Skye Ward speaks more deeply about her work with Lawrence Ellis & Associates. Skye Ward is the manager of International Student Services at the University of California- Berkeley and Co-Founder of UMOJA Strategy Group.

"I have had the opportunity to observe Mr. Ellis at work both in an organizational setting and in a movement-building context. Concerning the former, he consulted to UC-Berkeley's International House in some "rough waters." International House is a residential community for more than 600 students, scholars and fellows from over 70 nations. Handling conflicts and building understanding and community across huge cultural differences is not always easy. We engaged Mr. Ellis to help us resolve some difficulties between key student leaders and staff, with the hope that together we could understand and work with each other more harmoniously and productively. I think we were all amazed by the thoroughness and skillfulness that he brought to the task.

Prior to a major retreat, he completed exhaustive interviews of all parties. I think most, if not all, of us were delightfully shocked to see how thoroughly he summarized our interview input into key themes, outstanding issues, and an agenda targeted to the heart of what we needed to cover. I honestly believe that his job was half finished before the retreat began because we knew that we had been heard at a deep level, and that our issues were going to be addressed. Beyond this, however, his facilitating the group was remarkable. Given the mix of people and some of the issues, we could have had World War III. Instead, he used strategies and techniques to diffuse conflict, deepen dialogue, and keep us on task. The retreat was so successful that everyone gave him a hearty round of applause at the end. Significantly, we left with a gameplan for action for the next few months, supported by Mr. Ellis's occasional coaching of one of the key administrators and of me in its implementation.

I was so impressed with Mr. Ellis that I invited him to join the core leadership team of UMOJA Strategy Group (USG), a grassroots project that I had launched to promote dialogue, reconciliation and action on some divisive community issues in the San Francisco Bay Area. He jumped in with gusto from the start! His dedication, energy, and leadership were exemplary. No task was too small or too large for him - whether licking envelopes for mailings, washing dishes after potluck community meetings, designing workshops for key national conferences, serving as emcee at a large community forum, or standing his ground in public on controversial issues. Within two years of its inception, USG had gained national recognition for its grassroots organizing model - and Mr. Ellis's contributions were no small part of this. In particular, he brought organizational discipline and incredibly high standards to our group process: insightful analysis, expert facilitation of meetings, powerful tools for developing strategy, and skills for effective collaboration in small groups and teams - enabling us to do a lot with limited resources.

Frankly, he sets the standard against which I evaluate other consultants and facilitators, and other activists who bring new organizing tools to movement-building — and very, very few even come close to him." — Skye Ward, Manager of International Student Services at the University of California- Berkeley and Co-Founder of UMOJA Strategy Group

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