Meet the Team

Co-Founder/Lead Strategist

Mireille Kious

Mireille Kious is a multilingual, visionary executive with over 20 years of global experience in strategic visioning, organizational development, fundraising, marketing, and project management. Originally from Stockholm, Sweden, Mireille's international journey has taken her through Venezuela, Spain, and Australia before ultimately settling in Cleveland—her husband's hometown—after the two met aboard a boat in Thailand.

Her professional career began in Europe, where she worked with Siemens before earning a Master’s degree in Business Marketing from the University of Sydney. Since relocating to Cleveland, Mireille has dedicated her expertise to the nonprofit sector, advancing missions in human rights, cancer care, addiction recovery, education (both public and private), and the Cleveland International Film Festival.

Mireille is recognized for her ability to unite diverse stakeholders and maximize resources to drive mission-aligned value. Her inclusive leadership style fosters collaboration, inspires growth, and encourages meaningful contribution. She brings a proven track record of success in multicultural environments, where she has established operational processes, guided strategic initiatives, and engaged with global leadership teams—consistently delivering measurable impact.

She currently resides in Shaker Heights with her husband and their two children.

Executive Coach/Lead Strategist

Alison Brunsdon

Alison has spent over 25 years working in corporate organizations on both side of the Atlantic in HR and talent roles. With an expertise on working with leaders she coaches individuals, teams, and groups for success both individually and organizationally. She has facilitated the formation of leadership teams and partnered with leaders and their teams to ensure accountability for achieving their goals. She has worked with global corporations, owner-led entrepreneurial companies, and non-profit organizations. Alison leads her own global executive coaching company, Hartington Consulting as well as working as the Director of Coaching and Assessment Services for ERC. She is on the Board for The Gathering Place and works as a pro bono executive coach for BVU. She sees coaching as the key for transformational change for individuals, teams and organizations

Activities & Affiliations

Board of Trustees, The Gathering Place

Executive Coach/Leadership Coach

Amanda Jonnala

Amanda Jonnala is a life coach, executive coach, leadership coach, and career coach.  She works one-on-one with clients to help with transformations. Her passion is using the power of coaching to remove blockers and optimize the client’s lives and careers. Amanda approaches her coaching and training work through a holistic lens, looking at the whole person and/or organization to find optimization and harmony.

Amanda is a certified coach and implements techniques she has mastered throughout her career as a professional recruiter and leader, as well as in her personal life as an elite athlete. She brings radical honesty and softness to her approach. 

Stragey and Ledership Consultant

Daniel Cohn

Daniel Cohn is Founder and Principal Consultant at Vitric Advisors. He also serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, with the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation. In 2019, Dan launched the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition, a regional public-private partnership aimed at ending childhood lead exposure. Dan also co-created and co-directed the Greater Cleveland COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund, a $20 million collective impact initiative that pooled public and private resources to address the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2022, Dan served as interim executive director of First Year Cleveland—Northeast Ohio's public-private partnership aimed at reducing infant mortality—during its strategic transition toward a focus on upstream and community-based strategies that improve the lives of Black women and families. Before joining Mt. Sinai in 2015, Dan served as Assistant Director of Cornell University's Center for Engaged Learning + Research, evaluating and managing programs that engaged faculty in translating their academic interests toward meeting community needs. He was a Fellow with the Congressional Hunger Center in the early 2010s, during which time he helped launch a national “food as medicine” advocacy initiative. He was later stationed at the USDA Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships working on First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let's Move! campaign and on economic development outreach in the rural South. Dan’s academic background is in public health, ethics, and urban affairs, and he is exploring further studies in human-technology interaction. 

Strategy and Development Consultant

Leigh Janczak

Leigh is a highly accomplished fundraising professional with nearly 25 years of dedicated experience in advancing philanthropic initiatives across various sectors of the nonprofit community including, in part, higher education and healthcare.  Leigh’s tenure includes positions at renowned healthcare institutions such as Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she spearheaded fundraising efforts and demonstrated exceptional leadership in building and guiding high-performing teams.

Throughout her career, Leigh has honed her skills in relationship-building, donor engagement, and strategic planning, earning her a reputation as a results-driven professional.  Her ability to navigate the complex landscape of fundraising, coupled with a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced in various segments of the market, sets her apart as a sought-after expert in her field.   Her commitment to excellence, coupled with her profound understanding of the intersection of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations, positions her as a valuable asset to any organization seeking to elevate its fundraising endeavors.

Strategy and Leadership Consultant

Kauser Razvi

With over 26 years of experience bridging urban planning, nonprofit leadership, and technology innovation, Kauser Razvi brings a unique perspective to the civic sector that transcends traditional career paths in technology. Kauser is a strategist with a talent for driving organizational and community change through innovative strategy, design, and planning. Her work centers around leveraging data and human-centered design to enhance performance and program outcomes for nonprofits, government entities, and school districts. She has worked in major US cities, counties, and school districts redesigning systems, implementing performance management tools, and changing culture through leadership development.

Currently serving as Senior Director of Performance & Innovation at College Now, Kauser leads strategic initiatives to optimize program effectiveness through data-driven approaches and process improvement. Her professional journey includes founding Strategic Urban Solutions, serving as Director of Data for Impact at DigitalC, and holding leadership positions with the O'Neill Foundation, UPD Consulting, and as Assistant Chief Information Officer for the City of Chicago.

Her expertise spans human-centered design, performance management, strategic planning, and community engagement. She has led numerous initiatives bridging technological capabilities with community needs, including the Data Maturity Project with Microsoft and the DigitalC Community Based Data Portal. She also developed the housing.health platform that helped Cleveland residents check for lead and building violations in housing stock along with a variety of internal systems for cities to use for better community planning and development. She is particularly passionate about creating inclusive technology solutions that recognize and address systemic barriers within and between governments and nonprofits that, if removed, would lead to increased engagement, deeper insight, and improved public outcomes.

In addition to her professional endeavors, Kauser founded www.LiteraryLots.org, an initiative that transforms vacant spaces into vibrant storytelling experiences, encouraging community collaboration around literacy. An alumna of the German Marshall Fund and a recipient of the German Marshall Memorial Fellowship, she actively engages in projects that promote belonging, such as a storytelling workshop for Muslims and minority groups developed during the pandemic in partnership with the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. She currently serves on the board of Literary Cleveland and supports a variety of Get out the Vote and election efforts in Ohio.

Kauser’s work is driven by her commitment to fostering collaboration and connection, aiming to implement meaningful social changes in neighborhoods and organizations through deep engagement and technology. She believes that a thriving civic democracy relies on informed, effective, and transparent government and non-profit organizations dedicated to social benefit.

She holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan and dual Bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Journalism from Boston University. Her professional certifications include Project Management Institute Project Management certification, TetraMap facilitation, and Appreciative Inquiry.

HR Compliance/Talent Acquisition

Franz stevens

Talent Acquisition Leader with experience in defining and delivering complex DEI recruiting strategies and building and implementing candidate-focused recruiting models that identify, attract, and engage diverse candidates. Experience building, mentoring, and coaching high performing cross-functional recruiting and sourcing teams. Effective communicator who builds partnerships across business groups earns trust and delivers results.

Financial Compliance Consultant

Sybille Schomerus

Sybille is a former lawyer with a master’s degree from the University of Freiburg, Germany, where she studied law and worked as an attorney in labor and family law until 2008 when she and her family moved to Cleveland. She started working for Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit organization, in 2010 and has been their Administrative Director since 2020. Having worked in the nonprofit sector for over ten years, Sybille has gained extensive experience in administrative and financial nonprofit management. She is also head of the International Women’s Group of Cleveland, a vast network of international women from all over the world who have relocated to the Cleveland area and has served on several nonprofit boards and was a member of the former Human Relations Task Force for the city of Shaker Heights.

Financial Compliance Consultant

Jim Wojtila

Jim Wojtila is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mar-Bal, Inc., the leading integrated compounder and molder of BMC Thermoset composite products. He is a key member of the Executive Leadership Team; confidant and key advisor to the company’s shareholders while leading the Finance and IT Departments for the company. He is also responsible for treasury, debt, asset and risk management, and the economic strategy for the company. Jim’s financial acumen continues to ready Mar-Bal for future growth and expansion. Before joining Mar-Bal in 2011, Mr. Wojtila held similar roles with several other manufacturing

companies and he began his career in public accounting with Ciuni and Panichi, Inc. He is a graduate of John Carroll University with a major in Accounting and is a non-practicing C.P.A. He was selected twice as a Finalist for CFO of the Year by Crain’s Magazine (2008 and 2013) which honors Northeast Ohio’s top fiscal officers for outstanding financial leadership, asset management, and strategic vision. Mr. Wojtila is the proud father of three adult children and soon to be a grandfather. He has been an active supporter with his children in roles of coach, scout leader, booster club officer, and volunteer. He has been an active leader in Music Ministry and Men’s Fellowship in his church.

Communications Associate

Astrid Hansson

Astrid Hansson is a recent graduate with a Master’s degree in Marketing and Consumption from the University of Gothenburg. Having worked for a variety of different companies and organizations she continues to work on expanding her versatility in order to be an asset in any field she may encounter. Currently she predominantly focuses on digital outreach through the usage of different mediums such as newsletters, email templates and web design.

Bauer Griffith for Non-proft legal counsel

Elise Hara Auvil

Elise Hara Auvil was born in New York, raised bilingual by French parents, and lived in France as a child. She is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University Law School and began her legal career as an Assistant Public Defender in Philadelphia.  Cleveland has been her home since 1994.  She served as General Counsel to Eliza Jennings, (a continuing care retirement community), specializes in human resources and employment law, having also worked as Associate Counsel for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA), Director of Human Resources and Employment Counsel for Cuyahoga County (2011), Human Resource Manager for the City of Westlake (2019), and Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Cleveland (2023).  She enjoys helping political subdivisions and non-profits navigate employment issues efficiently.

Goodwin for Non-profit Probono Legal

Mary McQuinn

Mary McQuinn is a partner in Goodwin’s Business Law department and a member of the firm’s Hospitality & Leisure, Joint Venture, and Real Estate Finance practices. With a focus on complex commercial real estate transactions, Mary advises institutional investors, real estate funds, private REITs, and hotel operators across a wide range of matters—including hospitality deals, joint venture formations, financings, developments, acquisitions, and dispositions.

Mary is known for her practical, business-minded approach and her ability to navigate sophisticated deal structures with clarity and precision. Her experience spans all stages of a project’s lifecycle, and clients value her deep industry knowledge, strategic insight, and collaborative style. While she has significant experience in the hospitality sector, Mary also maintains a strong and active practice across other asset classes within the joint venture and real estate finance space, allowing her to deliver tailored guidance across a variety of transaction types.

Since joining Goodwin in 2010, Mary has played a key role in helping clients structure and close high-value transactions that align with their broader business objectives.