A Little About Us.

Beth Ellen leads with the belief that mission-driven organizations will achieve their aspirations when boards, leadership, operations, and fundraising are transparent, respectful, empathetic, and courageous.

As a seasoned facilitator, trainer, and coach, she specializes in fostering collaborative environments where groups can achieve unified goals. Drawing from her expertise as a Human Systems Dynamics practitioner and many years as a nonprofit CEO, she draws on a spectrum of core facilitator competencies from creating collaborative client relationships to developing cultures of belonging.

With The Hive Collective, she designs tailored programs focused on nonprofit strategic planning, board governance, community building and belonging, conflict management, and team cohesion. Her services extend to individual and team coaching, aiming to meet specific learning objectives.

She is the founder of The Hive Collective which is a consortium of thought leaders and practitioners who apply the concept of adaptive strategic planning for culture change, connectivity for boards of directors, and helping nonprofits’ internal workings are consistent with their values. For almost seven years, Beth Ellen was the CEO of Together Women Rise, a powerful community of women and allies dedicated to achieving global gender equality. She has also served as the executive director of an emergency shelter for foster children, the American Cancer Society, Reach Out and Read Utah, Norwegian Outdoor Education Center, Utah Community Associations Institute, served as interim executive director with many more.

She was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Mexico to learn and teach domestic violence intervention in Mexican shelters. She also wrote the first trauma-informed curriculum for teaching survival English to limited-English-proficient survivors of domestic violence living in shelters in 1998. She holds a BA in Women’s/Gender Studies from the University of Colorado and an MA in Linguistics from the University of South Florida. Beth Ellen is a Certified Fundraising Executive and BoardSource Governance Consultant. She has lived in South Korea, Mexico, Guatemala and currently serves on the board of Collateral Repair Project in Amman, Jordan supporting refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

Beth Ellen actively seeks to create inclusive, intersectional feminist, and anti-racist environments, acknowledging the diverse intersecting identities people possess. Beth Ellen identifies as a cis-gendered, white, straight, woman. She recognizes that the unearned privileges that come with these identities may cause her to miss valuable perspectives in decision-making or advice. She invites feedback and conversation when she expresses privilege in any way and endeavors to learn, reflect, and continue to change.

Anna Schoon is dedicated to the practice of ‘belonging’ has over 25 years of leadership experience in a variety of human service settings. Since 2006, Anna has been working at Northwest Indiana Community Action, based in Crown Point, Indiana where she currently serves as Vice President of Planning and Business Development. In her role, Anna leads the organization’s community needs assessment processes, develops outcome-oriented strategies for change, and leads the organization’s efforts to measure and document success.

Dr. Lisabeth Medlock is a psychologist, consultant and coach who works in all of the life cycle of organizations and initiatives; from mission, program development and resourcing to evaluating outcomes, impact and sustainability. One of her main roles is to assist organizations in telling their story with a focus on how they promote and achieve meaningful change in the short and long term. She believes information gathering and evaluation systems should be client-centered and provide quick feedback for continuous improvement.

Patti Agard has over a decade of specialized customer support experience. After graduating from Central Washington University, with a B.S. in Anthropology, and Certification in Global Wine Trade, Patti found herself living in nearly every region of the United States. Patti specializes in executive level support, social media management, and finding solutions. She is often found hiking with her two dogs in the Adirondacks.

Keith Albury has over 25 years of experience in information technology, database administration, data analytics and visualization. His project management experience brings the important skills necessary to help organizations understand their budgets, cashflow, and forecasts through financial modeling. Keith’s primary career focus is geospatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to study the impact of infrastructure projects on the environment and society. His goal is to provide clear, concise, intuitive information whether that is in a map or digital dashboard. Keith has a MA in Geography from the University of South Florida and is a certified GIS Professional.