Debbie Joseph Consulting, Inc

About Debbie Joseph

I founded my firm to provide consulting, training, coaching and project management to professionals, synagogues, non-profits, cohorts of learning communities and national non-profit organizations. I am an expert in helping leaders and organizations get things done in the right way, at the right time with the right people. As an elite athlete and competitive diving coach, I approach my practice with an energetic drive and a winning mentality.

I love helping organizations with strategic planning and change management. I believe I have a unique approach. My role as a consultant is to guide and facilitate a process that is all YOURS, and that will yield a plan that is extremely specific to YOU and YOUR ORGANIZATION. To that end, I will dive right in to collaborate closely with you and your team to learn about your mission and core values, programs and services, professional and lay leadership dynamics, and the organizational culture within which you are interacting. You will find that I am straight-forward and practical, generative and adaptive. I believe that an expertly facilitated process is a positive and healthy community building experience in and of itself. You and your team will emerge not only with a smart plan that does not get dusty on the shelf, but also with a sense of ownership and pride, a renewed energy and passion, alignment around future direction, and a framework to make critical decisions to going forward.

My career has been characterized by a tremendous variety of professional experiences in different communities and with different organizations: with non-profits and for-profits; with Jewish and secular organizations; with camps, educational institutions, and synagogues; with clergy, professionals, and volunteers; with youth, teens, adults, and elders. I have developed a unique blend of skills and interests that has enabled me to coach, consult, train, and lead my clients to become better at what they do. I listen, I learn, I connect, and I draw upon my experiences to deliver.

What I love most about consulting, is meeting so many different people, passionate about so many different things, and working so diligently to make a difference in the world. I get to learn from you and share with you, and that makes me better at what I do. Thank you.

About Michael Joseph

In addition to being Debbie’s husband of 30+ years, I am a Reform Jewish rabbi with deep experience in congregational and Jewish communal life. Since my ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1989, I have served congregations as small as 100 families and as large as 1000 families, as old as 150+ years and as young as 20 years—along with the Jewish Federations and related organizations in the cities where I have lived. Throughout my career, I have engaged in refining and updating the processes of Jewish organizational life, and in some cases even inventing them—I am the first ever full-time rabbi of the congregation I have currently been serving for over 13 years.

I am a 1980 graduate of Yale University with a degree in Near Eastern Languages and Literature. I am an award-winning amateur photographer with significant graphic design skills, and a recently reformed motorcyclist. Debbie and I are proud parents of two adult children, Edie and Ben, both of whom live and work in New York City.

About Julie Frieder

I am a strategist, a problem solver and research professional with 25 years of experience working with public, private and nonprofit organizations. My passion and expertise is in building relationships and creating opportunities to drive positive social change.

Most recently, I was a partner in a startup that works with documentary film teams to unlock and expand the educational value of great documentary films. I did this by creating adjunct resources such as discussion guides and classroom lessons. Prior to engaging with the arts and education communities, I spent 12 years as a Senior Sustainability Analyst with Calvert Investments, working to leverage capital markets to drive environmental, social and governance improvements in large publicly traded corporations. In the 1990s, following the Rio Earth Summit, I spent eight years in Washington DC with the United States Environmental Protection Agency headquarters working with an inhouse think tank on making federal environmental regulation more efficient, effective and fair.

My early experiences founding a new kibbutz in northern Israel sharpened my understanding of and appreciation for good process and community engagement. My four years as young kibbutznik in the Galilee working toward participatory democracy, gender equality, religious tolerance and peace informed my later professional years in policy, business development and education.

I hold a double Masters Degree in Environmental Science and Public Administration from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. I live in Boulder, Colorado and enjoy trail running, biking and skiing in the Rocky Mountains with my family and funny dog, Moose.

About Sara Hassin

I am a public relations and communications specialist with working experience in both the non-profit and public relations fields. A graduate of the University of Florida, I spent a year teaching English in Israel and have most recently worked in the Adult Education Department at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City, and as an account coordinator at a boutique PR firm in Honolulu. I am excited to provide research and background support to the many exciting clients of Debbie Joseph Consulting.