Get To Know Our Team – Collective Leadership Institute

Our Team

Our work would not be possible without dedicated people, within our own organisation and beyond.

If you want to travel fast, travel alone, if you want to travel far, travel together.
African proverb

Our team is based on three continents: Europe, Africa, America.

Honorary President

Dr. Petra Kuenkel

Founder and Honorary President

E-mail: petra.kuenkel@collectiveleadership.com

see https://petrakuenkel.com/ for more information

Dr. Petra Kuenkel is a thought-leader, renowned author, and leading strategic advisor for multi-stakeholder approaches in global sustainable transformations. As an executive committee member of the Club of Rome and founder of the Collective Leadership Institute she empowers leaders to take decisive action for our planetary future. Her academically grounded keynote speeches inspire audiences worldwide with ideas for actionable pathways to a better world. Her ground-breaking publications focus on transformation literacy, stakeholder partnerships, collective stewardship and life-serving new economic architectures.

Book Dr. Kuenkel as a Speaker

The new paradigm we must establish is about creating systems that bring out the best in us!
Book Dr. Petra Kuenkel as a passionate Keynote Speaker for your Event and get inspired by her mind changing and empowering speech.
Request available times from Alina Gruen (German Office): alina.gruen[at]collectiveleadership.com.

Learn more Dr. Petra Kuenkel as a Speaker

Managing Partners

Elisabeth Kuehn

Co-Executive Director and Managing Partner

E-mail: elisabeth.kuehn@collectiveleadership.com

Elisabeth Kühn is is a strategic advisor and expert for international sustainability initiatives. With an extensive multi-disciplinary research background on empowerment of marginalized communities that draws i.a. on systems theory, international law and sociology, she has worked globally in promoting systems transformation for sustainability, advising and facilitating in particular multi-stakeholder initiatives for sustainable resource management and urban development. She has published research on diversity and empowerment as part of stewarding sustainability transformations in responsible value chains and integrated water management initiatives, and on promoting social capital for integration.

Elisabeth's Focus Areas:

Martin Fielko

Co-Executive Director and Head of Educational Programmes and Marketing

E-mail: martin.fielko@collectiveleadership.com

Martin is a specialist in marketing, German Chamber of Commerce and Trade certified. Before joining the Collective Leadership Institute in 2016, he worked in the publishing and media industry for 14 years. As an International Business Manager he was in charge of the educational activities of a major book publishing group in Asia, the MENA region, and Turkey.

His focus and passion is education (especially TVET) and digitalization. In these areas he has spoken at conferences in Korea, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey, Brazil, Germany, and the UK. Other focus areas are CSR, financing for sustainable development, and foreign relations. At CLI, Martin is in charge of marketing, course management and development, as well as networking and online strategy development. He is representing CLI in the following networks: Civil Society Forum, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), European GIGS Network, European Civic Academy.

Martin's Focus Areas

The Art of Leading Collectively

- 4 days of training
- core methodology: CLI Collective Leadership Compass
- tuition fee: € 2,000 in-person, € 1,500 online
Registration status: OPEN

24 June — 27 June 2025

Collective Leadership Institute gGmbH, Kurfürstenstraße, Potsdam, Germany

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Dominic Stucker

Managing Partner and Senior Associate

E-mail: dominic.stucker@collectiveleadership.com

Dominic is an action-oriented collaborator who convenes diverse teams to address pressing sustainability challenges.He is a lead faculty member for educational programs on cross-sector co-operation and facilitates stakeholder dialogues. With more than 20 years combined experience as a programs manager, consultant, and researcher, he works with actors across Africa, Asia, and Latin America in guiding systems toward greater, results-oriented collaboration.

Dominic has an adacemic background in environmental security, governance, and education, and has published with Earthscan/Routledge, MIT Press, and the Mountain Research and Development Journal.

Dominic's Focus Areas:

Heidrun Zoller

Managing Partner and Chief Financial Officer

E-mail: heidrun.zoller@collectiveleadership.com

Heidrun Zoller is Chief Financial Officer and Manging Partner of the Collective Leadership Institute, Member of bargaining committee in German roof tile industry and a Member of the examination board of banker apprenticeship.

Ms. Zoller worked in high-level positions in the German banking system as a risk manager and in an international building material group as the CFO of a German subsidiary. She was responsible for different due diligence processes and group integrations of companies after takeover. She also has many years of experience as consultant in process optimisation.

Heidrun's Focus Areas:

The Art of Stakeholder Collaboration

- 4 days of training
- core methodology: CLI Dialogic Change Model
- tuition fee: € 2,000 in-person, € 1,500 online
Registration status: OPEN

11 November — 14 November 2025

Collective Leadership Institute gGmbH, Kurfürstenstraße, Potsdam, Germany

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Team Members

Douglas F. Williamson

Managing Partner CLI USA and Senior Project Manager

E-mail: DouglasF.Williamson@collectiveleadership.com

Douglas Williamson is Senior Project Manager at CLI. He is an education, facilitation, and sustainability communications expert and a high-energy, multi-skilled leader and team player with more than 20 years’ experience in the areas of partner relationship management, strategic planning, project management, natural resources management and international affairs.

Having worked with several international environmental NGOs, the United Nations University and the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change Division, Mr. Williamson has a history of success in conceptualizing, planning, co-organizing and implementing a broad variety of projects and initiatives. He is an engaging and energizing workshop and course facilitator, as well as an award-winning environmental filmmaker. Mr. Williamson has highly developed multi-cultural skills and speaks English, French, German and Spanish. He holds Master degrees in International Affairs and in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, the former from American University’s School of International Service and the latter from the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica.

Douglas' Focus Areas:

Lulekwa Gqiba

Managing Director CLI Office South Africa and Senior Project Manager

E-mail: lulekwa.gqiba@collectiveleadership.com

Lulekwa has more than 15 years of project management experience in government, university research institutes, international foundations, and international non-profit organizations.

At the Collective Leadership Institute, Lulekwa co-facilitates trainings and manages process support for South Africa. She is also responsible for developing the Collective Leadership Institute‘s program Young Leaders for Sustainability in Southern Africa.

Lulekwa's Focus Areas:

Project Teams Stakeholder Collaboration Course

- 4 days of training
- core methodology: CLI Dialogic Change Model
- tuition fee: € 2,000 in-person (group discounts available)
Registration status: OPEN

21 October — 24 October 2025

The Cape Milner, Milner Road, Tamboerskloof, Cape Town, South Africa

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Mai ElAshmawy

CLI Egypt and Project Manager

E-mail: mai.elashmawy@collectiveleadership.com

Ms. Mai ElAshmawy is passionate about contributing positively to change processes on personal, national, and regional levels. She believes that human interactions are the key to building inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous nations worldwide. Based in Cairo, Ms. ElAshmawy worked as a freelance development and communications expert across the Mediterranean Region. She is accredited by the Collective Leadership Institute as a Collective Leadership Facilitator and draws heavily on her strong conceptual and practical knowledge of stakeholder engagement in all her work.

Ms. ElAshmawy is talented in analyzing the policies, structures, and needs of diverse stakeholder systems. In such contexts, she is experienced in collaborating closely with key actors in co-developing communication strategies and work methodologies that lead from the inception of ideas to their implementation. Ms. ElAshmawy is fluent in Arabic and English and holds an MA in Business Administration and a BA in Mass Communications.

Mai's Focus Areas:

Alina Gruen

Senior Project Manager

E-mail: alina.gruen@collectiveleadership.com

Alina Gruen is Senior Project Manager at the Collective Leadership Institute (CLI) with two focus areas. On one hand she works in strategy development (e.g. university collaboration) and on the other hand she works in the field of educational programmes and project management in Eastern Europe / Central Asia.

She holds a B.A. in City and Regional Management and a M.A. in International Business and Intercultural Management with the focus on Sustainable Cooperation Development and Enhancement of Potentials through Dialogue and Collaboration. Her personal interests are related to social and ecological sustainability issues.

Alina's Focus Areas:

Project Teams Stakeholder Collaboration Course

- 4 days of training
- core methodology: CLI Dialogic Change Model
- tuition fee: € 2,000 in-person (group discounts available)
Registration status: OPEN

16 September — 19 September 2025

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

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Theresa Kuschka

Project Manager

E-mail: theresa.kuschka@collectiveleadership.com

Theresa Kuschka joined the Collective Leadership Institute as a Project Manager in April 2020. She has an academic background in Islamic Studies and International Relations. Throughout her studies she focused on feminist theories, migration politics and emotions in International Politics.

She has a strong affinity to the MENA region and has worked on projects in Turkey and Tunisia. On a grass-root level Theresa gained experience with Syrian refugees in the educational sector in Istanbul. In Tunisia, she worked in the field of employment promotion and economic development with Libyan women and women civil society organisations. She also has a strong expertise in communications especially in cultural sensitive contexts. Her personal interest lies in gender equity and civil society engagement.

Theresa's focus areas

Katharina Maier

Project Manager

E-mail: katharina.maier@collectiveleadership.com

Katharina Maier is responsible for project implementation and development in the MENA region as well as the facilitation of French speaking courses. She lived and worked in Morocco for several years, where she implemented multi-stakeholder development projects in the field of renewable energies and energy efficiency. Katharina holds an M.Sc. in Integrated Natural Resource Management. Her academic and personal interests center around questions of environmental change and human development.

Katharina's focus areas

The Art of Stakeholder Collaboration

- 4 days of training
- core methodology: CLI Dialogic Change Model
- tuition fee: € 2,000 in-person, € 1,500 online
Registration status: OPEN

11 November — 14 November 2025

Collective Leadership Institute gGmbH, Kurfürstenstraße, Potsdam, Germany

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Guillem Vallbona

Project Manager

E-mail: guillem.vallbona@collectiveleadership.com

Guillem Vallbona joined the Collective Leadership Institute as a Project Manager in April 2023. He has worked at different levels (e.g., HQ,
regional, local) and geographical locations (e.g., South Caucasus, Central America, European borders) for both INGOs and the UN in the field of
emergency response. Guillem is fluent in Catalan, Spanish, English and German.
He has a multidisciplinary academic background, including a Master of Arts in peace and conflict studies. System thinking and locally-led processes for sustainable socioecological transformation are at the centre of his personal interests.

Guillem's focus areas

Cholpon Aitakhunova

Project Manager

E-mail: Cholpon.aitakhunova@collectiveleadership.com

Cholpon Aitakunova firmly believes that dialogue and collaboration are the only way to achieve sustainability transformations. She is passionate about the fact that each of us can enliven our collective leadership skills. With a focus on Asia, she has a thematic interest in cooperation in complex water and climate adaptation contexts and has been involved in the Dushanbe Water Process, Stockholm World Water Week, and the recent UN Water Conference. Cholpon is a member of the Global Women in Water Diplomacy Network, and an active supporter of its branch in Central Asia. Before coming to CLI, Cholpon gathered well-rounded field experience with diverse multi-stakeholder collaborations in Central Asia including through the Green Alliance Kyrgyzstan, an international twinning project with Destatis, and a regional network of young water professionals. She holds a Master’s degree in Politics and Security from the OSCE Academy in Bishkek.

Cholpons's focus areas

Katrin Schulz

Digital Manager

E-mail: katrin.schulz@collectiveleadership.com

Katrin Schulz supports the team in terms of design, technology and digital strategy.
During her design studies, her focus was on social and transformational design, which deal with social and environmental responsibility and how to bring the people affected by the problem into the design process as a key player. She has worked in a variety of fields (social media, app, and product design) and volunteered with side projects like ENACTUS Germany and BAGUP.

She says that at CLI she finally has the opportunity to use her skills for something that really moves people and brings about transformative change instead of just talking about it (as it often happens in the commercial sector).

Katrin's focus areas

Chiara Hörner

Project Assistance and Intern

Chiara is an Intern and Project Assistance at the CLI. She holds a BA in International Business Communication with a focus in Gender & Diversity. She has work experience in communication, organization, and volunteering. During that time, she worked together with people from different cultures and backgrounds which enhanced her communication qualities and enlarged her intercultural competencies.

Chiara’s personal interests are related to gender equity and human development.

Associates / CLFs

Collective Leadership Facilitators (CLFs) are accredited to support CLI. CLFs are not CLI staff members and work as independent freelancers.

Those Facilitators who work very close with CLI are mentioned under Associates, whereas Facilitators of the wider CLI network are mentioned under Network.

Jacob Fink Ferdinand

Jacob is an environmental management, water, sanitation, and circular economy expert with 23 years of experience in program formulation, management, and review. He has significant experience in public-private partnerships, development, and management with local governments, ministries, agencies, businesses, BMOs, NGOs, and research institutions. Prior to his five years of multi-stakeholder collaboration work in Kenya, Jacob worked in Denmark, Nepal, Pakistan, and Thailand. Today he is a private consultant and owner of Third Stone Labs and based in Denmark. Jacob holds a Master in Environmental Engineering degree from the Technical University of Denmark and a Diploma in Business Administration – Innovation Management from Copenhagen Business School.

Kristiane Schaefer

Kristiane has a focus on leadership and dialogue for sustainability in cross-sector settings. She has more than 20 years of international work experience in the private sector and international organizations.

Her professional expertise is on strategy and business development, process facilitation, project management, networking and integrated capacity development in complex change processes. In the past five years Kristiane developed the francophone regions for the Collective Leadership Institute.

Mahdi Ayadi

Mahdi Ayadi is a founding member of the We Love Kairouan (WLK) association and a Project Manager in the “Young Leader Network in Central Tunisia” Project which is a cooperation between WLK and the Collective Leadership Institute funded by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen). Mahdi graduated from the Higher Institute of Computer Management in 2012 with a Bachelor Degree in Computer Networking. This IT background didn’t stop him from discovering the world of civil society. Since 2012, he has been engaged in civil society as a volunteer, taking part in numerous trainings on different subjects, amongst them the Collective Leadership Specialist certification programme and Facilitator accreditation.

Maryana Zaviyska

E-mail: maryana.zaviyska@collectiveleadership.com

Maryana is an independent facilitator, consultant, and CLI’s associate in Ukraine. In Ukraine Maryana works for more than 10 years as a facilitator of social processes with organisations working in social change and her expertise is in the fields of organisational development, leadership coaching, evaluations and assessments, stakeholder dialogues and collaborations, mentorships for individuals and organisations, and action research processes. Maryana had success in increasing participation and engagement of various stakeholders to support organizations and communities in successfully navigating change and transition.

Maryana is experienced in mobilizing learning in large groups using modern participatory facilitation techniques in particular Technology of Participation, Technology of Open Space, World Café, Future Search, Appreciative Inquiry.

Moussa Gueye

Moussa is a coach and expert in organizational development and strategic planning. He has been working as a national expert for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in the Senegalese urban development programme. Since 1996, he has been an independent consultant working in Senegal and in other West African countries. Moussa is an experienced facilitator working with public, private, and civil society organizations on various topics. Moreover, he accompanies decentralization processes in West Africa.

Nomvula Dlamini

Nomvula Dlamini is currently the director of the Community Development Resource Association, a civil society organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa. She studied at the universities of Fort Hare and Western and holds a Master Degree in Adult Learning and Global Change, an intercontinental programme that was jointly delivered by the University of the Western Cape (South Africa), Linkoping University (Sweden), University of British Columbia in Canada, and Sydney Technologies University (Australia). She has published various articles on organisational development, monitoring and evaluation, leadership, community development, and has contributed as an author to the production of Barefoot Guide 2 Learning Practices in Organisations and Social Change, and Barefoot Guide 4 Exploring the Real Work of Social Change.

She works as a facilitator of social processes with organisations working in social change and her expertise is in the fields of organisational development, facilitating change/ transformation processes, leadership coaching, evaluations/reviews, stakeholder dialogues/collaborations, mentorship (individuals/organisations), and action research processes. She has presented papers at various national and international conferences and holds membership to the Barefoot Guide Connection and the International Organisation Development Association (IODA). She serves as a trustee for Keystone Accountability Southern Africa and Inyathelo (South African Institute of Advancement).

Oumaima Selmi

Oumaima Selmi is a Project Manager at We Love Kairouan (WLK), an association based in Kairouan, Tunisia. Being a youth activist since 2016, Oumaima has volunteered and worked with several organizations and associations across Tunisia and has gained work experience in project coordination, communications, and volunteer management. Omaima joined WLK in 2018 for the “Bab el Medina Dialogue Platform“ Project, through which she became a certified Collective Leadership Specialist and accredited Facilitator.

Soumaya Khalfaoui

Soumaya Khalfaoui is a Project Manager of the association We Love Kairouan (WLK) in Tunisia. She has been active in several projects and activities that relate to sustainable development since 2013 and has been working as a coordinator, grant assistant, and project manager since 2015. At that time, she also started her personal learning journey with the Collective Leadership Institute, which led to her accreditation as a Collective Leadership Facilitator. Specialized in participatory approaches, she has the skills to integrate and collaborate with stakeholders from different sectors and generations.

Stephanie Langsch

Stephanie Langsch worked for the Collective Leadership Institute as a facilitator and project manager from 2018 to 2022. She has a Master degree in Sustainable Business Management, focusing on Sustainable Change Management and Modern Organisational Models for Sustainability in Business. Before CLI, she worked on social and environmental projects that brought her to Canada, Uganda and Brazil.

Stephanie facilitates trainings and manages international collaboration projects around various SDG topics, ranging from a focus on local youth empowerment to technical and vocational education as well as sustainable employment and environmental issues.

Takwa Mallat

Takwa Mallat has been an active member of We Love Kairouan (WLK) since 2016, starting not as a participant but as a photographer in the first workshop with the Collective Leadership Institute (CLI). She soon became a participant in all CLI trainings and earned her certification as a Collective Leadership Specialist. As such, she became one of the WLK team members in the “Bab el Medina Dialogue Platform“ Project in 2019 and then a Project Manager in the “Young Leaders Network in Central Tunisia“ Project. Her experience with the collective leadership and the dialogic approaches has been an exciting challenge, helping her to discover her strengths and how to use them to drive collective change. Takwa holds an engineering degree in digital technologies of sound and image and a master’s degree in visual arts and communication. She is passionate about photography, planting, and old architecture.

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Andrew Aitken

Andrew is a skilled facilitator and Associate of the Collective Leadership Institute. Previously, he was responsible for in-house and tailor-made courses. Andrew was also responsible for developing and facilitating the Young Leaders for Sustainability programme. Furthermore, he has consulted on international cooperation projects and contributed to the development of the online platform StakeholderDialogues.net.

Ayalew Zegeye Asfaw

Ayalew is a professional consultant and trainer with services that span for over two decades. He is General Manager of AMDAMU PLC, a consultancy company he set up in 1998. Ayalew specializes in leadership and strategy development, team building, and process facilitation. He worked for the Ethiopian Government and the Ethiopian financial sector, different UN agencies, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), among others, and used to be an instructor at Addis Adaba University.

Carolin Goethel

Carolin Goethel supports CLI’s efforts in French-speaking regions. Carolin worked in social enterprises with a focus on sustainable food systems and migration issues. She also developed a decentralized network of local food communities across the United Kingdom and trained stakeholders in digital literacy and community building. She holds a B.A. in European Studies with French from Royal Holloway University of London and a M.A. in Postcolonial Culture and Global Policy from Goldsmiths College.

Jade Buddenberg

Jade Buddenberg is Associate of the Collective Leadership Institute (CLI) who co-led the “Young Leaders for Sustainability” programme. She is an accredited member of faculty and provides process support to clients in stakeholder engagement and multi-stakeholder initiatives. At CLI, she headed the Funded Projects portfolio, partnered to leverage the impact in international projects, for example in the EU-funded ENTIRE project that empowers regional CSO networks in water management of the MENA region. She has gathered experience in the private, public, and civil society sectors in the U.A.E, U.K., Japan, and Germany. Her background is in environmental governance and international relations with extensive interdisciplinary training in natural resource management, organizational learning, inter-cultural communication, and leadership for sustainability. She holds a Master in Environmental Governance from the University of Freiburg, Germany and a Bachelor in International Relations and World History from the London School of Economics, UK.

Johannes Klassen

Johannes Klassen has an academic background in political science and international relations and has worked on projects in the field of good governance with a particular focus on the Sustainable Development Goals. As a lecturer, he has led graduate and undergraduate courses in political science and gained research experience at university and various research institutions. After completing his PhD in international relations focusing on the governance of monitoring and evaluation in international development, he is currently doing research and giving lectures on international educational matters.

Pavan Bakshi

Pavan Bakshi is the CEO and Chief Executive Coach of Prime Meridian Consulting India Pvt Ltd whose mission is to “Build Leaders Everywhere”. He is a faculty member of the Collective Leadership Institute’s “The Art of Leading Collectively” and “The Art of Stakeholder Collaboration”, certified faculty member of LeaderShape Global, Robin Sharma’s Master Facilitator on “Lead Without A Title System”, and a certified coach on Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centred Coaching, the Neuroleadership Group and John Maxwell Team. He has facilitated leadership development workshops in Singapore, Toronto, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Florida, Berlin, and Colombo and he has held workshops for leaders, amongst others, from JP Morgan, Capgemini, IBM, Tata Communications, JCB, FIS, and Pearson.

Silvine Gerlach

Silvine is an expert in organizational development and systemic strategy planning. She focuses on potential analysis, match-making, and process facilitation for strategic partnerships and stakeholder dialogues, especially with the private sector. Silvine worked with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) studying the implementation of partnerships for sustainable development of the Ethiopian coffee industry.

Vera Frieg

Vera has consulted for international stakeholder partnerships for many years. She worked for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the German Development Service (DED) in the Philippines in the field of CSR, sustainable employment promotion, and community relations of economic zones. Vera holds a certificate as peace and conflict consultant from the Academy for Conflict Transformation in Bonn, Germany and is a certified communications trainer and systemic business coach.

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