TEAM

Adam is a consultant, facilitator, coach, teacher and trainer specializing in the areas of change management, leadership development and negotiation. He has consulted internationally with Fortune 500 clients across a wide range of industries including professional services, technology, banking, biotech, engineering/construction, entertainment, publishing, and manufacturing. His experience also spans the non-profit and public sectors with clients in academia, global development, healthcare, city government, social/public policy, and peacebuilding.

Adam loves working with clients to understand their reality, envision an ideal future, co-design creative solutions and help bring people together to align behavior to desired results.  He utilizes expertise in interest-based negotiation, influence, effective communication and dialogue facilitation to help his clients better understand interpersonal dynamics and improve their working relationships. His work draws from previous experience at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Mediation Program where his career started.

Adam holds an MBA from Brandeis University focusing on Social Impact Management and Entrepreneurship and a BA from Goucher College in Peace Studies, Philosophy and Religion. He is a certified mediator through the Harvard Mediation Program as well as Harvard trained in negotiation and dispute resolution, advanced mediation and difficult conversations. He is also a certified Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®) practitioner.

Adam has practiced mindfulness meditation for 20 years and weaves mindfulness theory and practices into client engagements where appropriate. Originally from Boston, MA, Adam received early training in relationship management and conflict resolution from his identical twin brother. Away from work he can be found cooking, hiking, swimming in lakes, traveling and obsessing about the Boston Celtics basketball team on his Celtics PRIDE podcast with celticsblog.com.

Andy plays the indispensable role of ensuring the accuracy of Collective Next’s accounting and financial statements. In addition to managing all of the company’s accounts payable and receivable, he provides our CFO with clear and comprehensive data to inform his analysis and strategic decision making.

Andy holds an MFA in sculpture from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Before joining Collective Next, Andy worked for eight years in a stone fabrication shop running a CAD driven milling machine. His pursuit of both art and precision remains central to Andy’s work today as he plays accountant by day and accordion musician/composer by night. He loves working across disciplines to pick up on patterned information and align the details that bring disparate things into true harmony. He resists the idea that some jobs just aren’t creative.

In addition to his musical pursuits, Andy loves landscaping with his wife and learning about the native plants and ecosystems surrounding their home.

Annie likes nothing better than working collaboratively with clients and her team to discover synergies that result in something new and exciting. Many of her projects consist of annual large-scale engagements, and she enjoys the challenge of making recurring events fresh and relevant year after year.

After getting a taste of the marketing world, Annie decided to complete a Master of Integrative Marketing Communications from Emerson College. Following graduation, she entered the field of collaborative work and facilitation, seeing this as an opportunity to utilize her design skills to support multi-faceted, creative interventions for clients. Annie is committed to understanding and enhancing the user experience in all that she does. Whether designing a Collaborative Learning Map program, creating a presentation, or laying out an interactive PDF, she seeks to engage users and help them internalize content. During her time with Collective Next, she has worked with clients including General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Fidelity, Cengage, and State Street.

Outside of work, Annie expresses her creativity through cooking and baking—experimenting with unique ingredients and curating new recipes (e.g. the best Japanese cheesecake). If there’s been a recent snowfall, you’ll likely find her and her family hitting the slopes of Sugarloaf.

Bree enjoys helping people and organizations generate lasting impact through creative engagement. As an art director, Bree primarily develops visual communication campaigns and bespoke interactive learning tools. Bree approaches her creative work through the lens of a facilitator, partnering with clients to understand their objectives and to arrive at the right solution for them and their audience.

After graduating from Stanford, Bree’s fascination with creative problem solving, design, neuroscience, and organizational psychology led her to Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment. There, she delved into the world of collaborative design and led facilitation teams delivering 150+ client co-design workshops. Bree has worked with Collective Next since 2004 in a strategic design role and has developed deep expertise in the creative process, collaboration, adult learning, and information design. She enjoys partnering with clients in various industries, including BlackRock, Schwab, Johnson & Johnson, and IQVIA.

Bree serves on the board of Girls Crushing It, a nonprofit providing entrepreneurship training and experience to girls ages six through nineteen. She enjoys country living and creative projects with her kids in the outskirts of San Francisco’s East Bay, raising backyard chickens, and hiking in the foothills with her very spoiled Vizsla, Pepper.

Brett spends much of his time working in the world of motion graphic design and animation. He is passionate about exploring new technology to understand how it can contribute to developing valuable solutions for clients. Lately, he has been particularly focused on innovating in the interactive design and virtual learning spaces.

Brett graduated from Grinnell with a major in fine art and has been involved in music, design, and video ever since. Brett played a central role in shaping Collective Next’s Creative Services practice. Over the years, Brett has partnered with clients including Johnson & Johnson, Fidelity, Alexion, TIAA, Red Hat, Avid, and IQVIA. Whatever medium he works in, Brett enjoys the challenge of developing fresh and creative ways for clients to tell their stories while integrating into their existing branding.

When not at work, Brett can be found practicing his banjo, tinkering with the fiddle he inherited from his great-grandfather, and penning new songs. He is excited that his new home has the space to make more noise, do more painting, and jump back into printmaking.

Cricket partners with her clients to support a range of design needs, from crafting communication tools to developing learning materials. Cricket strives to delight her clients and their audiences through effective information and presentation design. She loves taking complex material and making it easy and fun to understand. In addition, she is often the visionary behind developing the look and feel for large scale client projects and events.

Cricket’s career has centered on the design space. After studying photography and graphic design in college, she worked in the NBA’s photography department and with a boutique graphic design firm in NYC before discovering the intersection of collaborative work and creative services. During her time with Collective Next, Cricket has focused on both event-specific projects and long-term client partnerships supporting a broad range of visual and communication needs. Over the years, her clients have included Johnson & Johnson, IQVIA, Fidelity, Alexion, Cengage, Citi, and Premier.

When she steps away from her computer, Cricket can be found pursuing “all things fitness” – skiing, paddle boarding, kayaking, biking, running, walking, and most recently, Peloton. She also loves home décor, hosting dinner parties, going to Nantucket, and playing with dogs.

Dave works closely with clients to understand the challenges and opportunities they face. He designs creative interventions that leverage the talent and expertise resident within his client’s organizations to achieve their goals. Dave’s objective is to design solutions that clients champion because they were part of creating them. Dave also heads up Collective Next’s consulting business, ensuring that our team is operating at the top of their license.

Dave’s entire career has been in the collaborative design and facilitation space. He found strong mentors directly out of college and then spent the past 20 years helping organizations use collaboration to achieve better, faster, more lasting results. During his time with Collective Next, Dave’s clients have included Fidelity, Cengage, SEI, Franklin Templeton, and Nuveen. He is particularly passionate about helping clients partner with their own customers through designing and leading effective client advisory board sessions.

Away from work, Dave can be found cooking gourmet meals with his family (carnitas, sushi, and homemade pasta to name a few), coaching his son’s football team, and heading up Needham’s Youth Football and Cheer.

“Dave is an incredibly empathetic and intuitive facilitator who helps us get the best feedback from our clients in the sessions he designs with us. He’s more than just a facilitator, he’s a trusted business partner that we have come to lean on heavily.”

Senior Business Leader, Fortune 100 Financial Services Organization

EJ helps clients through the ideation, design, and development of our digital solutions. He coordinates a multi-faceted effort between our clients, designers, and developers to create robust digital solutions for our client’s nuanced problems.

Before joining Collective Next, EJ managed his own software development company, where he wore many hats as an architect, project manager, designer, and developer. EJ is a graduate of DePauw University in Indiana, where he studied computer science.

Outside of work, EJ loves bouldering and slapping a little bass from time to time. He also has an (un)healthy passion for Philadelphia sports teams.

Erin leads Collective Next’s Creative Team. She seeks to foster an environment in which the team’s unique combination of skills–deep business acumen, experience in process facilitation, and expertise in design and storytelling—can thrive. Her goal is to facilitate clients through a process that produces highly relevant visuals that truly communicate their message.

After a brief post-college stint at a start-up, Erin’s friend and future colleague at Collective Next, Cricket Hannan, tipped her off about a job where she could pursue her passion for creativity and teamwork. The job: facilitating collaborative work at Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment. On her first day, Erin fell in love with the work and the people. The team included future CN’ers Matt Saiia, Sarah Shrimplin, and Hamilton Ray. Twenty years later she still feels the same way. She’s been a part of CN from the beginning, helping to grow the creative team, while working with clients such as MassMutual, Fidelity, J&J, Alexion, Allison Transmission, BlackRock, Willis Towers Watson, MIT, and MasterCard.

Outside of work, Erin channels her creative energy into drumming, playing in the local band The Monsieurs. She also actively supports Girls Rock Campaign Boston.

Erin King has been a partner to us at Fidelity in the Family Thought Leadership and Practice space for more than 3 years now and we consider her an indispensable part of the team. Erin’s ability to blend creativity and business insights sets her far apart both as an outstanding producer and as a collaborative thinker. She takes our concepts to a level where clients and advisors can easily understand and engage, learn, and apply in their professional and personal lives.

Tobias Donath, Vice President of Family Thought Leadership and Practice, Fidelity Investments

Evan helps clients to tell their stories through visuals. He works across a variety of media, but specializes in video and animation. Evan partners with clients from conception, through development, to post-production to help tell the story that will resonate most effectively with their audience.

Before joining Collective Next, Evan studied illustration at UMass Dartmouth’s Design Program. His illustrations have been published in the NYTimes and in books, including the forthcoming Storyville! An Illustrated Guide to Writing Fiction. During his time with Collective Next, Evan has worked on a wide range of projects involving print and digital media, high-impact presentations, and motion graphics videos. Two especially beloved projects include designing TED presentations that have garnered millions of views, and supporting Sibos’s large-scale visual production over the past six years.

Outside of work, Evan likes to do more work, co-founding a pub crawl trivia tour called “Brews and Clues” that has already rolled out in multiple cities.  He also takes on commissions for currency collages, depicting famous figures from history or pop culture.

Geoff is committed to understanding his clients’ challenges and delivering creative interventions in response to their needs. In addition to leading a broad range of client engagements and events, Geoff coaches leader talks and plays a central role in Collective Next’s Production branch. Geoff is also centrally involved in CN’s efforts to help organizations engage in meaningful dialogue around the topic of artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML).

Geoff had just graduated from Northwestern with a master’s in the lucrative field of performance studies, when a lucky temp job introduced him to designing and facilitating collaborative work. That was 20+ years ago, and he has never looked back, especially since both front-of-the-room facilitation and presentation coaching let him keep one toe in the world of performance. Over his many years with CN, Geoff’s diverse client list has included Fidelity, MassMutual, TIAA, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Facebook, Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation, Vector Institute, and American Association for Artificial Intelligence.

When he steps away from work, Geoff may be found building treehouses for his daughters, watching British crime procedurals with his wife, or playing “old guy” ultimate frisbee.

“Working with Geoff helped me to really crystalize my voice. He gave me the direction, confidence and frankly, the motivation I needed….He is calm, insightful, and able to see the bigger picture.”

Megha Desai, President, The Desai Foundation

Gordon partners with clients to develop creative interventions for tackling complex organizational challenges. He begins by developing a detailed understanding of what leaders are wrestling with, and works collaboratively to develop solutions appropriate to their organization and the broader context in which they operate. Gordon also heads up Collective Next’s Canadian practice.

Gordon graduated from McGill University and went on to complete a Master of Dispute Resolution. After working in mediation in the Boston court system and the United Nations Office of the ombudsman, he was introduced to collaborative facilitation. He worked for several years with Capgemini and KPMG before joining Collective Next in 2011.  During his time at CN, he has worked with clients such as Alexion, BlackRock, Allison Transmission, and the Investment Planning Counsel. He recently relocated to Toronto with the goal of reaching new clients and deepening existing relationships.

Gordon is a very keen—and improving—tennis player. Having returned to Canada he hopes to hit the ball around with his kids at some of the courts from his childhood.

“We see Gordon as a key partner along our transformational journey. He is incredibly inquisitive, seeking to truly understand not only the problem at hand to solve, but also the context of our business, our culture, and what we’re ultimately trying to impact. Gordon is a deep listener and brings creative and progressive thinking to everything we do.”

Kirsten Stants, Vice President, Global Talent Management at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Hamilton helps leaders and organizations solve complex problems by designing and delivering creative interventions. Hamilton is committed to understanding his clients’ business challenges and leveraging the broad range of Collective Next’s capabilities to custom design the right solution. Hamilton also heads up CN’s marketing and new business development efforts.

Hamilton began his professional life by starting a theatre company, then moving to NYC to pursue acting. From there, he got hooked on facilitating collaborative work when he was introduced to it over 20 years ago at Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment. Hamilton joined Collective Next at the start and has helped shape and grow the company. He’s led a diverse set of engagements across industries developing expertise in topics such as strategy development, digital transformation, finance modernization, and talent development. Hamilton frequently works with CEOs and senior teams to crystallize their vision and strategy, and to engage the broader organization. His long-term clients include Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, Swift, and Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco

Hamilton loves cooking and is a kitchen gadget junkie. On Sundays he co-hosts the podcast, Atlanta Baseball Talk, which has aired 400+ shows, averages 6,500 listeners, and is recognized by the Brave’s as a legitimate media outlet.

“Hamilton Ray is a consummate professional and one of the best thought partners I have encountered across my career.  His ability to shape chaos and ambiguity into a coherent and compelling story is second to none.  Even more impressive is his ability to go beyond the story and lead the execution and deployment to ensure maximum impact and change are achieved.  I can always count on his partnership to be bold and his counsel wise – simply put, the outcomes are better and he elevates the work of everyone involved.  When I need a thought partner, no matter the topic, Hamilton is at the top of my list.”

Michael J. Benson, VP, Talent & Organization Capabilities, General Mills

Isa is a recent graduate of Northeastern University, where she studied Marketing and Graphic/Information Design. Through Northeastern’s “co-op program,” Isa gained invaluable on-the-job experience as the first-ever Creative Services intern at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., the oldest and one of the largest private investment banks in the U.S. When it came time to design her senior capstone project, Isa – a first generation Cuban-American – created an introspective narrative on cultural dissonance, exploring the tension between Cuban and American cultures.

With a keen interest in brand and identity development, interaction design, and data visualization, Isa is right at home on Collective Next’s Creative team. She works collaboratively with art directors and solution designers, bringing her talents to a wide array of digital projects, from collateral and presentations to motion graphics storyboards to web application prototypes.

Out of the office, Isa is lead singer in Roll Over White, a South Shore-based rock band known for their “superior musicality combined with gritty, kick-you-in-the-face vocals.” When she is not jamming her heart out, writing songs, making all kinds of art, catching a film, or enjoying Cuban food, Isa finds opportunities to give back to her community. She serves as a Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurship (WISE) mentor at Northeastern, where she shares her wisdom and inspires other young folks to blaze their own awesomely creative trails.

Jess brings a truly unique and diverse set of creative talents to Collective Next, including being an exceptionally stellar graphic facilitator. A treasured member of our core team of graphic facilitators, Jess consistently delivers brilliant, delightful, content-rich real-time illustrations to virtual and in-person audiences.

When Collective Next’s graphic facilitation practice went all-digital for two years, Jess fearlessly dug into learning the ins and outs of virtual scribing and has become an expert practitioner. She continues to hone her skills and invent new digital products for clients, and is venturing into animation. She is also a valued mentor and technical resource for our extended network of graphic facilitators.

Outside of work, you will most likely find Jess making something: exquisite gold and silver jewelry, fabulous paper plants, or excellent wine pairings—she was formerly a buyer in the food and wine industry. She also enjoys hiking throughout Boston’s South Shore with her dog, Joey.

As a Solution Design Partner, Kate works with clients throughout the entirety of their engagement. She provides support in the areas of solution design, project management, event production, research, and day-to-day client service. You might find her taking a deep dive into patient centricity in drug development, synthesizing several presentations into simple visual models, or facilitating a breakout at a corporate leadership summit.

Kate has broad experience in change management, leadership development, and corporate strategy; she has worked in partnership with organizations on challenges related to healthcare, biotech, and financial services. Her clients have included Johnson & Johnson, Fidelity, AbbVie, MassMutual, Ironwood, National Grid, and TIAA. Prior to Collective Next, Kate served as a senior project manager at the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality, a nonprofit devoted to improving health outcomes for children. Kate holds a BS in Clinical Exercise Physiology from Boston University.

If she’s not at work, it is highly likely that she is teaching herself a new craft, dreaming up an excuse to bake, or treasure hunting at a local flea market.

Katherine partners with clients to scale their narratives—making sure that their stories reach the communities to whom they matter in the most effective way possible. She supports clients in honing their message and determining the best medium for their story. She brings special expertise in communicating via podcasting and within large conference formats. In addition, Katherine is a subject matter expert on the public conversation around  Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML).

Katherine’s work in storytelling dates back to her high school radio days. In college, she apprenticed at an NPR affiliate station before being hired by WYPR in Baltimore and then working as part of NPR’s Here and Now team at WBUR in Boston. She went on to found her own production company and in 2015 launched the ongoing podcast Talking Machines, focused on “human conversations about machine learning.” In addition to spearheading CN’s productions, she is actively involved in the community of practitioners in AI/ML working with the Neural Information Processing Systems Conference and the International Conference on Machine Learning to develop and implement their communications strategy.

During her time off, you will likely find Katherine immersed in a comic book or graphic novel.

Katia oversees operations for all of Collective Next’s offices and coordinates logistics for client sessions across the globe. On any given day, you can find her assisting with session prep, fielding technology requests, communicating with hotel event managers, making travel arrangements, supporting our contractor network, and assisting the co-founders.

At Collective Next, Katia found a home for her incredible organizational skills and natural ability to help teams thrive.  In CN, she also discovered an organization that embraced her pursuit of theater and costume design. After eight years, Katia’s love of CN ranks up there with her love of the stage. She is passionate about supporting people and relishes the fact that over the years her colleagues have come to refer to her as “home base”—the constant they can always rely on to make things happen.

Outside of CN, Katia can be found working at many local theatre companies as costume designer, makeup artist, director, and performer.

Kris plays multiple roles at CN: teaming up with solution designers to design creative interventions, acting as project manager, and supporting clients throughout the engagement process. At every step, Kris makes sure the right solutions are designed for our clients, that the CN team is organized to support delivery, and that the necessary logistics are in place.

Kris joined Collective Next over a decade ago, bringing with them a background in art and adult learning. During Kris’ time at Collective Next, they have worked closely with CN’s CEO to develop and deliver leadership programs and large-scale leadership events. They enjoy leading teams in delivering non-traditional meetings involving anything from field trips and customer interview sessions, to TED-style talks and interactive content. In addition, Kris often provides front-of-the-room facilitation, graphic facilitation, and speaker coaching. Their clients include Johnson & Johnson, Fidelity, MasterCard, and General Mills.

When not at work, Kris can be found (still) working on the three-story Victorian dollhouse they’ve been constructing for eight years, obsessing over baroque paintings, or holed up playing video games.

Kristen’s passion lies in designing ways to solve complex problems through collaboration. She combines strategic thinking with effective creative interventions, which in turn foster real human connection and make the process of getting work done enjoyable. Kristen works across all industries with special focus areas in health care and diversity and inclusion.

Before joining Collective Next, Kristen worked for Booz Allen, Ernst & Young/Capgemini, and North Highland. Since her early consulting days, Kristen has focused on helping clients solve problems in productive ways. In 1999, while working in the then-emerging field of ERP systems implementation, she was introduced to the power of using a facilitated collaborative process to align organizations and produce meaningful change. Two decades later she remains committed to this approach. Her recent list of clients includes Johnson & Johnson, Citi, Toll Brothers, AbbVie, Novo Nordisk, DaVita, and Advocate Health

Kristen is a committed world traveler whose recent adventures have included climbing up lava rocks to watch blue-footed boobies in the Galapagos and dipping in the hot springs near Mt. Fuji. When at home she can be found cooking for friends, attending plays and concerts, and taking walks with her dog.

“Kristen is an agile, creative influencer who uses her voice and leadership to shape desired outputs. She is a great collaborator and has the keen ability to ensure we stay on track. Kristen has been instrumental in leading a team that designed creative storyboards showcasing the accomplishments of our Employee Resource Groups at Johnson & Johnson to our Executives.”

Elvie Gee, Global Diversity & Inclusion Leader, Office of Diversity & Inclusion

“You don’t know how good things could be, until you have had a chance to let Kristen work her magic… after that, everything else seems second best!”

Nicole DiBacco, Director, Business Improvement, Toll Brothers

Mason’s work begins with helping clients crystalize their personal and organizational objectives.  He then works with them to design creative interventions tailored to unique contexts that accelerate their path towards achieving business impact. He likes nothing better than helping organizations get people motivated and involved; he believes in the power of harnessing and directing human potential towards collective growth. A good deal of his work is focused in the leadership and development space.

After graduating from Middlebury College, Mason wrote down a description of his dream job: be part of a team focused on helping others realize their potential to effect change. Initially, he pursued this goal by earning a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology during which time he discovered his passion for intervening at both the individual and organizational level. When he learned about Collective Next, Mason knew he had found his long-awaited dream job.  Indeed, he has enjoyed working with a wide range of clients to create meaningful change, including Fidelity, MassMutual, Red Hat, FIS, Design Museum Foundation, and Unispace.

In his free time, Mason enjoys family hikes, coaching his kids’ soccer and hockey teams, and discovering new music while rocking out in the car.

“We worked with Mason Smith on several Leadership Summits that were intended to create and rollout our new strategy.  Mason was instrumental in working with us to plan the day, create the materials, and provide expertise on the topic.  He was patient, always available, and flexible with the quirks that come along with a large insurance company.  The excellent facilitation, planning, and collaboration contributed to the success of each Summit.”

Sandi Mercier, Strategic Consultant, MassMutual

Matt and his wife, Sarah, founded Collective Next in 2003 with the goal of pushing the creative bounds of collaborative work. Matt strives to realize this vision in a multitude of ways, from rolling out cutting-edge leadership development programs and transforming senior leadership forums, to working at the forefront of the public conversation around artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Matt’s passion for creating What’s Next inspires his work for clients just as much as for his own organization. Matt majored in Studio Art at Grinnell College—a college he chose for its open-mindedness and collective approach to leadership and decision-making. After graduating, he was introduced to the world of facilitation and collaborative work through MG Taylor and Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment. Matt immediately saw an opportunity to integrate his passion for creativity with his long-standing interest in catalyzing organizational change. Following a decade of immersing himself in this emerging field (alongside his colleague and future wife, Sarah) Collective Next was born. Over the past fifteen years as CEO, Matt has enjoyed partnering with leaders across industries to solve complex organizational challenges.

When Matt steps away from Collective Next, he is likely attending a concert, hanging at the Hungry Coyote in Needham, or visiting family in the Midwest. Regardless of what he is doing, Matt thrives on the energy generated by sharing unique experiences with friends and family.

“Matt is awesome! He is fun to work with. He has the ability to bring together leaders who have diverse opinions and coalesce around a common goal. It is brilliant.”

Jeff Carney, President and CEO IG Wealth Management & IGM Financial

Melody enjoys the creative challenge of building meaningful experiences. She loves puzzling through clients’ needs, helping refine their objectives and spur change across their organizations. She does everything from partnering with Solution Designers on the best next step forward to managing the lifecycle of a project to coordinating teams during events.

Melody’s previous work at MIT Sloan, Building Excellent Schools, and Hubspot centered on event planning, communications, and the employee experience. At Collective Next, Melody pairs her existing skills with a passion for creativity and a strong commitment to making a difference for clients and their organizations. She’s enjoyed working on a variety of client events, having worked with Akamai, Alexion, Fidelity, and Red Hat. She is also honing her skill as a graphic facilitator, a tricky art form she’s committed to mastering.

Outside of work, Melody enjoys experimenting with her trusty sewing machine, piecing together baby quilts, buttons downs, or the perfect pair of jeans. One of her goals: to make all of her own clothing.

Nick works with partners and clients to help hone their narratives. Whether it’s through the careful refinement of language and written content or the creation of realistic, fictional situations and characters, Nick’s goal is always the same: to bring stories to life with care and empathy. This process always begins with a careful approach to understanding, synthesizing, and clarifying his clients’ needs. Recently, Nick’s work has been focused on simulation design and leadership training.

Nick is a published fiction author and graduate of the University of Michigan where he studied English literature and creative writing. He was a small business owner and operator for 12 years before coming to work with the team at Collective Next.

When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find Nick playing a complicated board game, climbing rocks (both real and fake), or playing guitar.

Renee calls on past knowledge and experience to invent anew for each client. Whether leading a long-term engagement or facilitating a single workshop, she strives to unleash each organization’s collective wisdom to come up with a solution they believe in. In addition to supporting her clients, Renee strives to create opportunities on her team for rising talent to take on new challenges.

During her early career, Renee developed skills in market research and storytelling. She worked in research at BBDO where they paid for her Master of Library Science.  She then moved with her boss to Time Inc., and eventually joined the customer research start-up C Space.  Renee’s passion for connecting the dots between research, insights, and action led her to designing and facilitating workshops. Here, she fell in love with the experience of getting people to innovate together. Joining Collective Next has provided an opportunity for Renee to take collaborative work to the next level. Her recent clients have included Akamai, National Grid, Fuji, Alexion, and Brigham and Women’s.

Outside of work you can find Renee in a fierce battle of “Uno” with her husband and two daughters, devouring episodes of “Hidden Brain”, and helping adults overcome their fear of the water through a program called “Miracle Swimming.”

“I had the opportunity to work with Renee on a long-term project recently, and I found her to be extremely resourceful, proactive, and strategic…I always felt like we were her only client as she always made time for advancing the work across multiple workstreams. She brought a level of clarity and creativity to a complex problem…connected the dots for us and challenged our thinking. I hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with Renee in the future.”

HR VP, Financial Services organization

Sarah leads Collective Next with a passionate commitment to her clients and to the CN community. She is always ready to go the extra mile for clients and colleagues, whether it be delivering a workshop or planning the company’s next get together.  Sarah also heads Collective Next’s graphic facilitation practice. On any given day you can find her discussing company strategy, working with clients to determine graphic facilitation needs, and rallying the CN team to serenade a team member on their birthday.

Sarah graduated from the University of Michigan with a major in English and a minor in French. Fueled by her love of language, she set off to teach English in Japan. Returning home a few years later, she craved the all-encompassing learning experience she had abroad. When Sarah discovered the world of collaborative work and facilitation, she knew she had an opportunity to dive deeply into another type of language and experience, this one composed of frameworks, models, and organizational cultures. A decade into this work, Sarah was again ready to explore new territory and decided–along with her husband and co-founder, Matt Saiia–to start Collective Next. Her goal was to broaden the possibilities for collaborative work and expand opportunities for fellow facilitators. Fifteen years later, she remains committed to this vision.

Running a family business means that the line between work and life is fluid, but when Sarah does step away it is often to advocate for causes she believes in, such as finding a cure for ALS. She’s also the first to volunteer to DJ a party.

We are deeply sorry to share the news that Travis Martin passed away on Wednesday, December 29th 2021 from colon cancer. He was just 37 years old. A husband to Meredith and a father to his young son, Conrad, Travis was truly loved by every one of us. We are devastated and still trying to process this tremendous loss.

Travis spent 10+ years working at Collective Next and if you were lucky enough to work with him, you know the passion, energy, and sense of humor he brought to everything. He was a talented facilitator, graphic artist, and project manager, with the best playlists for every session he worked on. His energy and attitude were contagious. We will carry Travis and his huge smile in our hearts, with gratitude for the time we got to spend with him.

Tricia plays a central role in designing and delivering Collective Next’s graphic facilitation solutions. She serves as the team lead on large-scale graphic facilitation events and oversees training and development in this area. In addition, Tricia is in charge of recruiting, onboarding, and mentoring the specialized network of talent that supports CN’s event delivery worldwide.

Tricia received a BFA from UMass Dartmouth in visual design and illustration, and went on to teach art before being introduced to collaborative work and graphic facilitation through Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment. Tricia has been with CN since it’s early days, playing a central role in shaping and growing the graphic facilitation practice. She is always looking for opportunities to expand the use of graphic facilitation, whether through creating scribe videos that can live on after an event, or partnering with a client to create a pop-up event in Kendall Square. Her many clients include companies such as Abcam, Roche, Fidelity, Northeastern, and Tufts.

Away from work, Tricia enjoys doing anything and everything outdoors with her family. This includes biking along the Minuteman Bikeway and the Cape Cod Rail Trail, kayaking in and around Boston, and skiing along the East Coast.