MEET OUR COLLABORATORS
President and Senior Consult/Coach, she leverages 25 years of experience advising senior organizational leaders and preparing young professionals for the leadership pipeline. A senior university educator and administrator, Laura specializes in communication, leadership, conflict management, and group facilitation and has worked with various organizations in the corporate, non-profit, and higher education sectors around the globe. What makes Laura’s work unique is her expertise in human communication and her ability to take a systems lens to all organizational dilemmas and opportunities. She uses humor and humility in her organization development work and invites her clients to do the same. Laura has a master's degree in intercultural communication and a doctorate in organizational communication from Howard University. She has a certificate in higher education pedagogy from Harvard University’s Center for Teaching Excellence.
Laura is the President of the Washington-Baltimore Center for the Study of Group Relations and former board member of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems. These Group Relations organizations study the unconscious dynamics of organizational life.
Laura K. Dorsey-Elson, Ph.D. (President/CEO)
Omowale is ECG's co-founder and senior consultant. He advises organizational leaders and coaches groups/teams to build eco-friendly environments to overcome complex interpersonal challenges. Seasoned in Group Relations and Human Communication approaches, Omowale leads project teams and designs agile strategic communication frameworks for organizations. At the University of Maryland, he served as an executive coach for the Rawlings Center for Public Leadership and a Senior Leadership Fellow at the James McGregor Burns Academy of Leadership. He was the lead consultant for Montgomery County Department of Transportation's diversity initiative for the five multi-million dollar divisions. Past executive board leadership included the Baltimore Ethical Society, (President) the Washington Baltimore Center for the Study of Group Relations, the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems, and (President) the Barbados Association of Journalists.
He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in organizational leadership, human resource management, conflict resolution, corporate culture, organizational communication, group dynamics, and media studies. He holds a master's degree and a doctorate in human communication and organizational communication from Howard University.
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Omowale Elson
(Vice President for Growth and Strategic Partnerships)
Diane Forbes-Berthoud
Diane leverages 25 years of experience working in nonprofit, government, and higher education to amass a proven record of success in organizational communication and development, program assessment, strategic planning, and organizational training and development. She has extensive experience coaching and consulting to executive directors, senior staff, and employees in strategic planning, equity, diversity and inclusion, leadership development, conflict resolution, and organizational cultural change. Her previous positions include lead consultant in a countywide organizational effectiveness and diversity initiative in Montgomery County government in Maryland that impacted thousands of employees. A former executive coach for the Rawlings Center for Public Leadership at the University of Maryland, Diane coached elected state officials, and entrepreneurs in leadership development, communication, and improved management and was a Senior Fellow at the James McGregor Burns Academy of the Leadership University of Maryland.
She is a certified associate and group consultant of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems and the Washington-Baltimore Center for the Study of Group Relations. Diane holds a doctorate in organizational communication and social psychology from Howard University.
Fan Zhang
Fan is a creative thinker who is concerned with improving corporate business development and client systems in national and international markets. For over 20 years working in international market development and applying a strong expertise in long-term strategic planning, Fan leverages a deep sense of knowing how to steer clients away from the faultlines at the intersection of culture and business negotiations. Formerly a leader at Canada Export Center, she explored joint venture opportunities with both industrial and consumer products, and managed a diverse project portfolio, including market analysis studies, managed care systems, product feasibility profiles, and customer satisfaction measurement. She has a vast knowledge of the North American and Asian markets.
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Fan holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing & International Business from Trinity Washington University, is fluent in several Asian languages, and can conduct business in Japanese and Chinese. She is an active member of the Women’s International Association of America.
Michael Speer
Michael's passion is organizational effectiveness, productivity, and leadership achieved through personal and organizational change. He helps people and organizations understand the dynamics that affect their person, team, or organization. He strongly advocates experiential learning since research definitively shows that it is most likely to lead to actual knowledge and change. His expertise in leadership, life coaching, group dynamics, team building, and organizational and leadership effectiveness, has been primarily in the government and non-profit sectors. He is a subject-matter expert (SME) in interpersonal communications and is certified to administer and interpret the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. Michael consulted at numerous group relations conferences and was a former President of the Washington-Baltimore Center for the Study of Group Relations, whose focus is to study leadership and authority.
A former lecturer at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland in the Executive Masters Program and Senior Fellow at the Burns Academy of Leadership, Michael’s doctorate and masters degrees are from the University of the South and Ohio State University.
Hannah Gray-Chambers
Hannah is an emerging Leadership Coach and Consultant. Her focus is on holistic healing within leadership. Her role at ECG is to focus on ways to curate community building and healing experiences. She currently writes our blog and is a free spirit who is trying her hand at many things. She received her Master's in Higher Education and Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego. She is a Co-Creator for Group Relations International, a co-host of the The Higher Head Podcast, a culinary enthusiast, and has an immense passion for service.
Sun Wei
Sun Wei is an expert in intercultural communication and is developing a wide body of research in health communication. She received her Ph.D. in Communication and Culture from Howard University in 2002. Her area of specialization is intercultural communication. Dr. Sun’s research on crisis communication, health communication, media and culture, conflict management in global settings, and ethnic relations have appeared as book chapters and articles in academic journals. She has been invited by several Chinese universities and organizations to lecture on American culture and industry, intercultural communication, and crisis management.
Lillian plays an integrative role in all of ECG's projects as Director of Administration. Tapping into over twenty years of experience in administration, project management, managing training, banking, she has made an invaluable contribution to introducing Electronic Data Capture (EDC) for Credit Card Acquiring transactions in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Islands and the introduction of local Credit and Debit Cards to those markets. Lillian built an excellent coordinated an agile flow of communication to ensure the completion of our commissioned Communication Strategy and Action Plan for the OECS Secretariat. She continues to serve a critical role in building a high-functioning ECG Edge Academy, the platform of ECG’s online training workshops. Her attention to detail is evident in her document preparation and enhancement, preparing visually appealing proposals and manuals.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Management from the University of the West Indies.
Lillian Lorde
David Harrington has deep and varied experience in executive and public leadership. He uses that wealth of knowledge to assist corporate and nonprofit leadership in building strategic relationships. As President and CEO of the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce, a business association of over 600 businesses, David increased membership by over 50 percent and has made the Chamber a Washington regional impact organization. David is a former Mayor of Bladensburg, Prince George’s County Council Member, and Maryland State Senator. He served as President of the Maryland Municipal League, National Chair of Economic Development with the National Association of Counties, and Chaired the Maryland State Task Force on Physical Education. Numerous awards included the Phyllis Newman Award for nonprofit advocacy, Human Services Coalition Legislative Award, and Economic Award from 100 Black Men.
His board leadership included, Chair of the Prince George’s County Redevelopment Authority, Chair, Bowie State Board of Visitors, Chair, Common Health Action Board, Co-Chair Board of Trade Chamber Association, DMV Connects Chamber Representative, Board member of Meyer Foundation, Community Forklift Board Member and recently appointed Honorary Commander at Joint Base Andrews.
David Harrington
Nyacko Pearl Perry
Nyacko Pearl Perry is an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion professional specializing in leadership development and organizational change. Using a data-driven approach and centering the voices of the most marginalized, she works with her clients to identify the areas of their organization that need attention and supports them with developing a plan for sustainable health focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion. Always returning to the question, “Where is there opportunity for more compassion?” Nyacko works with business leaders, working groups, and community organizations to address inequalities and facilitate a healthier, more inclusive system and organization. She holds an M.S. in Organization Development, with distinction, from American University, and is a recipient of the American University’s Segal-Seashore Fellowship award for her demonstrated commitment to social justice.
She served in the Peace Corps as a HIV/AIDS Capacity Building Volunteer in Botswana from 2012-2014 and is a 500-hour professional-level yoga teacher and an Afro Flow Yoga® certified teacher, and she purposefully weaves her mindfulness expertise into her consulting work.
Tyrome “Ty” Smith
Tyrome "Ty" has nearly 25 years helping executives understand human and organizational dynamics. He has served as a senior consultant to the Department of Defense and was a trusted advisor, mentor, and coach to senior leaders and product development teams. Ty has conducted many senior-level engagements to elicit a strategic focus on how value is conceptualized and executed. He has progressively grown his competencies in consulting through his work with private and non-profit institutions. He is a much sought-after workshop presenter for topics ranging from unconscious bias to business model innovation. As a member and Vice President of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems, he has consulted to national and international Group Relations conferences. Much of his early insight into human system dynamics came from being a police officer early in his professional career.
Ty has a B.A. in speech communication from Shippensburg University and a M.A. in Human Communication from Howard University. He recently received his certification in systemic executive coaching from the Analytic Network Program.
Cherylann Charles-Williamson
Cherylann leverages her highly effective organizational skills and strategies to project management and diversity initiatives. Her keen ability to facilitate change processes enables her to coach senior executives and board members, resulting in greater clarity of vision, risk, opportunities, threats, and transformation in large organizations. More particularly, Cherylann successfully co-led a variety of projects in the Federal Government, the Air Force, not-for-profit organizations, and corporations. She assisted the Montgomery County Government, MD, the United States, with its diversity initiatives in the late 1990s. Her effective listening competence was honed after 15 years as a successful Speech and Language Pathologist, working with clients at various health care agencies, clinical venues, and educational settings. Cherylann holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from Howard University, a Master of Arts in Communication Disorders from Hampton University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Language Pathology from Pace University. She completed a Masters' Certificate in Business and Leadership Development at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States.
Natalie Turner
Natalie is a Certified Coach, Diversity Equity Inclusion Practitioner & Organizational Effectiveness Consultant. Natalie works with leaders and employees at all levels and helps them to generate conversations that make a difference. Her focus areas are Career Coaching, Leadership Development, Cultural Competence, and Challenging Conversations. Through individual and group coaching, she supports leaders & teams in building inclusive workplace cultures. Natalie helps her clients meet their desired goals by using head, heart, and hand to integrate change and commitment in their whole being. She has a proven record of guiding organizations to ensure a satisfied, productive, skilled workforce and effective work environment. Natalie is a ICF and Newfield Network Certified Coach. She holds a post-graduate certificate in OD from Georgetown University, Masters' from Antioch University, and a bachelor's from Vassar College.
