About Adene.

I happily wear many hats in my work as a social systems strategist and philanthropy advisor.  My best days at work involve sitting across the (now virtual) table with visionaries who share my curiosity and determination about how to amplify our efforts to create a more inclusive and just future.

In 2019, I co-founded the With/In Collaborative, a consulting collaborative that is committed to working alongside groups of cross-sector leaders to re-imagine and re-design their shared communal systems. I am also program director to the New Leadership Network, and the Philanthropic Advisor to the Peleh Fund. My client work looks to accelerate the work of leaders and funders by embedding deeply at moments of transition and uncertainty — and leveraging network strategy, human centered design and systems thinking in pursuit of a different future.

Some highlight from the last few years include:

• Designing, facilitating and stewarding the Irvine Foundation’s New Leadership Network; the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Network Leaders Network; and the First Five Statewide Leadership Network. 
• Setting a new strategic vision with the Organizational Effectiveness team at the Packard Foundation. 
• Embedding with the DataKind global network of data scientists in their formative years around their organizational capacity and network strategy. 
• Coaching the Social Systems Design Fellows at Stanford’s d.School to translate design prototypes into systems and organizations.  
• Exploring how to center equity and design more intentionally in the work of early childhood with the leaders of the First 5 Napa Network.
• Establishing the Peleh Residency, one of the country’s only family friendly artist residency programs. 

In a previous life, I was the first senior program officer at the Jim Joseph Foundation and the founding US director of the Israel Venture Network. In 2011, I received the JJ Greenberg Award for Philanthropic Leadership from the Jewish Funders Network. That was a really good day in light of what JJ Greenberg was all about.

I often write and speak about what I’m learning which is a pretty cool part of the job. I recently co-authored the book Leading Systems Change, with Heather McLeod Grant. The book, now available for free download, tells the story of two communities embracing the opportunities and constraints of living in California’s Central Valley; and provides funders and practitioners with a detailed case-study, lessons learned, and tools for equity-centered systems change. 

Formal bio is here.