Intelligence and Inclusion) has fostered the opening of minds and deepening of skill sets with organizational leaders and citizens, enabling them to thrive and optimally contribute to one another and their respective organizations.

As CEO/Founder of Inclusion Wins, he is building a global cooperative of people-focused solutions providers whose solutions are informed and enhanced by inclusiveness.

Amri is currently writing a manuscript for change-makers to systemically embed inclusion in a manner that is accessible (for all), actionable (in daily business practice), and sustainable (aligned with organizational purpose).

Born in Topeka, Kansas (USA), Amri has worked and lived in the U.S., Brazil, and currently lives in Basel, Switzerland, with his wife Martina and their three kids.

Listen to Amri’s podcast here!

Mo Maureen McKenna

Senior Consultant

Maureen engages collaborative approaches to strategic planning, innovation, leadership development, organizational effectiveness and large scale summits.

Maureen works with the private & public sectors in a variety of industries, in Canada and in the US, including insurance, technology, education, healthcare, all three levels of Canadian government, professional associations and community agencies.

A Certified Management Consultant, Maureen has twenty years of corporate management experience and twenty years of management consulting. She is a Global Council Member of the Center for David L. Cooperrider Appreciative Inquiry, Champlain College (VT), a TAOS Institute member and Adler International Coaching Alumni. A respected member of the international Appreciative Inquiry community, she has led hundreds of training sessions on Appreciative Inquiry since 2001. Maureen was the Chair of the 2nd Canadian Positive Psychology Conference (CPPA) and is an active member of CPPA.

She is the founder of the Canadian consulting firm, Return On Energy and she is proud to be a strategic partner with Spartina Consulting.

Mark Kravatz

Senior Consultant

Mark Kravatz is best known professionally as an organizational leader with a prowess for strategic planning & implementation, organizational operations & systemization, collective impact, community development, energy efficiency, sustainability, workforce training, and service learning. Most recently, Mark served as the Executive Director at Habitat for Humanity of Rhode Island-Greater Providence, where he grew Habitat’s annual budget from $45,000 to $1+ Million in two years by developing a new strategic vision, leading a comprehensive operations transformation, and diversifying fundraising streams by creating new pathways for social enterprise revenue growth, consistent with the mission and vision of the organization. To best support the programs and organizations he has managed over the years, Mark has passionately dedicated thousands of hours towards developing and honing his applied knowledge in the areas of applied systems thinking, organizational productivity, and small business entrepreneurship. Mark is focused on optimizing organizations to achieve high-quality outcomes and impact. This includes consultation and coaching services for operationalizing strategic plans, project design & management, individual & team productivity training, systematizing businesses operations, and organizational scaling.

Claudia Cardozo

Senior Consultant and Coach

Leadership and Executive Coach, Rhinomind Coaching

Professional Bio:
Claudia Cardozo is a bilingual (Spanish - English) facilitator, a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Diversity & Inclusion leader, Author of Love Is the Path, and first-generation Colombian immigrant to the United States. She has over a decade of experience assisting small businesses, non-profit organizations, and the private sector in achieving economic growth. She brings a unique blend of experience in the private and public sectors, combined with a vast network and access to resources that she leverages to find customized solutions that best meet the needs of her clients. A former Community Development Manager from HarborOne Bank in Providence, Claudia is gifted for integrating financial literacy into regional workforce development efforts, having facilitated 100+ financial education workshops and webinars for individuals and youth, reaching over 2,000 participants. A fierce advocate for small and minority-owned businesses, Claudia enrolled dozens of small business clients into “Success for Small Business (SSB),” a program to help underbanked startups and small businesses to gain access to capital. She has designed and facilitated numerous professional development workshops (in-person and virtual) for a host of diverse audiences, including youth, non-profit, private sector, and Spanish-speaking groups.Claudia’s passion for inclusive cultures stems from her personal journey, is guided by her unceasing curiosity, and has roots in the belief that when people fully embrace who they are, there is nothing they can’t accomplish. Claudia is a Charter Member of ‘A Loving Organization Consortium’ and holds a Diversity & Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University.

Jim Berson, MPH

Researcher and Associate Facilitator | Strategic Partner

From his start as a grant writer, through his 25 years of nonprofit leadership, and now his 8 years as a consultant, Jim has led and supported numerous meeting and group facilitation efforts and workshops, managed internal and external stakeholder engagement, and supported building both organizational capacity and alignment. Before becoming a consultant, Jim was the CEO of the YMCA of Providence for four years. Before this position, he was in several senior management roles at Meeting Street School and The Providence Center, including as COO in both organizations. He has also served as an interim executive director at nonprofit organizations in Providence.

Jim is the Board Chair of both the RI Business Group on Health and the RI Coalition Against Domestic Violence. He also serves on the board of directors of the RI Quality Institute and previously served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Quonset Development Corporation. His most recent work with Commerce RI was facilitating a planning process supported by the National Governors Association to develop a digital equity plan and recommendations to the State in 2022, which helped support the State‘s broadband initiative. Jim received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University and his master’s in public health from Boston University. Jim and his wife live in North Kingstown, RI, and have two children.

Haesun Moon, PhD

Senior Consultant and Coach

Haesun Moon, Ph.D., is a communication scientist, an educator, and author of Coaching A to Z:

The Extraordinary Use of Ordinary Words and several collaborative books, including Thriving Women, Thriving World, and Foundations of Brief Coaching, a short handbook for professional coaches. Haesun received her Ph.D. in Adult Education and Community Development from University of Toronto. She cares about people experiencing better conversations at home and at work – and she does that by training, coaching, and consulting. She believes that conversations can change the world, and she defines this process as hosting dialogic conditions in which people participate to imagineer and perform their preferred change. Her academic and professional research in coaching dialogues and pedagogy from the University of Toronto led to development of a simple coaching model, Dialogic Orientation Quadrant (DOQ). The DOQ has transformed the way people coach and learn coaching worldwide. Haesun teaches Brief Coaching at the University of Toronto and serves as Executive Director at the Canadian Centre for Brief Coaching, and Principal at The Human Learning Institute. When not writing, Haesun enjoys filmmaking, carpentry, and golf. Haesun is a lover of early mornings, naps, good coffee, and fine pens with fine nibs, currently residing in Toronto with her mother and two exceptionally affectionate and independent dogs. You can visit her online at www.briefcoaching.ca and www.coachingatoz.com.

Sterling Clinton Spellman

DEI + CliftonStrengths Consultant / Trainer / Coach

Sterling is a Possibility Whisperer and Success Alchemist whose mission is to guide individuals toward realizing their inherent greatness and living their dreams.

Sterling is a renowned author, speaker, empowerment coach, and transformational business consultant. With a wealth of experience in education, entrepreneurship, and personal development, Sterling brings a unique blend of insight and inspiration to her work. Through her books, workshops, speaking engagements, and consulting methods she has transformed countless lives and businesses.

Sterling and her husband, Russell, founded The Incred-A-Bowl TM Food Company, a social enterprise that operates as a multicultural food company, including two food trucks and a restaurant, serving delicious and healthy food with bowled(bold) flavors, created out of the love of good food, culture, and the passion to offer healthier food options to their community. They also launched the Incred-A-BowlTM fresh start program, providing career opportunities for people who are historically disenfranchised and deemed unemployable. The program is a job + job training + leadership development + personal development rolled into one transformational opportunity. Through her leadership and people-connecting skills, Sterling has become a powerful voice in her community, inspiring individuals to actualize their full potential. She currently resides in Rhode Island, with her husband and two young daughters. CliftonStrengths: Activator, Positivity, Communication, Connectedness, Includer.

Lisa DeAngelis

Senior Consultant and Coach

Dr. Lisa DeAngelis’ research focuses on transformative teaching. Her work on teams, leadership, and transformative teaching has been published in peer-reviewed journals.
She brings 3 decades of divisional and corporate leadership experience to the work of preparing leaders to excel in the twenty-first century. Lisa ran the Center for Collaborative Leadership at the University of Massachusetts Boston for twelve years, having been handed the baton from the Center’s founder. In this role, she oversaw the Emerging Leaders Program (which brings together mid-career executives from Corporate, Nonprofit, and Governmental Agencies for a year-long immersive leadership development experience), while also designing and delivering custom leadership programming for key partners. Additionally, she has helped facilitate leadership programs in industries varying from banking to education to consumer goods.

Lisa’s forte lies in onboarding new leaders, building leadership bench strengths, leadership coaching, and team facilitation. She is certified in the PRISM psychometric assessment and the ERTi (Emotional, Relational, Team intelligence – 360 tool). She leverages data as a catalyst to instigate transformation in individuals and teams.

Leadership is an inside job – it’s about influence, not authority. Lisa helps individuals understand who they are as a leader, why they choose to lead, and how to bring that to each aspect of their life. She encourages individuals to step into their uniqueness, claim their power, and actualize their vision.

In her coaching work, Lisa brings compassion, tenacity, curiosity, and humor to bear as we work together to clear out the obstacles blocking your potential – even when that obstacle is you!

Marlo Derksen, PhD

Senior Consultant and Coach

Talent development leader with a track record of unlocking potential and making a positive impact on people and business outcomes in Fortune 500, not-for-profit and privately held organizations. Influential leadership coach, trainer and facilitator with executive experience leading multi-disciplinary teams, managing complex projects and driving innovation and change.

Seeking opportunities to bring leadership and talent development expertise to mission-driven organizations committed to developing talent and creating a healthy, high performing culture.

Dr. Larry O. Warner, DrPH, MPH

Senior Consultant

Founder & Managing Principal, Warner ILS

Larry’s work bridges philanthropy, public health, and public safety, grounded in real‑world leadership: from boardrooms to the cockpit as a private pilot. If your team is setting priorities or navigating complex change, I’m eager to compare notes and help you move from plans to outcomes.

Mary Vargas

Senior Consultant and Coach

Mary is a strategy consultant, group facilitator, and former project manager at Future of Fish, a non-profit accelerator for entrepreneurs that drive sustainability, efficiency, and traceability in the seafood supply chain. Working with entrepreneurs on the leading edge for driving sustainable food systems, Mary engaged directly with small seafood companies to connect sustainable fishers with buyers, seeding partnerships that connected large-scale sustainable fishing with restauranteurs. Using Appreciative Inquiry, Mary has led numerous projects focused on strategic planning, communication planning, and execution, team development, executive coaching, process design, training design and delivery, needs assessments, business risk assessment, and technology implementation. As a coach and consultant, Mary works with individuals, teams, and organizations to create and live into the cultures they say they want. She is passionate about conversations that open futures, illuminate new possibilities, and lead people to build on their strengths. Mary is a west coast associate of Spartina Consulting who lives in San Francisco with her husband, Jose.

Todd Iarussi

Senior Consultant and Coach

Leadership and Executive Coach, Rhinomind Coaching

Professional Bio:
As a coach, I have a passion for supporting leaders through the challenges of change and fierce competition that demand higher levels of leadership maturity and agility. In a career that has included VP/Director roles in talent acquisition, consulting, and program management, clients appreciate my ability to be a thought partner on a range of leadership and business topics.

Todd has coached in Fortune 500 companies, foundations, government organizations, educational institutions, and athletics organizations, and leverages his breadth of experience to support his coaching clients. He specializes in working with leaders and teams on growing through adult developmental stages, influencing, coaching skills, teamwork, and in improving their ability to make values-driven business decisions, especially under pressure.

Todd is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation (ICF), a certified group and team coach through the MAGUS Group and Aephoria, and completed Georgetown’s Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching. He was an Advisor to the Center for Mindfulness at Brown University, where he graduated with a BA in Biology, and was captain of the baseball team.

Company Bio:
The forces of change, complexity, and uncertainty have put new demands upon the ability of leaders to find the best ideas in the room, create inclusive work environments, and collaborate with peers. Leaders can no longer be expected to have all of the answers, and the pressures to do their job well, while developing themselves and their people, have never been higher.

To support leadership agility and adaptability in the face of change, Rhinomind Coaching supports leaders in developing a set of “horizontal” leadership skills that are complemented by “vertical” perspective-taking capacities, and include more mature responses to stress, conflict, and complexity.

At Rhinomind, we assess both the horizontal and vertical aspects of leadership, and create developmental approaches that are context-dependent, and grounded in trust and relationships. Most importantly, we provide a space for leaders to be curious about their development and performance, so that they can be courageous and confident in whatever arenas they choose.