Traci Fenton
Founder + CEO
traci[at]worldblu[dot]com
Traci Fenton is the Founder + CEO of WorldBlu, which champions the growth of democratic organizations worldwide. She is also the Producer and Host of WorldBlu’s new show, Democracy at Work, which will premier in the fall of 2010. As a leading expert in organizational democracy, she is recognized as one of the business thought-leaders of her generation as well as of the next generation of business.
Traci has spent over a decade pioneering methods and tools for designing and building democratic companies, including the WorldBlu Democratic Design System™. Traci’s unique vision has created events like WorldBlu LIVE, a first-of-its kind conference on organizational democracy attended by hundreds of business thought-leaders from around the world. Traci also pioneered the groundbreaking WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces™, an annual listing of the most democratic organizations in the world.
Drawing from over a decade of original research and hundreds of conversations with business executives and leading practitioners about how freedom, rather than fear and control, can be practiced within a business environment, Traci is currently working on a book highlighting innovative case studies in organizational democracy. She has been published in the Christian Science Monitor newspaper and has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The New York Times, Fortune Small Business, the BBC as well as dozens of other magazines, online journals, radio shows and blogs.
Traci frequently addresses audiences on organizational democracy and freedom-centered leadership and has shared her message with individuals from over 100 countries and with organizations and events such as Yahoo!, Fox Interactive Media, the CIA, South by Southwest and Harvard University.
Previously in her career she worked in public relations and advertising for a Fortune 500 company, was a social venture capitalist for the NASDAQ Stock Market’s multi-million dollar educational foundation, and was a social entrepreneurial consultant for a national non-profit organization.
Traci has traveled throughout Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, North America, and Europe. She earned a BA in global studies and entrepreneurship from Principia College and a master’s degree in international development from American University’s School of International Service in Washington, DC. In her free time, Traci loves traveling, learning how to play the cello, running, yoga, spending time outdoors, and writing poetry.
Miranda Ash
Global Director, The WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces Award
miranda[at]worldblu[dot]com
Miranda Ash is the Director of WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces Award, a groundbreaking global award that recognizes visionary organizations successfully practicing organizational democracy. The WorldBlu List award is located in the non-profit division of WorldBlu, Inc.
Miranda is an energetic person with a passion for making the world a better place through education and the application of creative principles with a proven flair for strategic planning and creative thinking. Over a number of years, and several key appointments, Miranda has built up a strong background of experience in collaborating with major corporations, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and not for profits and community enterprises on both sides of the Atlantic in roles such as a Marcomms consultant, fundraising manager, and community arts director. She brings to every task a talent for communication with key executives at all levels of an organization to ensure success. Prior to joining WorldBlu, Miranda worked as a grants writer for a national charity in the UK.
Miranda graduated from Principia College with a BA in Sociology and Anthropology and has undertaken graduate studies in marketing through the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Creative Arts Therapies at Roehampton University, London.
In her free time, Miranda volunteers as an advisor and grants writer for several local charities and also facilitates a client-led arts organization reaching out to adults with mental health, substance abuse and homelessness challenges. She also enjoys spending time traveling, gardening, writing, entertaining, playing the oboe, and photography. Miranda currently resides in London.
Daniel DeLoach
Director + Editor, Democracy at Work
Daniel is the director of WorldBlu’s new show, Democracy at Work, which will premier in the fall of 2010. He has spent his professional life dedicated to the moving image with an acute sense of the power it wields and the responsibility that comes with it. With that outlook, he has been awarded The National PBS Communication Award, three Grand Prize Awards at three different Film Festivals and a nomination for a Student Academy Award. Daniel was also invited to screen two of his films at The Director’s Guild of America in Hollywood. In 2002 he was awarded The Independent Film Channel’s National “Pure Film” Grand Prize for “UNTIMELY” which had its broadcast premiere on IFC. Daniel has directed for clients such as Pepsi, Arby’s and an entire season of The Kitchen Diva for PBS. He is based in Austin, Texas.
Jenna Goffman
Social Media Intern
jenna[at]worldblu[dot]com
Jenna Goffman is currently a junior at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, majoring in journalism through the Ernie Pyle School of Journalism. She is also working on a minor in marketing through the Kelley School of Business. Jenna is interested in pursuing a career in advertising, public relations or marketing, and as the social media intern for WorldBlu she is able to utilize her skills as well as gain knowledge in those specific fields. Jenna manages all of the social media outlets including WorldBlu’s Facebook and Twitter accounts through which WorldBlu communicates, and she writes two blogs each week for the NowBlu section of the WorldBlu website. Additional websites, such as shareable.net, have recognized and begun republishing Jenna’s WorldBlu work as well.
Lisa Kensler, Ed.D
Consultant and Director, Democratic Schools Program
lisa[at]worldblu[dot]com
Lisa is an assistant professor in educational leadership at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama where she teaches graduate education courses related to organizational democracy and organizational theory, leadership theory, learning organizations, evaluation, and systems thinking. She is the lead educational advisor on the WorldBlu team, working to inspire and cultivate democratically-designed schools worldwide.
Lisa’s cutting-edge dissertation research, completed at Lehigh University entitled, The Ecology of Democratic Learning Communities, found that in more democratic middle schools, as measured with the WorldBlu School Survey instrument, teachers reported higher levels of continuous and team learning. The higher levels of teacher trust in their principal and their colleagues explained much of why teachers reported higher levels of their own and team learning in the more democratic schools. Her research on democratic school communities continues with findings of higher levels of student achievement in more democratic middle schools.
Lisa holds a BA from George Mason University, and an MA from Old Dominion University, both in biology with a systems ecology focus. She frequently draws on these two degrees as she explores the shifting understanding of organizations as mechanical systems to organic democratic systems.
John Tiffany
Global Director of Partnerships + Marketing
john[at]worldblu[dot]com
John Tiffany is a New York-based marketing veteran with more than 17 years of experience in marketing, public relations and sponsorship projects around the world. His business and marketing expertise is unparalleled with executive roles at iconic events such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, CFDA Awards, New York Fashion Week as well as numerous runway shows in New York, Milan, London, Toronto and Paris. He has worked for an extensive roster of clients and brands and is dedicated to re-inventing businesses by creating more contemporary, competitive and democratic marketing platforms. John held the dual posts of Director of Fashion Shows/Events and Director of Operations at LaForce & Stevens in New York. A graduate of Pepperdine University, John also managed clients and press relations under the direction of the legendary Eleanor Lambert at Eleanor Lambert Limited in New York.
The WorldBlu Network of Designers
WorldBlu has a global network of individuals we also work with throughout the US and Europe.
