"Dorel has been an invaluable resource to Living Beyond Breast Cancer over the last ten years. I have relied on her expertise to navigate LBBC from a small organization with a handful of employees to a mid-size organization with twenty staff and a budget of $3.5 million. She has trained my staff individually on skills from supervision, receiving and giving feedback and conflict resolution and has lead the entire staff in retreats to help build a stronger more unified team. She has guided the Board through strategic planning, developed board self-evaluations and worked with my Board chair on how to evaluate the CEO. For many years she has been my coach, supporting me through a myriad of issues and playing a key role in my ability to lead and grow LBBC to a nationally recognized organization.

Dorel has a mix of attributes that make her unique and well qualified for many tasks. She is intelligent, an attentive listener, compassionate, clear, honest and committed to excellence. It is always a pleasure to work with her and she has taught me so many valuable lessons over the years."

Jean Sachs, CEO/President, Living Beyond Breast Cancer

"I have been through a few strategic planning sessions in my time and I have to tell you that Saturday was the best day I have ever spent in strategic planning! You have brought to us a living process that goes beyond the paper and gives us a sense of what our future “feels” like without abandoning necessary business principles. Thank you so much for your guidance throughout this process and for letting us own it."

Former Director of Human Resources, Women Against Abuse

"We had a wonderful experience with our strategic planning process and, more specifically, with Dorel as our coach. Dorel introduced staff and board to appreciative inquiry, encouraging us to focus on what we do well and building on those strengths. It was a refreshing change to a process that my Board professed to dreading, and one which made them converts! With Dorel’s gentle but firm guidance, both the Board and staff came up with a plan that we all felt a part of. Dorel kept in touch after the process wrapped up which helped ensure that the plan was a living guide, as opposed to a document sitting and gathering dust on a shelf. We are grateful to Dorel for her coaching and look forward to working with her again."

Sara Woods, Executive Director, VIP (Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program)

"Dorel has been a saving grace in my career advancements and such a critical part of my leadership growth."

Cynthia Figueroa, former Executive Director, Women Against Abuse; current CEO/President, Congreso de Latinos Unidos

"I always leave the meetings that you run feeling positive and energized. Most meetings I’m looking at the clock to see when we can leave, but never at your meetings. The most helpful part is that you really hear us."

"It was positive for me to hear that others experience the same challenges in communication that I do. I enjoyed hearing suggestions from others on how they (communicate with) staff. Sometimes you can feel like you are in your own world, when in reality we all have the same issues and problems."

Teachers, Montgomery Early Learning Centers

"I really found the whole session very helpful. There was a great mix of information and activity. I was prepared to think this would waste time but I found it inspiring and valuable. The messages were great."

"This session addressed ongoing concerns in a very positive, refreshing way."

"This was really an important realization for me in my understanding of current team relationships. Dorel’s discussion/summary of them was great."

Teachers, The Philadelphia School

"It is astounding what Dorel accomplished in her three years as our Board Chair! She combined her professional skills with her volunteer passion and energy. She taught board members how to be board members - how to relate to staff, how to represent the organization in the world, how to ask for money - both through board training and also through powerful modeling. She developed a meaningful committee structure and vibrant committees of committed volunteers who understand their responsibilities. She led the board through a strategic plan and then kept the organization focused on implementing the plan. With her tremendous flexibility and open-mindedness, she led us to veer from our plan when appropriate. She is an incredibly careful listener and a very creative thinker, which add up to being a brilliant problem-solver. In short, Dorel was an executive director's dream."

Susan Schewel, Executive Director, Women’s Medical Fund

"As a New Executive Director I’ve been fortunate to work with Dorel in various capacities including executive coaching, Board development, management development, and the preliminary stages of business planning. It’s been an incredible experience. She has provided much support and guidance during this time of transition when it's all too easy to get lost in the midst of chaos and crisis. Dorel helped me stay on target, identifying objectives and tasks to move agendas forward. I truly appreciate her ability to provide affirmation and validation on milestones and accomplishments, even when they appear small in the grand scheme. Such recognition reminds me to put things into perspective. Dorel has also been very insightful and helpful in referencing and using tools such as Meyers Briggs and Strengths Finder in helping me with many tasks, including preparing for and engaging in conversations with my Board. Building on our coaching work Dorel met with my Board to help them think through their needs for development, and she facilitated a retreat for my management staff, helping us identify our areas of need and articulate a vision for moving forward.

Working with Dorel has allowed me to stay grounded and focused so that I could make progress in spite of a constantly changing environment where crises were abundant."

Joanna Cruz-Otero, Executive Director, CONCILIO

"It's been a pleasure to work with Dorel and her team on joint organizational planning between two closely related organizations with complicated intra and inter-agency dynamics. Dorel is invested in the process we have developed and the goals we have set. To achieve success in our effort, she has served as a facilitator of complex conversations among management, staff and board and has maintained neutrality and the confidences of the participants in this process. Dorel helped us achieve many goals we could not have achieved on our own."

Anita Santos-Singh, Executive Director, Philadelphia Legal Assistance Center, Inc.

"Dorel has worked with me and with my organization in a variety of roles. I can only say great things about her. Dorel is positive, honest, warm, and very smart. She sees things clearly and quickly, and has taught me a huge amount about how organizations work and the role of leaders. She can see what holds people and systems back from change and progress, and help them get unstuck and move forward. I highly recommend her to help a leader try to figure out what is making them feel uninspired or confused, or to help an organization face and tackle a major change. She assisted us through some huge organizational challenges, and not only made us feel supported, organized and clear about our tasks, but helped us to feel inspired and to be inspiring to others."

Cathy Carr, Executive Director, Community Legal Services

"Dorel and her team facilitated the Leadership Development Initiative for middle and senior management staff of Montgomery Early Learning Centers (MELC) over a 2 1/2 year period. Conceived as a project to expand and improve leadership skills among key organizational staff, they developed, planned and implemented a series of workshops, meetings and a full day summit to introduce leadership concepts and enhance skills in a number of areas. These included: communication, assessing and utilizing individual strengths, leadership styles, peer coaching, leading teams, and working in partnerships.

Her work with MELC management staff was exceptional, introducing important concepts, leading conversations about each area of leadership development, providing opportunities for staff to “practice” learned skills, and adapting the process and content as needed over the course of the initiative. Most importantly, she clearly connected with each participant gaining respect and “buy-in” for the process and desired outcomes. The impact of the work with us continues to guide our leadership development and continuity efforts, and has been incorporated into agency strategic planning."

Fred Citron, Executive Director/CEO, Montgomery Early Learning Centers