Every community deserves something to be proud of.
For 30 years I’ve worked on the systems that decide which projects move and which places get left behind: in the State Assembly, at the Red Cross, in village hall, and in justice reform. Now I help municipalities, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations get unstuck, so good projects get funded, approved, and finished.
WHY I DO THIS
To fix the systems that let people and places be neglected, so that every community has something to be proud of.
Most stalled projects aren’t bad ideas. They’re good ideas caught in a system: a funding program nobody explained, a state agency that never called back, a board too busy putting out fires to plan, a neighborhood that didn’t feel heard. I’ve spent my career on the inside of those systems. I know where they break, and I know how to get things moving again.
HOW I WORK
Policy. Planning. Passion.
Policy: know how the system actually works. I read the rules, the budget, and the room, so your project fits what the state is already trying to fund and approve.
Planning: build a roadmap people can follow. Clear steps, owners, and timelines that turn a good idea into a project that can be funded, approved, and delivered.
Passion: bring people with you. Projects move when residents, boards, and officials believe in them. I build that support and hold it together when friction hits.
SERVICES
Where I can help
Funding Strategy & Positioning: Find the right state funding streams, shape your project around state priorities, and get it in front of the people who decide. I’m not a grant writer. I make sure the grant is worth writing.
Partnerships & Community Consensus: A neutral, experienced hand for public-private partnerships, public feedback, and stakeholder friction, built on decades of mediation and conflict-resolution work.
State Navigation: Your point person with state agencies and elected offices, so local projects don’t get trapped in bureaucratic loops.
Board & Municipal Strategy: Help village, town, and nonprofit boards stop reacting and start leading, with strategic plans, budget processes, and priorities people can actually follow.
Interim & Transition Leadership: Steady, experienced leadership through an executive departure, a restructuring, or a crisis, so the mission doesn’t lose momentum.
Executive-level experience, without the full-time hire
No corporate buzzwords and no cookie-cutter packages. You get experienced, fractional guidance exactly when you need it, for as long as you need it. That might be a single strategy session before a funding round, or a steady partner for a year-long project.
Who I work with: villages, towns, cities, and counties; nonprofits and their boards; economic development and community organizations; and private partners on public projects.
Have a project that’s stuck?
Tell me what you’re trying to get done. We’ll figure out together whether I’m the right person to help. Start a conversation →
I’ve served as Chief of Staff in the New York State Assembly, Executive Director of the American Red Cross of Northern New York and the Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust, and Deputy Mayor of Sackets Harbor. I’ve also testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. You get the benefit of that experience without the overhead of a full-time hire.