Social Innovation Forum

Kerry Bowie

Kerry Bowie (he/him/his) has been a Social Innovator Consultant since 2018. When not working with the Social Innovation Forum, he is co-founder and managing partner of a social impact consulting firm. Kerry works at the nexus of social, economic, and environmental justice and has more than 20 years of experience in private, public, and nonprofit management. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental engineering from MIT and the University of Michigan, respectively, as well as an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Bernadette Brewer

Bernadette Brewer (she/her/hers) has been a Social Innovator Consultant since 2018. She is currently the Executive Director of the Presentation School Foundation Community Center in Brighton. With over 25 years in the field of nonprofit human service management and public administration, she actively collaborates and consults with groups and organizations in areas of social justice, organization and program development, as well as community organizing and policy advocacy. She holds an MPA and MS in Criminal Justice from Suffolk University and is a 2018 graduate of the TSNE Emergent Consultants Training Program.

L. Soul Brown

L. Soul Brown (she/her/hers) has been a Social Innovator Consultant since 2018. Outside of the Social Innovation Forum, she directs a grants office for a community college, developing its diverse portfolio of public and private funding.  Soul has extensive experience leading grassroots nonprofits and cultural projects that focus on youth development, arts education, and social justice organizing. She volunteers with local school- and community-based racial equity committees. She holds an MPA from Framingham State University and BA in English from Tufts University and is a 2016 graduate of the TSNE Emerging Consultants Training Program.

Helena Hartnett

Helena Hartnett (she/her/hers) has been a Social Innovator Consultant since 2017. Based in SouthCoast Massachusetts, she is a management and fundraising consultant to not-for-profits, with a special interest in expanding access to arts and culture. Her expertise includes strategic planning, capital campaigns, board development, team-building, and communications. Prior to joining The Jeremiah Group LLC in 2011, she headed the advancement efforts at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and Lasell College during periods of institutional transformation. Her first career was as an editor at Houghton Mifflin. She is a graduate of Smith College.

Margaret Leipsitz

Margaret Leipsitz (she/her/hers) has been a Social Innovator Consultant since 2016. She has over thirty years of experience partnering with community, nonprofit, corporate, and foundation leaders to set goals, measure results, and create stronger organizations. Recognized for helping teams work more collaboratively, her primary focus has been in the area of youth development, education, age-friendly planning, and workforce development. Prior to establishing ML Consulting, Margaret worked at Root Cause Consulting, Putnam Investments, BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life), The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, The Boston Foundation, and The Boston Children’s Museum. A graduate of the University of Michigan, she studied urban education.

Heang Ly

Heang Ly became a Social Innovator Consultant in 2019. As an independent consultant Heang develops effective and lasting solutions in the areas of organizational, leadership and program development, workplace culture, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Heang is both a content and process expert, utilizing coaching, training, facilitation, and consultation frameworks and tools in her practice. Heang has spent her career in the youth development, community organizing, social justice, and education spaces. Her most recent role was director of consulting and training at the Center for Teen Empowerment, where she resided for thirteen years. She currently serves as a coach at the Harvard Business School, an associate for Conditioning Leaders and All Aces Inc., and she is a longtime ESOL teacher.  

Heang holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in psychology and education and a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is a graduate of the Institute for Nonprofit Practice (a 2017 Social Innovator), where she obtained a certificate in nonprofit management. 

Nina Selvaggio

Nina Selvaggio (she/her/hers) became a Social Innovator Consultant in 2019. She has twenty years of leadership experience in the social sector. Nina started her career as a grassroots organizer and has developed deep experiences with community organizing, operations management and strategic leadership. To that end, she has built coalitions and worked with communities around a range of issues including, education reform, racial equity, family equality, and tackling the intersections of oppression. Prior to establishing Nina Selvaggio Consulting, Nina's tenure includes strategic roles with several local and national nonprofits. These have ranged from annual budgets between $100,000 and $20 million and from a handful to hundreds of employees with multiple sites. Her core passion, expertise, abilities, and commitment to social justice are grounded in her goal to integrate improved ways of operating so talent can focus their time and energy on bringing a mission to life. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois - Urbana with a degree in political science and women studies and has recently completed the University of Pennsylvania's Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy.

Wendy Swart Grossman

Wendy Swart Grossman (she/her/hers) has been a Social Innovator Consultant since 2014. With a background in the US and South African presidential campaigns, Wendy is a co-founder of Creative Re/Frame Consulting where her expertise is in building effective partnerships, strategic planning, measuring outcomes, communication, and facilitation. Wendy is also a lecturer at Boston University in the field of Cultural Entrepreneurship and has held positions at Harvard’s Museum of Science and Culture, the Graduate School of Design as well as The Science Museum in London, UK. Wendy holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from St. Olaf College and an MA in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University.