Here's Todd (he's the tallest one!)
I’m excited to be a part of Empowerment Unlimited and honored to join a team with such a wealth and variety of experience yet a common vision of helping others build on their best selves to realize their dreams.
My life’s journey has taken me from the small rural town in Minnesota where I grew up to a number of early formative experiences: a year-long cross-country bicycle trip and extensive canoe and backpacking trips, teaching political science at a small Iowa college, working in an organization helping to end world hunger and as a staffer in the U.S. Congress, and serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer together with my wife, Mary Jo, in an indigenous village in Costa Rica. For the past twenty-five years, I’ve been working with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand the lives of people in developing countries through programs focused on education, health, agricultural productivity, and improving the effectiveness of government and private sector institutions. My work with USAID has focused on leading strategic planning, project design, monitoring and evaluation, and public outreach as well as managing projects to address democracy and governance issues. With USAID I have been posted to Egypt, Nicaragua, Washington, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mozambique where I served as the Mission Director; I am currently in Washington, D.C. as part of the leadership team for USAID’s Africa Bureau.
The common thread in all of this has been to help give voice to people around the world so they can realize their potential and participate in the decision-making that affects their lives. Along the way, I’ve learned about factors involved in successful collective action, the key elements of enlightened leadership, and what it takes to make a compelling vision become a reality. So I bring to Empowerment Unlimited my energy and excitement about what groups and organizations can achieve through processes of visioning, focus, and empowerment, as well as a lifetime of experience in strategic planning, management, and leadership. I’ve served more than twelve years on governing boards, including a large housing cooperative, recreational associations, and schools (about half that time as Board president) so I bring that organizational perspective to Empowerment Unlimited as well as experience with managing internal change processes. I also bring a personal interest in education and how we learn and grow and that crystallized during my participation in an alternative learning program during my college years and was heightened as my children struggled through their school years.
I look forward to the new experiences and opportunities offered through Empowerment Unlimited and hope to help more people fully appreciate who they are and what they are capable of achieving.
My life’s journey has taken me from the small rural town in Minnesota where I grew up to a number of early formative experiences: a year-long cross-country bicycle trip and extensive canoe and backpacking trips, teaching political science at a small Iowa college, working in an organization helping to end world hunger and as a staffer in the U.S. Congress, and serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer together with my wife, Mary Jo, in an indigenous village in Costa Rica. For the past twenty-five years, I’ve been working with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand the lives of people in developing countries through programs focused on education, health, agricultural productivity, and improving the effectiveness of government and private sector institutions. My work with USAID has focused on leading strategic planning, project design, monitoring and evaluation, and public outreach as well as managing projects to address democracy and governance issues. With USAID I have been posted to Egypt, Nicaragua, Washington, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mozambique where I served as the Mission Director; I am currently in Washington, D.C. as part of the leadership team for USAID’s Africa Bureau.
The common thread in all of this has been to help give voice to people around the world so they can realize their potential and participate in the decision-making that affects their lives. Along the way, I’ve learned about factors involved in successful collective action, the key elements of enlightened leadership, and what it takes to make a compelling vision become a reality. So I bring to Empowerment Unlimited my energy and excitement about what groups and organizations can achieve through processes of visioning, focus, and empowerment, as well as a lifetime of experience in strategic planning, management, and leadership. I’ve served more than twelve years on governing boards, including a large housing cooperative, recreational associations, and schools (about half that time as Board president) so I bring that organizational perspective to Empowerment Unlimited as well as experience with managing internal change processes. I also bring a personal interest in education and how we learn and grow and that crystallized during my participation in an alternative learning program during my college years and was heightened as my children struggled through their school years.
I look forward to the new experiences and opportunities offered through Empowerment Unlimited and hope to help more people fully appreciate who they are and what they are capable of achieving.
