Board Leadership Institute

As the principal at JSL Community Strategies, Jennifer Lobenhofer guides mission-driven organizations in envisioning, planning, achieving, and measuring their greatest imaginable impact on the communities they serve. She has more than twenty years of experience providing capacity-building education, facilitation, and consulting to organizations in the public and nonprofit sectors, and her current consulting practice focuses on providing strategic planning and program evaluation support to nonprofit organizations.

Two decades ago, Jennifer began her career examining the outcomes of pilot programs demonstrating promising new responses to affordable housing and community development needs. She then directed a statewide community and economic development training and advising program for local government officials. Those combined experiences led her to the realization that nonprofit organizations engage in the most meaningful policy implementation, innovation, and “heavy lifting” of creating real social change in communities, and that they all too frequently face significant capacity challenges in maximizing their impact. Since then, Jennifer has dedicated herself to the belief that the greatest good can only be accomplished if it is done well, and she has built her consulting practice on that foundational philosophy.  

Jennifer holds a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Thousand Oaks, California, where she enjoys choral singing, attending live theatre, wine tasting, and creating handmade greeting cards.

David Greco is a nationally recognized speaker, author and consultant on creating a more sustainable and effective social sector.  He brings more than 25 years of experience in in driving the growth and impact of social sector organizations.  In 2013, David founded Social Sector Partners to provide training and capacity building support to funders and nonprofits to develop a culture of sustainability that incorporates real cost, sustainable business models, and a focus on impact.

He regularly speaks at national, regional and local conferences and has trained thousands of nonprofit leaders on increasing their sustainability and impact.  David has spoken at national conferences such as BoardSource, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Independent Sector, Social Enterprise Alliance, Association of Corporate Contribution Professionals, and Exponent Philanthropy as well as numerous local and regional conferences.

He has trained more than 1,000 social sector leaders on financial sustainability through the Annenberg Alchemy program, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit capacity building programs.  He led the development and delivery of the Scaling What Work workshops with Grantmakers for Effective Organizations that reached hundreds of funders around the country.  And delivered workshops for thousands of nonprofit leaders through his work with the Nonprofit Finance Fund.

He has worked with the staff, trustees and grantees for dozens of foundations including the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Flora & William Hewlett Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Weingart Foundation, Ford Family Foundation, Greater New Orleans Foundation, and Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust.

Most recently, David led the Real Cost Project in California, a statewide initiative that aims to increase the number of funders providing real cost funding. He also served as Interim President and CEO for Northern California Grantmakers and led their efforts to launch a new strategic direction and business model. Previously, he was the Vice President of the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) for more than 5 years and Vice President of the Youth Leadership Institute.

He serves on the Southern California Advisory Board for Opportunity Fund and was previously on the board of Social Venture Partners Los Angeles. He is a professor with University of San Francisco in the Master of Nonprofit Administration program and the author of "Think Money! Ending the Culture of Scarcity and Achieving Real Impact”.  David served for ten years in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves and earned his M.A. in Political Science from Villanova University and B.S. in History & Politics from Drexel University.

Doug Green currently divides his time between training and consulting with nonprofit leaders across the country and teaching English to seniors at a high school in Jacksonville, Florida. His consulting is informed by diverse experiences with nonprofits and organizations in times of great change. In the 1980s S&L crisis, he supported the first modern interstate banking mergers with financial analysis. He also led an AIDS services organization during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and has been a consultant to nonprofits during the Great Recession and its uneven recovery. Doug thrives on challenges (thus, the relatively new teaching role at a Title I high school). He enjoys partnering with clients on multifaceted projects that draw on his range of skills in communication, analysis, and group facilitation.

Doug is a skilled consultant, teacher, writer, financial analyst, and community-based researcher. He is an expert in large group facilitation and dialog, with a keen sense of how to move participants toward common understanding. He is also certified in the Myers-Briggs type indicator for leadership development and team building. His past clients include Ganna Walska Lotusland, Goodwill Industries International, Meals and Wheels San Francisco, the San Diego Natural History Museum, and Surfrider Foundation.

Doug has consulted independently with numerous nonprofits on California's Central Coast and served as director of the Resource Center for Nonprofit Management at the Ventura Community Foundation. He also has executive-level experience in public affairs, in both the nonprofit and public sectors. Doug has helped prepare the next generation of leaders as a professor of nonprofit studies at California Lutheran University, Pepperdine University, and Savannah State University. He has an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business and a BA in English from the University of North Florida. He co-founded the Nonprofit Leadership Institute at Pepperdine University and has served as an Advisory Board member for the Center for Nonprofit Leadership at California Lutheran University.

Doug offers engaging presentations to nonprofit leaders nationally on board leadership, organizational change, and advocacy.

Judy Guillermo-Newton has over 35 years experience as an Organizational Development consultant for private, nonprofit and public organizations. She has worked with leaders from a wide variety of organizations including technology/research firms, government offices, Division 1 athletic teams and coaches, and financial institutions; working to create inclusive environments in which each member of the community is valued, respected, and able to fully contribute their talents.  Her passion for identifying and encouraging leadership potential, working with leaders to successfully lead change and build organizations in which people thrive, are the driving forces that inspire her work with executives through emerging leaders.

Judy was a Senior Vice-President and Director of Organizational Development and Human Resources at Montecito Bank & Trust for ten years, serving as a member of the Executive Leadership Team.  She was responsible for helping create and cultivate a strong organizational culture, led the Bank’s leadership development efforts including coaching managers and directing the Human Resources and Organizational Learning Departments.

Prior to her work with Montecito Bank & Trust, Judy worked with leaders in the academic, administrative, and student service divisions of the University of California, Santa Barbara for 30 years. She served as the Campus Ombudsman, including serving as the Director of the Department. In this position Judy worked with UCSB community members, including faculty, staff, and students, who sought guidance with the resolution of problems, complaints, conflicts, and other issues that were not adequately addressed through usual procedures.

She was a past adjunct faculty member of the Psychology Department at Antioch University, Santa Barbara Campus and taught in the Graduate School of Education at UCSB.

Judy received her MA in Psychology from California State University, Northridge and was a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist for over 30 years.  She is currently working as an Executive/ Organizational Coach and consultant. She also facilitates strategy sessions for organizations as they develop their strategic plans and goals.

Becca Merrell, CFRE is an executive vice president for Netzel Grigsby Associates. She works with a wide variety of nonprofit organizations guiding them to achieve their goals.

Becca believes that empowering nonprofit volunteers and staff with tools and knowledge will ensure long-term organizational stability. Her extensive knowledge has been valuable in creating and implementing dynamic programs to fund services, while helping donors enjoy their giving.

Becca has partnered with nonprofits in fundraising and development planning to impact communities. She has secured significant dollars and exceeded goals on campaigns for compelling projects such as Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme, Casa Pacifica Center for Children and Families, First Presbyterian Church of Santa Barbara, Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara Zoo, and Stuart C. Gildred YMCA in Santa Ynez.

Becca is an advisory board member and workshop facilitator for the Center for Nonprofit Leadership at California Lutheran University (CLU). Active in the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Becca is a member of the San Luis Obispo Chapter and is a past president of the Santa Barbara/Ventura Counties Chapter, where she was selected as Fundraiser of the Year in 2008.

Becca earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from California State University, Northridge, graduating summa cum laude.

Jarrod Schwartz is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Equity Praxis Group, LLC. Jarrod is an educator and consultant with more than 30 years of experience working with schools, universities & colleges, nonprofit organizations, businesses, government, and communities. 

Jarrod’s unique approach draws upon the fields of social justice and organization development to foster inclusive, multi-stakeholder processes that result in organizational, community, and social change. 

Before starting EPG, Jarrod served for almost 20 years as the founding Executive Director of Just Communities - a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the Central Coast of California a more inclusive and just region.

From the early to late 1990’s, as the Program Director for The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), Jarrod developed and led a comprehensive, multi-issue social justice leadership institute for youth that became a national model. He also led an initiative to dismantle racism in the St. Louis Region. In 2001, Jarrod was invited to California to launch a new NCCJ office to serve the communities of the Central Coast. In 2007, this organization became Just Communities.

Steve Willmont serves as a vice president with Netzel Grigsby Associates, Steve directs major capital campaigns, feasibility studies and organizational development for a wide spectrum of nonprofit organizations, primarily in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties.

Steve brings the experience of over 30 years of professional nonprofit management to his clients. He has led successful capital campaigns, board development programs, annual fundraising campaigns, volunteer and staff development training, and planned giving programs.

Prior to joining the firm, Steve served as President & CEO of California YMCA Youth & Government where he worked extensively with the California legislature to increase support for the Y's program, including the passage of a bill adding the Y as a tax form donation recipient. Under his leadership, the program grew to over 90 YMCAs in the state, serving over 3,500 students. He has also served as executive director and program director at multiple YMCA branches. Steve also has extensive expertise as an instructor and presenter. He served as director of training events for the YMCA of the USA and regional programs.

Steve has been an active member of Optimist International in both northern and southern California, serving as District Lt. Governor and Club President. He is a Lifetime Optimist Member and has been honored as Optimist of the Year.

Steve graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Occidental College in Los Angeles.