People Potential

Leading
             Essential
                          Change

People Potential is a network of diverse and experienced consultants who guide, facilitate, and develop leaders, organizations, and communities in their work to create essential change.

Consultants:

NANCY FRITSCHE EAGAN

Nancy is founder and President of People Potential and has provided consultation and training services to public and nonprofit organizations since 1983.  The focus of her work is to utilize guiding principles and values and community and workplace relationships to accomplish results in purpose-driven projects that amplify indigenous wisdom and create regenerative models of economic development and social entrepreneurship.   She applies her direct services and management experiences in government and the not-for-profit sector to her work.   Nancy is known for her ability to create and customize services and interventions that are suited to the needs of each organization. She has an M.S.W. from Hunter College School of Social Work.

Nancy is a practitioner and steward of the Art of Hosting Meaningful Conversations and facilitates organizational and community development through the use of appreciative inquiry, open space, world café, future search, presencing and other participatory and engagement tools.  She is on the Board of The Berkana Institute and is a founding member of a food cycle “collaboratory” called Tasting Change.  She helped with the design and follow through of the First Women’s Conference on Sustainability in New York State with the Women’s Initiatives for a Sustainable Earth. Nancy co-facilitated World Cafés with over 500 people at the 100th Ecumenical Gathering of the National Council of Churches and The Church World Service.

Nancy has a broad range of consulting and training experiences.  In past years she facilitated projects with Good Shepherd Services (using the Sanctuary Model®), Children’s Aid Society, NYU’s School of Nursing and Visiting Nurse Services; American Journal of Nursing; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Free Library of Philadelphia; Spectrum Consulting Group; Children’s Aid Society; Center for Development of Human Services at Buffalo State College; New York State Office of Children and Families; Hunter College School of Social Work; Safe Horizons; New York School to Work Alliance; Philadelphia Health Department; NYC Department of Probation; Human Resources Administration –NYC; United Way; New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services; and Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology.  In addition, Nancy has facilitated training programs in over a dozen states and in England.

She is a specialist in change strategies, relationship and community building, leadership development and project management.  Nancy designs meetings to foster meaningful conversations in support of collaborative and inclusive processes.  She uses a permaculture framework in working to return to regenerative and sustainable practices that honor the earth and the seven generations that will be impacted by her work and commitment.

Nancy is featured in a storytelling leadership series with Women2Girls.  Here is the link:  http://www.w2w2g.com/speakers/

 ANGELA AMEL

Angela Amel, MSW worked for 18 years in non-profit organizations providing direct practice, management and leadership. She focuses on creating work place environments and staff support that facilitate the highest quality services, working from the belief that in the approach to the staff and work place environment will directly affect the quality of services. She encourages the development of programs that foster an inclusive environment with open, healthy communication among staff and clear, shared vision. Angela facilitates workshops and retreats on the development and implementation of guiding principles and open communication and provides project management and leadership coaching. 

Kelly McGowan, M.P.A., launched Upstream Consulting in 1999 to help community and public leaders to create and implement strategic responses to social problems. Since then, she has facilitated community planning processes, provided organizational development consultation, and secured more than $15 million in government and private funding for community based organizations serving disenfranchised communities.

McGowan emerged as a student leader in the anti-apartheid movement to divest universities from South African corporations in the mid-1980s. Following graduation, she moved to New York City and became active in social movements to end homelessness. She served on the board of the Union for the Homeless, on the housing committee of ACT-UP, and co-founded a leadership development and tenants’ rights organization for homeless women with children in the public shelter system. As the Executive Director of an HIV prevention organization targeting high-risk homeless youth, McGowan advocated for and secured the first government funding for a peer-based HIV prevention intervention.

McGowan earned a bachelor of science in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Public Administration with concentrations in non-profit management and health policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She has been a teaching colleague with the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and has training in structural family therapy from the Ackerman Institute and Salvador Minuchin’s Family Studies, Inc.

Christine Rico  

Provides organizational change consulting and business development services to companies and non-profits throughout New York City. 

Christine’s career includes hands-on organization building and business development as well as strategic and economic analysis.   Recent consulting clients have included the Open Space Institute, Lower East Side Ecology Center, Glynwood and a range of entrepreneurs and small business owners engaged in creating a more sustainable New York City.  Prior consulting clients have also included the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund of the U.S. Treasury.  Christine previously led internal consulting and technical assistance programs at both PHI National and Seedco.  

At PHI National, Christine led national efforts to provide technical assistance on policy and workforce development programs designed to improve the quality of jobs for paraprofessionals and the quality of care for consumers of long-term care services (nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home care companies).   Funding for these initiatives came from private foundations, companies, and the Federal Department of Labor.

At Seedco her responsibilities included leadership of technical assistance program for community-based housing development organizations which included managing the federal contract; hiring and supervising expert staff and consultants; directly providing technical assistance to up to 10 community housing development organizations nationally; and presenting loan packages to the Finance Committee of Seedco’s Board of Directors.  Christine also co-led sectoral analysis and program design efforts for  economic development opportunities in the health care industry at Seedco.

This experience has given Christine expert qualifications in organizational assessments; defining and leading change processes; workshop design; strategic planning facilitation and using coaching techniques to support executives and managers tasked with leading internal change processes.

Christine is a social entrepreneur and strategist who has created Waste to Wealth Ventures for her work on projects and ventures that are creating economic opportunities and building sustainability strategies for New York City.  



Barbara Berry is a senior partner and co-founder of the Spectrum Consulting Group, Inc., a full service organizational development consulting firm located in New York City.  Established in 1990, Spectrum Consulting Group specializes in delivering targeted interventions that improve organizational functioning, and in the provision of developmental services designed to improve organizational productivity.  In addition, Ms. Berry frequently consults in the areas of training of trainers, presentation skills development, diversity and inclusion, leadership development, and team building.

As an organizational development consultant with over 25 years of experience, Ms. Berry provides services to non-profit, public and private institutions.  Her work includes the design, management, and implementation of multi-faceted interventions, specifically designed to meet organizational needs.  She has effectively deployed large scale organizational projects with more than 75 facilitators, crossing numerous departments and divisions within an organization. Ms. Berry has successfully created and directed training programs on a global scale in the United Kingdom, Latin America, Canada and the United States. 

Ms. Berry has had a great deal of success with helping employees improve their skills at making presentations and training trainers. She is skilled at helping them to organize and execute an effective presentation or training. She believes that practice and feedback are the keys to successful presentations and presenter confidence.

Ms. Berry's background includes teaching, addiction counseling, and outreach training for troubled adolescents and homeless women. She has also managed alcohol abuse prevention and education programs, the in-service training functions of a national youth organization, and directed the career counseling and training functions at a major long term health care facility before establishing her consulting practice. 

Ms. Berry holds a Bachelors of Arts in history and secondary education from Queens College, CUNY.  She has received training in organizational development through the Drug Dependence Institute at Yale University and graduate studies at Hunter College, CUNY. 

Ms. Berry’s current and past clients include Du Pont, AT&T Corp, Lucent Technologies, J. P. Morgan, J. P. Morgan Chase, Freddie Mac, IKON Office Solutions, Nassau County AHRC, Brookdale Center on Aging of Hunter College, Delaware Trust Bank, Digital Equipment Corporation, Health and Hospitals Corporation of New York, New York City Department of Personnel, New York Foundling Hospital, Brandywine Senior Living, Purdue University and Harvey Mudd College, New York State Office of Temporary Disability Assistance, Miller Coors.  

 
Richard Rivera is President of RR Consulting & Associates an organizational consulting firm, specializing in executive coaching, organizational change/transformation, strategic planning and human resource training for healthcare, government, nonprofit and corporate organizations.  Mr. Rivera’s expertise includes specialized services around leadership and management development, change management, peer group learning, strategic planning, cultural diversity, executive retreats, succession planning and executive coaching.

Richard’s Rivera consulting experience ranges from serving healthcare organizations such as The Montefiore Medical Center and the NYC Health & Hospitals Corporation, to serving government agencies such as the NYC Housing Authority and the NYS Office of Children and Family Services and to serving nonprofits such as The United Way of New York grantees, the Hispanic Federation agencies in NYC, and the Children’s Aid Society.

Mr. Rivera currently serves as lead facilitator/consultant for the Baruch School of Public Affairs, Executive Programs. At the Milano School of Management and Urban Policy, Richard served as an adjunct professor for the Principles of Nonprofit Management graduate course. He also served as coach/facilitator for Columbia University’s Management Development Program.  As a member of the Drucker Foundation’s “Organizational Assessment Tool” team, Richard has conducted presentations to board and executive leaders across the nation. Mr. Rivera received his M.S.W. degree from Columbia University, School of Social Work.    

Martin, is founding principal of Compass Wealth Management an independent financial planning firm established in 2004, He is a nationally recognized expert in Life Planning, and is a founding member of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, which is dedicated to training financial advisors in integrating assets with values. He works extensively with nonprofits  in integrating proper stewardship of finances in alignment with organizational values. This has included co-creating policies and procedures, Board polices and “Statements of Financial Philosophy” that help guide organizations.  Martin is  a Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner. He has a Masters of Science degree in Financial Services from The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania as well as the Chartered Financial Consultant designation.  He earned his BA from Pace University in New York. 

He currently serves as Treasurer on the Board of the Berkana Institute a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating community based solutions throughout the world. He facilitates community based training in participatory leadership and solutions.  Martin serves as a member of the CFP Board's Disciplinary and Ethics Commission.  The Commission is responsible for interpreting and applying the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility and the Financial Planning Practice Standards for those who hold the CFP designation.  Martin has also served as a member of the national Board of Directors of The Financial Planning Association a professional organization with 29000 members (2004-2007), whose mission is to educate the public on the benefits and value of the financial planning process. He was instrumental in introducing Circle practice, World Café and Open Space as a method for Board governance.