Consultant Bios
Sara Taylor
Principal of Sentient Consultants, Sara has over fifteen years of extensive training and consulting experience in the areas of Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership and Diversity. In addition to having been a diversity administrator, Sara has developed and led organizational development, leadership, as well as training and development programs in former work positions. As a consultant, Sara's repertoire is broad including leadership, systems change, communication, diversity, ethics, and meeting facilitation. Sara holds a Master's degree in diversity and organizational development from the University of Minnesota.
Lauren N. Nile
Is an attorney who, since 1990, has worked as a consultant specializing in providing assistance to organizations in effectively preventing sexual harassment and managing cultural diversity in the workplace. Her knowledge and skill areas include diversity competence, sexual harassment prevention and intervention, team-building, facilitated dialouge and training-of-trainers. In her former capacity as Director of Training for The National Multicultural Institute, Ms. Nile authored the nationally recognized Guide for Diversity Trainers Manual. As a consultant, she has worked with Fortune 500 corporations, governmental agencies and non-profit organizations. Ms. Nile holds a B.A. degree in Philosophy from The University of New Orleans, an M.A. degree in Philosophy from The University of Connecticut and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Cornell University's School of Law.
Donna Rae Scheffert
An award-winning educator, has held positions in Leadership Development at the University of Minnesota Extension Service and is also an adjunct faculty member of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs-Reflective Leadership Center. She has been an educator and consultant at the local, state, national and international levels for communities, organizations and foundations. Her expertise includes ethics and public leadership; building leadership capacity learning experiences; and facilitating community and organizational development. Three published curricula Scheffert co-authored are: Leadership: Sustaining Action on Community and Organizational Issues, Enhancing Ethical Leadership and Facilitation Resources. Scheffert holds a Masters degree in continuing studies with an emphasis in leadership development, and has completed coursework for a Ph.D. in adult development and education. She was named the Distinguished Campus Faculty member of Extension in 2002.
Jules Laing
Brings diverse experience and impressive educational background to the discussion of inclusiveness, diversity, discrimination and welcoming workplaces. She earned a Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership from The College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, MN. Laing spent most of her young career in various roles at 3M. She earned her BA in Organization Development. She has spent substantial time working closely with top-level leadership and management staff, coaching and assisting in the development and understanding of cultural competence. Jules is currently the Director of Diversity for Ramsey County.
Melvin Giles
Is a veteran diversity educator and former administrator of Frogtown Catholic Charities. He works as a trainer for MCARI, an anti-racism training group sponsored by the Tri Council Coordinating Commission of the Council of Churches. Melvin is also a founding member of the Alliance for Racism Free Communities which has been working for nearly five years in the St. Paul area to develop a network of community leaders committed to addressing institutional racism and providing models for organization growth in this area. Melvin currently conducts and co-facilitates Racial Sobriety workshops for community institutions and groups.
Nehrwr Abdul-Wahid
Specializes in Diversity and Cultural Competence. He works with extensively with individuals and organizations to build multicultural competence and work team effectiveness. His philosophy of authentic community building has led to national recognition of some of the programs and students he worked with as Training Coordinator of the University of Minnesota's Diversity Institute. In almost 10 years at the Diversity Institute Nehrwr used a wide range of programs and services to enhance and promote the climate for diversity at the University. Nehrwr's educational background includes a degree in mathematics and ranges from urban studies to Arabic language.
Kim Boyce
Brings expertise in the areas of leadership education, effective group facilitation, organizational development and urban programming. Kim is also skilled at working with local elected and appointed leaders. He was recently selected as a fellow of the James Shannon Leadership Program at the Amherst Wilder Foundation. Kim has worked with the University of Minnesota Extension Service in various leadership positions as well as with the Minneapolis YMCA as a Program Director and Branch Executive. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, and a M.A. in Education from the University of Iowa.
Cristina Monesterio
12 years of corporate training and management experience, including multiple projects and organization-wide initiatives. She's interacted with all levels of the organization. She brings a wealth of experience in the area of training and development including leading performance consulting initiatives, identifying customer training assessments and requirements, and strategic planning and measurement. In addition to having held various positions with American Express, Cristina has spent over 6 years leading diversity initiatives and champion development efforts with top-level leadership and management staff for American Express Corporate Services. Cristina holds a BS degree in Speech Communication with an emphasis in Human Relations from St. Cloud State University, as well as, a Mini-Masters in Project Management from the University of St. Thomas. She remains active as a member of local, national and international professional associations and volunteers with the Multicultural Development Center.
