Fenway Management Advisors: Network Colleagues
Marion Biglan
Marion H. Biglan, PCC, brings more than twenty years of experience leading teams and partnering with managers and organizations to be more effective in fulfilling their missions. After graduating with a history degree from Southern Methodist University, Marion started her career as a 5th grade teacher through Teach For America in rural Louisiana, then became the founding executive director of Teach For America’s Chicago site. Marion went on to help found Teach For America’s Human Assets team, where she spent almost ten years building and ultimately leading the Business Partner team. In 2015 Marion launched her business, MHBiglan Consulting, now called Illuminate Collective in partnership with her colleague Miwa Kamras and has partnered as a coach and consultant to leaders and organizations such as national non-profits, arts organizations, and school districts. Marion holds a Professional Coach Certification (PCC) from the International Coach Federation and a Professional Diversity Coach Certification (PCDC) from the Coach Diversity Institute. She is a trained facilitator of the Immunity to Change program and is a trained mediator through the Social Justice Mediation Institute.
Marion is a proud resident of Cheltenham Township outside of Philadelphia, where she raises two teenagers and continues her journey to live and foster racial equity. She is the co-founder of a network of women who come together to build deeper relationships across race called Women In Community and serves on the boards of the Cheltenham School District Foundation and the Friends of Bache-Martin.
Miwa is the Co-Founder of Illuminate Collective, coaching and consulting firm that focuses on leadership development and diversity, equity, and inclusion work. Miwa holds an A.B. from Harvard University and an Ed.M. from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She is a Certified Professional Diversity Coach through Coach Diversity. Miwa serves as a Richmond Young Writers board member and a Voices of Jubilee volunteer. She lives in Richmond, VA with her husband, sons, and rescue dog and can always be counted on for a great children’s book recommendation.
Heather McDanel
An entrepreneurial thinker with 20-years of experience as a non-profit leader, Heather McDanel has launched local, regional and national initiatives over her career. As the founder and principal of Amethyst Consulting, Heather helps clients grow their businesses and advises on revenue and budget planning, board curation, strategic planning, developing a standout brand, effective staff structures and creating a strong organizational structure. She also serves as Leadership Consultant to Independence Foundation, overseeing peer learning initiatives and facilitating its “Conversations About Change” cohort of executive directors, board chairs and rising leaders of grantee organizations.
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Jill Meriweather
Jill Meriweather is a trained educator with a passion for equity. Jill provides consulting and coaching services as the principal owner of The Meriweather Group. She designs and facilitates racial equity training for health care and education organizations as well as associations, non-profits and governmental entities. Jill has coached equity teams, created professional development opportunities to advance equity goals and supported organizational goals around diverse, equitable and inclusive work environments. Jill serves on several boards that address food insecurity, public policy, and other community needs. Jill is a graduate of Harvard University, has a Masters of Education from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and has graduate certificates from Johns Hopkins University (Administration and Supervision) and Cornell University (Diversity and Inclusion).
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Joel Smith
Joel combines 16 years of consulting, with another 30 years of corporate leadership, experience in providing strategic and operational advice to boards and executives of a wide range of industries and technologies, both non-profit and for-profit. He has held general and senior leadership positions for start-ups and Fortune 500 companies and is and has been an active member of several business-related and non-profit boards.
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KEVA WHITE
Keva White is an educator by profession and entrepreneur by nature. With a Master's Degree in Social Work from Temple University, he spent several years working for community-based organizations before founding his own company, VIP Community Services, in 2006. Since then, his company continues to provide high quality training and consulting services for social service providers, schools, behavioral health agencies, philanthropic foundations and healthcare organizations. Keva is a nationally sought after racial equity consultant and keynote speaker. He is a dynamic presenter with an embracing sense of humor who uniformly receives high marks for his public speaking and teaching skills. Keva received formal training as a certified cultural and linguistic competence trainer from the National Multicultural Institute (NMCI), Washington, D.C. He is a fellow of Bryn Mawr School of Social Work's Non-profit Executive Leadership Institute (NELI) and serves as a Part-time Lecturer at Rutgers University’s School of Social Work.
Learn More about Keva at www.KevaWhite.com.
KATE WILLIAMS
Kate Williams is the founder of Philanthropy Partner LLC through which she provides integrated grant-making, operational and legal support to private foundations and grant-makers. Having left her practice at an international law firm to dedicate her career to the nonprofit sector, Kate has advised funders as outside legal counsel, in-house legal counsel, Board Chair, and as a business consultant. Drawing upon these perspectives and skillsets, Kate offers her clients a holistic and efficient approach and is able to bridge the overlapping pillars of strategy/impact, legal/compliance, and operations/governance. Whether engaged for a discrete project or as a long-term trusted advisor, funders benefit from Kate’s support, specifically designed to meet the unique needs of the philanthropic sector. Kate is a graduate of Temple Law School with Deans List Honors and Trinity College, B.A., Political Science, Cum laude.