Strategic Partners

Mohan Sikka, PhD

Mohan Sikka, PhD, works in the areas of strategic and operational planning, executive coaching, HR management, board development, team building and group facilitation. Mohan specializes in working with teams and leaders who want to clarify their primary purpose and make their vision for change as powerful as possible, or those who want to align their organizational and individual practices with desired impact. Mohan also facilitates action groups and learning circles.

Mohan has 20 years of nonprofit experience, starting with fundraising for community-based organizations, and over time gaining depth in planning, facilitation, and coaching. Mohan was most recently Managing Director for Leadership Development at Community Resource Exchange, NYC’s premiere nonprofit consulting firm for groups fighting poverty and advancing social justice. At CRE Mohan designed and implemented a range of organizational offerings, including executive and team coaching and leadership training. Mohan was a staff consultant at CRE for 12 years and now partners as an affiliate with a number of consulting groups.

Chantelle Fitzgerald, MSNPL

Chantelle Fitzgerald, MSNPL, is an award-winning professional, specializing in diversity, equity, inclusion,(DEI) executive coaching, mindfulness, leadership development, and emotional intelligence. She is a speaker and advisor to Fortune 500 companies. She is the Founder and CEO of Mindset Strategies, a DEI consulting and leadership development firm that focuses on mindfulness and emotional intelligence.

Chantelle has also recently launched (September 2021) a Leadership Institute For Black women, to help increase the number of Black women leaders in high-level positions across the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. The Institute is also positioned in such a way to help employers create an additional “edge” when it comes to talent attraction and retention of diverse talent. Additionally, Chantelle is an adjunct professor for Doane University teaching teachers, principals, and administrators on how to build a mindful classroom through the practice of mindfulness and emotional intelligence.

Dr. Bernardo Ferdman, PhD

Dr. Bernardo Ferdman, PhD is passionate about helping to create an inclusive world where more of us can be fully ourselves and accomplish our goals effectively, productively, and authentically.

As a scholar-practitioner with over 35 years of experience working with diverse groups and organizations to increase individual and collective effectiveness and inclusion, Bernardo brings particular depth, curiosity, and enthusiasm to his work.

Bernardo has focused his career on addressing the needs of organizations that wish to use their diversity to achieve better business results. He works with organizational leaders and employees to foster inclusion, to develop and implement effective ways of using the talents and contributions of every member of the organization, and to build multicultural and cross-cultural competencies on the part of individuals, teams, and the whole organization. Bernardo has extensive international experience and is a native Spanish speaker.

“Although we had been an ESOP for many years, we knew our ownership culture needed work.  We turned to Praxis seven years ago because of their unique focus on employee ownership culture and leadership development. Praxis attentively learned who we were, what was working, and how we wanted to evolve. They crafted custom curriculum and delivery for leadership development which has positively changed our communication, relationships, and success as an organization across all levels. Earning recognition as the 2022 national Employee-Owned Company of the Year is testimony to our partnership with Praxis.”
–Daniel Goldstein, CEO and President

Case Studies

BAYADA Home Health Care

BAYADA Home Health Care is a national leader in providing clinical care and support services at home for children and adults of all ages. Since 1975, BAYADA has been at the forefront of the home health care movement — working to give people greater access to high-quality care that helps them live safely at home.

Case Study

BL Companies

BL Companies is a leader in delivering high-quality, integrated architecture, engineering and environmental services to public and private clients for land development, building design, and infrastructure projects.

Case Study

Carris Reels

For over half a century, Carris Reels has provided its customers with high-quality cable reels and spools including plywood reels, plastic reels and nailed wood reels for the wire and cable industry. Started in 1951 by Henry Carris with just two employees, today Carris includes eight divisions nationwide, including two permanent assembly/warehouse sites and eight temporary facilities.

Case Study

Congresso de Latinos Unidos

Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1977 with a mission to strengthen Latino communities through social, economic, education and health services, leadership development and advocacy.

Case Study

Dansko

In 1990, Mandy Cabot and her husband Peter Kjellerup co-founded Dansko, a leader in innovative comfort footwear. Since the discovery of their first product in a tiny store in Denmark, Dansko (literally translated as “Danish shoe”) now generates annual sales of approximately $150 million. Today their offering includes sandals, boots, heels, flats and many types of clogs which are sold through over 2,500 premium US and international retailers.

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King Arthur Baking Company

King Arthur Flour is a 220 year old, 100% ESOP owned company that provides the highest quality flour and baking ingredients and baking tools through internet, catalog, retail and wholesale sources. Their mission is to support and expand all aspects of baking by being the highest quality product, information, and education resource for, and inspiration to, bakers worldwide. They have more than 180 full time, year round employees most of whom are located in Norwich, Vermont.

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Need in Deed

Since its founding in 1987, Need in Deed’s mission has been to use the classroom to prepare young people for civic responsibility and service to others, enabling them to become capable, contributing members of society. Working in public, charter, independent and faith-based schools, we train and support teachers as they adopt a teaching and learning strategy known as service-learning.

Case Study

PC Construction

In order to educate its employees about the value and significance of their ESOP plan, PC Construction hired Praxis to train and support a group of trainers to deliver ESOP educational presentations. PC Construction employs a large Hispanic workforce, so the company provided a Spanish version of the presentation and included five bilingual speakers in the training. Praxis facilitated the ESOP education and presentation skills training, with some parts of the training and coaching conducted in Spanish.

Case Study

Recology

When Recology was getting ready to launch an initiative to expand both their business and staff, they engaged a team of Praxis consultants to help prepare to take on this challenge. For the growth strategy to be effective, the company wanted to strengthen its ownership culture, and develop a cadre of leaders who could effectively manage new and expanding businesses.

Case Study

Wiley|Wilson

Wiley|Wilson is a multi-disciplined architectural, engineering, and planning firm serving a solid base of industrial, commercial, and government clients. Its services range from architecture to design-build to energy audits to power systems and water resources engineering. The firm focuses on reliability, quality and responsiveness to clients in all their work. Headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia, the firm also has offices Richmond, Alexandria and Atlanta.

Case Study
“Aqua’s family-like bond with the Praxis team created strong connections beyond our executive team.
Our long-term commitment to leadership development, in partnership with Praxis, created a cultural shift throughout our employee-owned company.”
–David Paul, President and CEO

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