CQ Strategies training team

         

Dan Balón is president of Barkada Consulting Network LLC, a social change and leadership development organization serving difference-makers nationally since 1991. He is an engaging keynote speaker and facilitator of intergroup dialogues, diversity education workshops, and difficult conversations on topics such as: cross-cultural leadership, personality styles, cultural competence, anti-racism education, multicultural organization development, and systems change. He is an experienced administrator, faculty member, and human relations practitioner having worked in large public universities and national non-profit organizations. Since 2008, Dan has been Director of Diversity & Equity for Vermont’s Burlington School District. In 2010, he was appointed District Equity Officer for Employment and Retention to initiate and lead efforts to recruit, hire, and retain diverse, culturally competent candidates for teacher and administrative positions. Born in the Philippines and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dan completed his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park in Education Policy and Leadership. He serves on several national, regional, and community boards of directors.  Download CV

Brian Hsiang, a second-generation Asian American of Chinese descent, has been professionally working to aid in cross-cultural communication for over 10 years. Brian began his work in cross-cultural communication as an AmeriCorps member. He helped start an after school homework center for kids receiving free dinners from Manchester NH’s Kids’ Café. Since moving to Vermont, Brian has worked with organizations as a consultant and facilitator to improve cross-cultural communication, recognize the benefits of a diverse population, and promote social justice. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Kenyon College. Brian lives in Essex, Vermont with his family. He enjoys snowboarding, training in Martial Arts, and searching for the elusive perfect Maple Creemee.  Download résumé

 

Kathy A. Johnson is an Equity & Diversity Consultant/Trainer specializing in creating welcoming, respectful environments free of bias, harassment and discrimination. She currently operates Vermont Equity Training & Consulting, providing diversity, equity, anti-bias, cultural competency, and conflict resolution trainings and consultations. Since 1986 Kathy has worked with K-12 schools and organizations across Vermont and elsewhere. From 1996-2005 she was Director of Equity Initiatives for Vermont Institute for Science, Math, & Technology. She is currently a senior trainer with the Anti-Defamation League’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute and with Global Learning Partners. Kathy has taught courses through the University of Vermont Child Welfare Training Project, Vermont College at Union Institute and University, and Woodbury College. She is a contributing author to Dialogue Education at Work: A Case Book. Kathy earned her B.A. from Saint Michael’s College and her Master's Degree from Champlain College. She draws from community experience as an elected Selectboard member, Justice of the Peace, basketball coach, and parent.  Download résumé

 

Ita Meno is an alumnus of the Anytown Leadership Institute where she, along with 50 other high school students from around San Antonio, TX, was introduced to the power of working collaboratively to understand and dismantle lateral oppression. A graduate of Marquette University in Wisconsin, she was introduced to many mentors throughout the city that engaged her curiosity and provided her with the support to build her organizing, development and training experience. She was able to develop her understanding of oppression and begin to strengthen her community organizing capacity through her work at a Family Resource Center and then at Project Q, a Queer youth drop in center in Milwaukee. She moved to Vermont for love and to raise a family. Having worked for the City of Burlington’s Community & Economic Development office doing Neighborhood and Community Development, she was able to tie together her interest in providing capacity building support and training/leadership development for neighborhood leaders throughout the city. Still with the City, she is currently as a Health and Housing Inspector for the Office of Code Enforcement. Ita is an activist, organizer, consultant and student of life. She has a remarkable empathy and understanding for communities not traditionally represented in systems within the political and economic power structures and has organized trainings to address these issues.  Download résumé

Sherwood Smith was raised in New Jersey and he moved west for a B.S. in Zoology from Washington State University. His travels have taken him from Antarctica to Asia, East Africa and the Americas. Sherwood came to the University of Vermont (UVM) in 1995 on a doctoral fellowship, after attaining his doctorate in education from Ball State University in Indiana. At UVM, he was the Assistant Director for the ALANA Student Center, directed the Race & Culture Program and currently he is faculty in Human Development and Director of the Center for Cultural Pluralism at the University of Vermont. His work involves faculty and staff professional development training for over 24 years, as well as conducting research and teaching graduate course in Educational Foundations and undergraduate courses in Human Development. Most recently he co-edited a two-part series titled: Our Stories I & II: The Experience of Black Professionals on Predominantly White Campuses.  Download résumé

 

Tracey Tsugawa is a sansei (third generation Japanese American), born and raised on the Pacific coast of California. She has lived and worked in Tokyo, Japan and Cali, Colombia. Spanish is her second language. For more than 25 years Tracey has pursued her passion for social justice through teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels and providing training for local, regional, and national non-profits on topics such as unlearning bias and racism, organizational transformation, culture and conflict in the workplace, and ethics and leadership. Tracey also works as a civil rights investigator for the Vermont Human Rights Commission. Currently, she teaches at the Springfield College Graduate School of Human Services in Boston and will be teaching a course on environmental justice at the University of Vermont in the fall. She has a B.A. from Oberlin College, a M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and has certificates in basic mediation and multicultural mediation. Outside of work, Tracey pursues her passions in music (piano and flute), sports (tennis), and the culinary arts.  Download CV