Sarah Spengler - MOD 6
My MOD experience was way back in the mid-80s but is still fresh in my mind as a mind-exploding time. I was launched on a path of continuous learning about myself, the people around me and about OD and I am still on that path. I remain in touch with some of my cohort because those relationships were forged in the fire of exploration. I'm deeply grateful for how MOD changed my life and my point of view. I still seek out and explore new OD thinking and work on applying or at least playing with everything I learn. I use what I learned in MOD every day at work and in my personal life. Being a part of the Alumni Community Steering Group is one of the ways I give back for the many gifts the MOD experience gave me. THANKS for an amazing ride!!!!
Vania Bueno, MPOD 2009
Vania is a multidisciplinary professional; expert in communications with a focus on human and organizational development. and board member. Founder and CEO of Anima Productive Interaction, she has over 40 years' experience in integrated corporate communications. In the last ten years she has dedicated herself to leadership training, team engagement, professional education, and corporate governance. Curious and committed to continuous learning, she follows market trends closely and keeps her relationship network active, both in Brazil and abroad.
MOD/MPOD Alumni Steering Committee member since 2018
Vania is a multidisciplinary professional; expert in communications with a focus on human and organizational development. and board member. Founder and CEO of Anima Productive Interaction, she has over 40 years' experience in integrated corporate communications. In the last ten years she has dedicated herself to leadership training, team engagement, professional education, and corporate governance. Curious and committed to continuous learning, she follows market trends closely and keeps her relationship network active, both in Brazil and abroad. From a systemic perspective, she is engaged with the global sustainable appreciative development movement. She is also a Professor at several post‐graduate programs in prominent Brazilian colleges and institutions. She has presented at TEDx and been a guest speaker and process facilitator at events and companies such as Bayer, Bunge, Swiss Re, Norsk Hydro, Rabobank, GSK, Arcelor Mittal, Sabesp, Cosan, Mercur, Banco do Brazil, to mention a few.
Vania on her MPOD Experience
“MPOD has a huge influence on what I have become, personally and a professionally. During and after the master's, I expanded my understanding of complexity, human behavior, leadership and sustainable management. I became more appreciative, open and confident. MPOD changed my life forever and for the better.
My work is always and more focused on the role of communication, as behavior, in the processes of cultural change and engagement for innovation. I really enjoy teaching and facilitating groups and strategic actions. In the last decade I have prepared myself to serve on boards of directors.
MPOD has changed my career a lot. I kept my passion and interest in communication, but I started to work on a more strategic and deeper level. The master's degree also opened the doors to teaching - something I never imagined ‐ with a very rich and rewarding experience. Today I feel like a more complete and valued professional.Organizational development is about changing the world. Corporations today occupy the dimension of greatest power and influence in the world. When we contribute to the development of an organization, we are working to increase the awareness, power and responsibility of individuals, groups and society. OD is more important and complex than ever, a fascinating area of learning and service.
Meeting wonderful professors and colleagues from all around the world to reflect and learn was a time to be expected and celebrated. MPOD for me was not just about studying theories, methods and techniques. The richest thing was being together, living the challenges and beauty of diversity, creating bonds of friendship, respect and admiration. I keep each trip, reading and exchange as happy and transforming experiences.“
Todd Porter, MPOD 6, MMAC Steering Committee member since 2018
Since 1995, Todd Porter has been designing optimal energy management for commercial operations throughout the United States. His leadership roles in Performance Assurance, Client Satisfaction, Quality, and Research and Development led to his discovery that the biggest challenge isn’t technical. It's incorporating change in ways that outlive the immediate initiative and achieve long-term impact. He wants to answer the question: How do humans move from "enlightenment" to improved patterns that last?
Since 1995, Todd Porter has been designing optimal energy management for commercial operations throughout the United States. His leadership roles in Performance Assurance, Client Satisfaction, Quality, and Research and Development led to his discovery that the biggest challenge isn’t technical. It's incorporating change in ways that outlive the immediate initiative and achieve long-term impact. He wants to answer the question: How do humans move from "enlightenment" to improved patterns that last?
To explore the dynamics of change in human systems, Todd completed Case Western Reserve University’s masters’ program in Positive Organization Development in 2011.
That experience in human organizing, combined with the creative skills embedded in his BA in Electrical Engineering and MA in music, accords Todd a unique set of expertise: Relational, Artistic, and Technical.
Combining these areas over the past decade, Todd has led compassionate communication workshops based on Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. His presentations have equipped professional, community, and faith-based groups that include large suburban school district leaders, university interview officers, movers and shakers within the Wild Goose Festival and other 501(c)(3) organizations, church staff and municipal leaders, and participants in a variety of regional and national conferences.
The conviction underlying all of Todd’s work is that empathic connection between human beings enables us to create the world we long for: A world in which everyone has what they need. His work with "Conversations That Connect" creates positive impacts that last - no matter your present goal or geography.
Todd lives in Fort Worth, Texas with Krista and their cat, Bert.