Yonatan Gordis — Managing Director and Senior Consultant
I have spent the bulk of my life watching the interplay between individuals and teams, fascinated by how creative facilitation can profoundly impact organizations. As the founding Executive Director of the Center for Leadership Initiatives, I have had the privilege of sharing our unique facilitative approaches with thousands of change agents across the globe. I continue to be amazed as organizations take extraordinary steps – devising new strategies and evolving new cultures – in order to align their visions with the impact they are creating in the world.
Prior to the launch of CLI in 2006, I was the principal at a consulting firm that worked with non-profit and philanthropic clients internationally. In its first incarnation as Yesod Resource Management, Israel’s first philanthropic consultation firm, I worked with dozens of North American and Israeli foundations. In that capacity, I served as a social researcher and facilitator of strategic processes for communities around the world. Moving to Canada in 2001, I expanded my practice to include an array of local, national and international organizations, with a focus on environmental organizations in British Columbia, including the Sierra Club of BC, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Hollyhock Leadership Institute and others.
Among the environments that shaped my worldview and skill set were my youth spent in the world of the Grateful Dead, years as an officer in the Israeli Air Force, and irreplaceable periods in the circles of gurus, rabbis and other mystical leaders. Before consulting, I was a founding member of the Elul Beit Midrash in Jerusalem, a published translator, a midwife’s assistant and a teacher in numerous educational institutions throughout Israel. I was born in the United States, lived in Israel for nearly twenty years, and currently live in Vancouver, British Columbia with my wife and two daughters. I am a graduate of Columbia University and received private rabbinic ordination in Israel.
Contact: yoni [at] leadingup.org