Our Team

CO-FOUNDER

Dr. Koverola is a distinguished senior executive having served in numerous leadership positions including university president, provost and dean. Her career has spanned multi campus and global institutions with a focus on innovative academic and health care program development. An outstanding fundraiser and strategic thinker she is highly skilled in building public private partnerships. Dr. Koverola has a lifelong commitment to building inclusive diverse academic communities and social uplift through education. She is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of interpersonal victimization. Her current scholarship focuses on administrator faculty relations and she is co-author of the recently published book: “Building Trust between Faculty and Administrators: An Intercultural Perspective.”

Dr. Koverola brings over 35 years of consultation and clinical practice that has included: executive coaching, leadership development, organizational change management, strategic planning, start-up launch, development and delivery of culturally relevant trauma informed programs, psychotherapy, and vicarious trauma training for service providers.

She has lived and worked on three continents and brings a well honed intercultural wisdom to her practice.

Dr. Koverola has a PhD in Clinical Psychology, an MA in Theology, an MA in Clinical Child Psychology and a BSc in Biology. Catherine’s LinkedIn profile

CO-FOUNDER

Dr. Commissiong is a fundraising, business development and corporate social responsibility specialist. Her expertise includes corporate sustainability projects, social impact for businesses and strategic fundraising for charitable projects.

Natasha brings 10 years experience as a fundraiser and business development specialist for international businesses, nonprofit organizations, research institutes and universities. Her international work experience has expanded programs for a variety of development focused initiatives including: gender based violence, climate change, sexual health and reproductive rights, public health service provision and youth education for underserved communities primarily in the US, the UK, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. She has lived and worked in the US, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Germany, The Gambia and Lesotho, speaks Portuguese fluently and is proficient in French.

Natasha has a PhD in Human Geography, specialized in gender based violence, development, and Caribbean feminism. She also has an MSc in International Development and Anthropology from the London School of Economics and a B.A. (Summa Cum Laude) in International Relations with a minor in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California. Natasha’s LinkedIn profile

FOUNDING PARTNER

Marja Väänänen is an internationally experienced, professional in the field of applied psychology, systems theory and cultural studies. Having lived in Europe, the Middle East, and the US, she has cultivated a truly multicultural approach in the assessment of family systemic/cultural/transgenerational stressors in an individual’s narrative, expression, and symptoms. Marja emphasizes the meaning of individual awareness about trauma, survival, and perseverance in systems for change.

In her private practice, first, in Seattle, US, and currently in Helsinki, Finland, she is dedicated to evidence-based, multicultural, integrative therapies for couples, families, and individuals. Her clientele is diverse and spans the range of corporate executives, high level government officials and policy makers, individuals impacted by military service, gang affiliated families, or practitioners suffering from toxic work cultures within large healthcare organizations. She identifies the roadblocks to well-being caused by assaults to the sense of self, internalized oppression, moral injury, and attempts to normalize dehumanizing practices, be it within family, political, corporate, and/or ideological systems.

Marja also brings extensive community and organizational experience within the non-profit sector. From training families to become trauma-informed foster/adoptive parents in Seattle, to unburdening the crisis line in an organization supporting marginalized groups in Helsinki, she seeks ways to share her passion to reverse the impact of trauma into a force for finding health, by supporting individuals and organizations develop healthy and reliable interpersonal connections and sustainable systems for personal and professional lives.

Marja Väänänen has a MA in Counseling Psychology, Couple and Family Therapy, from Antioch University Seattle, and a BA in Cultural and Historical Studies, Visual Culture, from Brighton University, United Kingdom. Marja's LinkedIn profile

EDUCATION DIVISION CONSULTANT

Dr. Lisa B. Fiore is recognized as a leader in numerous efforts anchored in education and human development. Current research and professional consulting activities emphasize social-emotional learning and development, building and sustaining relationships in educational settings, un-centering and un-learning systemic complicities in educational settings/practices, and promoting strengths-based environments and awareness of the multi-generational effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in educational communities. Dr. Fiore is a co-founder of the Violence Against Women Initiative at Lesley University, which supports conferences and exhibitions to raise awareness and inspire action to stop violence against women on a global scale. Dr. Fiore is the author of several books for teachers and families, including: Grit, Resilience and Motivation in Early Childhood; Assessment of Young Children: A Collaborative Approach; LifeSmart: Exploring Human Development; Successful Centers; Your Anxious Child: How Parents and Teachers Can Relieve Anxiety in Children; and Building Trust between Faculty and Administrators: An Intercultural Perspective.

Dr. Fiore obtained her Ph.D. in Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College, and holds an M.A.T. from Tufts University and a B.A. in English and American Literature from Brandeis University. Lisa's LinkedIn profile

Dr. Walton is an educator, researcher, nonprofit leader, and fundraising consultant with seventeen years of professional fundraising and nonprofit leadership experience. Among his areas of expertise are comprehensive fundraising strategy design and implementation, international community development, sustainability, well being and social-ecological resilience, and gender and equity in research and program design. His work in West, East, and Southern Africa, and in Southeast Asia and South America, includes organizational leadership, research, fundraising, and project design and implementation in education, agriculture, children and housing, women’s empowerment, and entrepreneurship. As an educator, Jeff teaches a variety of college courses in intercultural and environmental studies and literature, with emphasis on decolonization theory and ecological feminism, and with a commitment to elevating historically silenced and marginalized voices from across the globe.

His Ph.D. in Education from Prescott College focuses on sustainability with emphasis on well being, ecological economics, and critical political economy. His dissertation research measured social-ecological resilience indicators and perceptions of well being among cocoa farmers situated in forest-dependent communities in Cameroon’s Southwest Province. The results of the research informed subsequent community and agricultural development projects in western Cameroon.

Jeff also holds a masters in philosophy with a concentration in environmental philosophy, a masters in religious studies, and an undergraduate degree in communications and rhetorical criticism. He is currently professor of literature at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. Jeff's LinkedIn profile

EDUCATION DIVISION CONSULTANT

Dr. Hunter has specialized in community and organizational change in the fields of international development and higher education. Her greatest skills are in developing equitable assessment and evaluation approaches as well as driving change for equitable workplace cultures.

Kierstyn has worked with social and education sector organizations since 2004 establishing new organizations or program areas, as well as evaluating outcomes. Internationally, she has led projects or organizations dedicated to gender equity and environmental sustainability in Cameroon while also guiding research directed at improving gender equitable programming in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Her higher education career in the United States has advanced participatory curriculum design and learning assessment models that showcase educator expertise and student-centered strategies.

Kierstyn’s education has been deeply experiential and globally-minded. She has a PhD from Prescott College in Education, specializing in sustainable and gender equitable learning. Her Masters in Whole Systems Design was earned at Antioch University Seattle and her undergraduate work was completed through a Quaker-based program, Friends World/Global College now housed at Long Island University. Kierstyn's LinkedIn profile

MENTAL HEALTH DIVISION CONSULTANT

Haddi Browne is a research professional, mental health expert, and freelance mental health writer and proof-reader. She has worked as a researcher for various charities, universities, and research agencies for over eight years. Haddi works remotely from the UK and has previously lived and worked in Canada and Greece. She has also volunteered for a community development project in Rio de Janeiro.

Her experience has included working with a diverse range of clients across the lifespan, including young adults with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Haddi’s main areas of work have included:
● Writing articles on mental health and psychology for simplypsychology.org
● Co-ordinating a randomized controlled trial to evaluate an intervention designed to prevent PTSD and depression in emergency medical workers.
● Setting up and co-ordinating a clinical research programme to deliver evidence-based mental health support to medical staff during COVID.
● Administering assessments using interviews to diagnose PTSD and depression in medical staff.
● Delivering evidence-based mental health support to student paramedics and assessing risk.
● Volunteering for mental health charities, therapeutic communities, and inpatient psychiatric wards.

Miss Browne graduated from King’s College London in 2022 with a Distinction in MSc Mental Health Studies. Her favorite modules included Social and Community Mental Health and Women’s Mental Health. Furthermore, Haddi was awarded a Distinction for her MSc dissertation titled ‘In the presence of adversity, how do key coping skills protect against mental health problems in Black British secondary school children?’ She also has a BSc in Psychology obtained from Brunel University. Haddi's LinkedIn profile