Our Team

Diana D. Woolis, Founding Partner, for over two decades, has led organizations in the public and nonprofit sectors at the city, state, and national levels. Prior to founding KPI, Diana was Vice President and Director of Program Demonstration at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA). Her work has been published in professional and popular journals and is focused on access and equity, organizational learning, and most recently the power of the Internet to revolutionize programs and policy. She received her Doctorate and Masters Degrees in education from Columbia University and a Masters of Social Work from The University of Connecticut.

Susan Restler, Founding Partner, has had a 25-year career in financial services with JP Morgan. She was a Managing Director and head of Marketing for JP Morgan Private Banking and JP Morgan Investment Management. Prior to joining Diana in forming KPI she developed the marketing strategy for an Internet-based personal financial management service. Susan has served on the Board of the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society, a network of five publicly funded day care centers. She also chaired the Board of Trustees of the Packer Collegiate Institute, an independent school in Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of Radcliffe College/Harvard University and has an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Brenda Kaulback, Communities Manager, facilitates groups -- large and small, virtual and face-to-face -- and trains others in facilitation skills. Her particular interest is in bringing people together across boundaries – systems, cultural, or geographical. She has experience with Future Search, Open Space, and Family Group Conferences and other large- and small-scale group interventions. Her work is grounded in Appreciative Inquiry and strengths-based practice. Brenda directed programs in state government (policy and management, higher education, labor, and welfare) for many years and has been an independent consultant in the public sector for more than ten years. She has an extensive background in education and the social services. She has a BA from Bates College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Maine.

Lisa Levinson, Communities Manager, strives to hear the voices of those in the community who aren’t always heard. Her 25 years in public, not for profit and educational organizations includes leading cross-agency initiatives, and projects on the local, state and national levels. As director of the Equipped for the Future National Center at the University of Maine, Lisa was responsible for standards implementation -- working with students, teachers, program administrators and state officials, as well as involving businesses and experts in adult learning to guide the project. Lisa has used technology and web-based tools to manage a nationally distributed staff, and knows how essential these tools are for creating community when distance creates a challenge to collaborative work. She is versed in a variety of strength-based techniques to explore and then achieve common goals including consensus building, the Right Question, and Study Circles as well as Transformative Mediation. Lisa has a MS from New York University and certificates in mediation and facilitation.

Doris Reeves-Lipscomb, Communities Manager, believes that her most satisfying work may be yet to come. Doris works to effect social change benefiting people and communities. Her background includes state public policy development in state legislatures, the AARP, and the Office of the Florida Governor; program leadership in state government; distance collaboration design and facilitation; and economic development for women and girls. She enjoys working with individuals, groups, and networks to innovate ideas and change processes to make dreams come true. As a contractor doing program development and facilitation, Doris made her biggest transition perhaps--from computer-phobe to computer-phile. Consequently, she is happily focused on realizing the collaborative potential of computers and the Internet for public sector and nonprofit groups to accelerate their learning and performance. Doris has a BSW and MSW from Florida State University, and certificates in OD, performance excellence, and facilitation.

Whitepaper: Discourse Analysis and Role Adoption in a Community of Practice
(co-authored by Doris Reeves Lipscomb)

Henk van Assen, Creative Director, graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Department of Graphic Design and Typography) in The Hague, The Netherlands, in 1989. He received his M.F.A. in 1993 from Yale University and is currently Director of Undergraduate Studies in Art. His Clients include HarperCollins, Abrams, Hyperion, New York University, the Dutch Institute for Industrial Design,the Blanton Museum of Art, and the Performing Arts Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Henk was awarded the 1999 and 2000 AIGA 50 Best Books Award; the 2002 Boston Bookbuilders Guild, Best Books Award; the 2002 and 2003 American Association of University Presses, Best Books Award; the 1999 Mitchell A. Wilder Award; and the 1998 Case Council for Advancement and Support of Education Award.

Laren Droll, Webmaster, supports Polilogue, KPI's virtual community of practice technology. He has become expert at adapting the technology to meet the specific needs of KPI's clients, and continually develops improvements to the software. Laren also focusses on helping clients gain a firm footing with the new technology by developing multimedia learning materials available through Polilogue. Laren has worked in the field of computer-aided design for over 15 years, founding his own Web Design business in 1999. He is also a talented artist and musician who plays accordion in a Zydeco band. Laren has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Washington University in St. Louis.



Our Advisors

Bob Bozeman General Partner, Angel Investors, LLP, has 24 years of management experience in high-technology enterprises, 12 as CEO/President or GM. Bob has special expertise in software, information technology/services and computer supplier industries (including Vetronix Sales Corporation, Altos Computer Systems, and Wang Laboratories). He is the founder of two successful high-tech businesses (Library Systems and Bozemans', Inc.). Bob helped create Angel Investors L.L.P., the venture capital behind Ask Jeeves, Spinner.com, LoudCloud, Google, PayPal and more. He has been involved in early stage development of approximately 100 Internet start-ups.

Dr. Barbara Grosz, Higgins Professor of Natural Sciences, Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Dean of Science, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. Dr. Grosz's research addresses fundamental problems in modelling collaborative activity, developing systems to collaborate with each other and their users, and constructing collaborative, multi-modal systems for human-computer communication. Before joining the Harvard faculty in 1986, Barbara worked as a senior staff member in the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI International and as a founder and principal investigator at the Center for the Study of Language and Information. She is a fellow and past president of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. She holds an A.B. in Mathematics, Cornell University and M.A. and Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley.

Dr. Gary Hendrix, President of Goodbyte Corporation, a consultancy specializing in Web-based human resources applications. Previously he served as Vice President for Advanced Technology at Symantec Corporation. Before founding Symantec and serving as its first president, he was Associate Director of the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI International, and Director of SRI's Natural Language Research Program. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Texas, Austin.

Nancy White, Founder and President, Full Circle Associates, a communications consultancy, helps non-profits and businesses connect through online and offline strategies. Nancy is recognized internationally for her leadership and expertise in the emerging field of online group facilitation and interaction. She is a skilled online facilitator and coach for distributed communities of practice, online training and education, virtual teams and virtual communities. Her Emmy award-winning communications experience includes KIRO Inc.'s “A World of Difference Campaign”, numerous health and social service education campaigns and event marketing. She is a graduate of Duke University