Our PeopleAt Cincinnatus, our consultants bring years of experience to serve your needs. We are not career "consultants"; we have served in board, management, finance, philanthropy, and operational positions in for-profit, nonprofit, and government organizations. This means Cincinnatus consultants have faced and successfully dealt with the same challenges, difficulties, and complex decisions that confront our clients. We strive for continual improvement, both within our practice and in your operations. Cincinnatus BiosKENT E. EKLUNDMr. Eklund offers a broad range of senior management skills and experience. His background allows him to work comfortably with public, private, and not-for-profit organizations. With Cincinnatus, Mr. Eklund provides leadership support services focusing on strategic planning, leadership search support services, interim leadership, board development, and confidential leadership counsel. Prior to joining Cincinnatus, Mr. Eklund was President of CEO+, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm assisting in business transitions, executive searches, and providing interim management at the executive level. Before this, he served as President and CEO of Parkside Senior Services, President and CEO of Ebenezer Society, and Vice President of Market Development with Lutheran Brotherhood. From 2003–2008, Eklund left Cincinnatus as a full time consultant to serve as the President of the Fairview Foundation. He returned to Cincinnatus in December of 2008. Mr. Eklund’s public service background includes service as a commissioner of two departments under Minnesota Governor Quie and as Mayor of the City of Northfield, Minnesota. Concurrently, he was the Chair of the Political Science Department at St. Olaf College. Mr. Eklund holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Political Science with specializations in planning and organizational theory. He currently serves as the Past Chair of the board of directors of Courage Center, Vice Chair of VocalEssence, Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee at the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, and a member of the Sunrise Banks Strategic Advisory Board. He serves on the Board of Regents of the Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs of Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. 612-843-0123 DIANE L. HERMANDiane Herman is an expert in competitive strategy and governance, and for over 16 years, she has helped organizations thrive. She is a partner in Cincinnatus, a Minneapolis-based strategy consulting firm that is now celebrating its 21st year. Diane pioneered the concept of Strategic Leadership, which she defines as “strong management and a committed, effective board continually focused on the powerful ideas that will advance the mission in a significant way.” She has worked with a diverse range of organizations, from large, established institutions to those in the formative stages of development. She brings creativity and passion for helping leaders develop powerful strategies to meet their challenges and move their organizations forward. Diane has been a major force in adapting business market research tools such as focus groups and surveys to the unique needs of the nonprofit community. In recent years, she has adapted best practice concepts in board governance to help boards of directors understand their roles and become better organized and focused on the issues that matter most to their organization’s future. Before joining Cincinnatus in 1990, she was a marketing professional at the Pillsbury Company, where she developed competitive business strategies for both mature and emerging businesses. She has an M.B.A. in marketing from the Carlson School of Management and a B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota. Prior to her marketing career, she worked in public policy positions with the Governor of Minnesota and the Minnesota Senate majority leader. Diane has a long history of community involvement and currently serves on the boards of Graywolf Press and the Minnesota Humanities Commission. She lives on the St. Croix River, a National Wild and Scenic River, where she and her family can indulge in their love of the out-of-doors. She and her husband have traveled extensively throughout the world. Her services include: Strategic Planning Facilitation and Governance Best Practices. 612-843-0126 TWANYA HOOD HILLTwanya Hood Hill brings to every engagement, a wealth of expertise in the organizational development, training, leadership development and strategy development arenas. With over 19 years of experience supporting organizations both internally and externally, Twanya has helped organizations realize their desired organizational culture through a variety of solutions and interventions. Twanya’s true passion is derived from her ability to create lasting and sustainable organizational change that is both employee and customer centric, innovative yet aggressive, promotes shared vision and growth and is fiscally sound. Twanya infuses energy and expertise into the following areas of consulting support: • leadership development Twanya’s approach to consulting is rooted in her ability to understand the partner organization, learn its organizational values and culture, explore the partner’s objectives for its future, and then work collaboratively to create a unique and completely customized solution. Having professional experience in several industries, including for profit and non-profit organizations, Twanya’s approach is not tied to a specific industry or functional area. She believes that understanding any organization requires a dedicated learning curve which she is excited to embark on in order to achieve the absolute best possible outcome for the client. Prior to becoming a partner with Cincinnatus, Twanya was most recently the Director of Organizational Development at Hennepin County Medical Center, where she built an OD & Learning department from the ground up. Prior to this position, she was the founder of Akina Consulting, a practice dedicated to learning and organization development. Twanya has also served in the following organizations: Gap, Inc., as Director of Field Training and Implementation, at Genentech, Inc., leading Leadership and Management Development, Leadership and Team Development at Target Corporation, and the management consulting firm, A.T. Kearney, Inc. Fascinated with adult learning, Twanya also served as Adjunct Faculty at Ottawa University. Twanya holds an MBA in Human Resource Management and Behavioral Science from the University of Chicago as well as a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. She is certified to deliver the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI), Interaction Management, Mohr Retail: Bottom Line Buying and Development Decisions, Inc. (DDI). Twanya is very committed to her community work, which includes Trustee of Breck School, Board Secretary of the MacPhail Center for Music, Advisory Council member of Brightwater University and former Board member of the Hennepin Health Foundation, Project for Pride in Living Health Careers Advisory Board, and Jack and Jill of America Foundation. 612-843-0130 NANCY SPEERPrior to joining Cincinnatus as a partner, Nancy Speer spent more than thirty years in strategic leadership positions in the non-profit and public sectors. She brings to the table a wealth of experience in philanthropy and institutional advancement, governance, and organizational development. She advises clients on strategy for philanthropy, campaign feasibility, and development assessment and planning. She also offers her clients interim leadership and counsel related to governance, executive leadership, and executive searches. Nancy has helped organizations strengthen their boards, grow their philanthropic income, and raise millions of dollars in campaigns. She most recently served as Senior Vice President at Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. Earlier she served as Vice President for Development at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Director of Development at Breck School, and External Relations Director at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Nancy’s most recent public service has included board leadership of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and executive committee membership at the Loft Literary Center, the Advocates for Human Rights, and Lake Forest Academy (IL). She was Vice Chair of the Metropolitan Airports Commission and Co-Chair of the Board of the Minnesota Women’s Campaign Fund. She also has served on the boards of Minnesota Landmarks, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and the Minnesota Newspaper Foundation. Nancy holds a B.A. degree from Wellesley College and an M.A.T. from Wesleyan University (CT). She was recipient of a Bush Leadership Fellowship. Lake Forest Academy recently honored her as Woman of Distinction and member of the Hall of Fame. 612-843-0127
SARAH B. STRICKLANDThirty years of leadership, organization change, board governance, and business strategy experience in the health, higher education, and human services sectors. Progressive executive experience with a large non-profit health care provider system coupled with continuous community service as a governance volunteer has cultivated a highly developed strategic perspective with expertise in successfully advancing mission and vision into sustainable results. A consulting practice cornerstone is project design, management, and convening for large-scale, complex initiatives with multiple stakeholders who share a common vision AND hold unaligned goals or interests. Sarah's passion is engaging people in communities and across organizations in authentic dialogue that can lead to collective wisdom and effective strategy to advance common goals and well-being. Sarah has incorporated theories and practices in convening, system/organizational change, retreat design, and graphic facilitation to expand the opportunities for learning, integration, sustainability, and action through her work.
Sarah's consulting areas include:
Clients over the past five years include: National Institute on Media and the Family; University of Minneosta Medical Center; HealthPartners Institute for Medical Education; The Wedge Cooperative; UCare Health Plan; University of Michigan School of Dentistry; University of Minnesota Law School. Sarah's thirty years as a community volunteer has influenced her passion for women and children’s human rights and provided an important cornerstone for her consulting practice in the nonprofit sector. Her experience includes board chair, committee leadership, and volunteer roles for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood of Minnesota/South Dakota, St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, and Leadership Minneapolis. Sarah received her B.A. in Organizational Psychology from Pitzer College, Claremont, California, in 1975. She has studied the Art of Convening with Heartland, Inc. and Master Graphic Facilitation with Grove Consultants International. 612-843-0131 ARIELLA TILSEN For the past 15 years, Ariella Tilsen has helped organizations, communities, and leaders to create compelling visions and clear, concrete plans for turning those visions into reality. She has worked extensively with not-for-profit, public, and private organizations of all sizes, including multinational companies, state and local governments, and organizations in health care, philanthropy, social justice, the arts, and community service. She is known for helping people to simultaneously build enduring professional relationships and create real-world solutions. She guides leaders and groups to look beyond taken-for-granted practices and assumptions so they can achieve the results they most desire. This often includes helping nonprofits become more entrepreneurial—and more successful in fulfilling their missions. It often also includes a focus on intercultural communication and multicultural development. Ariella is adept at facilitating multi-stakeholder groups to build alliances across traditional and not-so-traditional divides, and to work together toward common goals. Much of her work focuses on bringing out the expertise, wisdom, and skills already present in organizations and their people, and in applying these to co-create realistic and effective solutions. Her experience in working with the stories, identities, and realities that make each organization or community what it is—rather than imposing a framework from the outside—has served as a catalyst for solving previously unsolvable problems. Before becoming a consultant, Ariella served as Associate Director of International Programs for the American Refugee Committee (ARC), Assistant Director for the British American Arts Association in London, Principal Policy Analyst for Hennepin County’s Research, Planning & Development Department, and a senior staff member of the State of Minnesota’s Management Analysis & Development Division. For the past three years she has worked with community leaders and organizations throughout South Africa to create positive and sustainable change. She also co-founded Leland Johnson Common Vision, a cross-cultural leadership and social justice program for youth. Ariella has a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from St. Catherine University. She also completed the intensive training program at Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Center for Mindfulness in Health, Medicine and Society at the School of Medicine, University of Massachusetts. She is a trained mediator and a registered neutral with the State of Minnesota. She has also trained with Gerald Monk and John Winslade, the creators of Narrative Mediation. Ariella has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas’s Center for Nonprofit Management. She has also been a mentor and coach for the University of Minnesota’s Tom Burnett Leadership Fellows program, and a volunteer community mediator for the Conflict Resolution Center. Ariella has presented internationally, nationally, and locally on organizational and community change, transformational leadership, multicultural communication, conflict resolution, and leading mindfully. 612-843-0122 JOHN A. YNGVEJohn Yngve, Founder of Cincinnatus, has more than twenty-five years of management experience in high technology organizations. In addition, he has served on boards and commissions for a variety of professional, public, civic, and community organizations. At Cincinnatus, Mr. Yngve provides leadership support services including management mentorship with emphasis on owners and senior managers of small and medium manufacturers. Presently, he serves as Chairman of Bondhus Corporation, a tool manufacturer in Monticello, Minnesota. Mr. Yngve was president and chairman of Nortronics Company, an electronics manufacturer and served as Chairman of Minnesota Technology. He has served as an officer or member of the board of the Minnesota Council, Minnesota High Technology Council, Metropolitan Transit Commission, Citizens League, the University of Minnesota Foundation, the national board of the American Electronics Association, and the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota. He has also served as a representative in the Minnesota State Legislature. Mr. Yngve received a law degree from the University of Minnesota. 612-843-0128 |
 |
