About
Wellstone, a translation of Bornstein, refers to the boring stones used to dig wells. So often we have to dig deep to find solutions and approaches that will truly make a lasting impact. We believe that to do that, stakeholders need to work together to determine solutions. Here at Wellstone Collaborative Strategies, we support our clients in doing just that.
Jacob Bornstein
Founder and Principal
Jacob Bornstein brings over twenty years of experience in strategic facilitation in Colorado and across the country, specializing in reaching consensus in collaborative initiatives around contentious topics. Bornstein is known for his work at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. There he spearheaded the development of the scenario planning process that underpins Colorado’s Water Plan and facilitated the final set of consensus actions detailed in the Colorado Water Plan. This was accomplished through a stakeholder process that he managed. This stakeholder process included nearly 400 stakeholders in nine regional water roundtables and one statewide group called the Interbasin Compact Committee. Stakeholders ranged from conservative cattle ranchers to liberal environmentalists. Below are a few examples of Bornstein’s strategic facilitation projects:
-
Interbasin Compact Committee facilitation and technical support for the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
-
Denver Climate Action Task Force team lead and facilitation for the development of Denver's Climate Action Plan.
-
Affordable Housing and Behavioral Health Transformational Task Forces team lead and lead facilitator for the development of recommendations for the General Assembly and Governor to spend $850 m in American Rescue Plan funds.
Bornstein is a founding board member of the Civic Consulting Collaborative andlaunched Wellstone Collaborative Strategies in 2018. He was the Director of Consulting for the Spark Policy Institute, where he also managed senior level consultants. Prior to Bornstein’s work for Spark and the State of Colorado, he was the executive director for the Colorado Watershed Network and was the water and land conservation director for the Roaring Fork Conservancy. Previously, Jacob was a statistics and scientific methods consultant helping Ph.D. students design their dissertations. He was also a statistician and methods consultant for large companies like General Electric.
Mr. Bornstein has a M.S. in biology and a B.A. in philosophy and history of science, with a minor in physics. He is also a certified facilitator and Six Sigma Black Belt (a statistical process improvement approach).
"Jacob is a guy you can trust to get a job done and done right."
Partners
Wellstone Collaborative Strategies Operates on a network model, pulling together the right consultants for our projects. Below are some of our associations and affiliated partners.
The Civic Consulting Collaborative is a consortium of independent Colorado consultants with a shared mission to collectively support clients in making a meaningful impact. Our expertise ranges from the health care system to natural resource management, from early childhood to climate change. We offer facilitation, evaluation, strategic planning, organizational change management, coaching, research, public relations, engagement, and a variety of other services to state and local government, foundations, nonprofits, and social enterprises. Jacob is a principal and founding board member of the Civic Consulting Collaborative.
Marisol Rodriguez
Principal Level Affiliate
Marisol Rodriguez is a master facilitator and an expert in organizational development with experience advising the strategic growth of countless organizations throughout the public sector. Marisol specializes in strategic planning, and is inspired by the synergy between strategy and highly effective leaders and teams. Clients count on Marisol’s uncommon ability to help teams comprised of individuals with diverse skills, styles and perspectives come together in alignment around a shared path forward. She is the founder of Insignia Partners, and the founding board chair of the Civic Consulting Collaborative. She spent years in the nonprofit sector, working both inside a national nonprofit and for a national funder. In recent years she is thrilled to have had the City and County of Denver, Denver Parks and Recreation, and Denver City Council amongst her clients. Given her deep experience in the education, non-profit, and public sectors positions Marisol is known to hit the ground running — preparing for the stakeholder dynamics that are unique to these processes, masterfully designing facilitation and engagement approaches, and responding quickly and effectively to questions, concerns, and issues as they arise.
Marisol is a frequent Wellstone partner on projects ranging from Denver's Climate Action to the Colorado General Assembly's Behavioral Health Transformational Task Force.
.jpg)
Katherine Archuleta
Principal Level Affiliate
Katherine Archuleta’s career has been built on her commitment to creating positive and productive environments for hearing the voices of those who are most affected by public policy decisions. From her earliest days in Denver Mayor Federico Peña’s administration to her work for President Obama as the Director of the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), she has integrated her values of inclusive leadership in every role. As OPM Director, she directed the federal government’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan in collaboration with the White House and all federal departments – working closely with her own staff and other government leaders design steps to build more inclusive and responsive workplace environments. Katherine has taken her extensive experience of working with elected and appointed officials and understanding their particular insights, concerns and needs to design strategies to assist them in their development of informed and inclusive decision-making processes. She looks to finding collaboration, consensus and respectful understanding among the groups she leads and facilitates. Katherine was recently asked to join Braintrust for Representative Democracy, joining other practitioners and experts to bring their experience, insight and understanding to offer institutions – in particular Congress and public institutions – leadership and tools as they work to strengthen their inclusive engagement practices.
Katherine is a frequent Wellstone partner, especially on affordable housing related projects.
Matt Gray
Principal Level Affiliate
For the past 15 years, Matt Gray has facilitated and implemented strategic plans, coached executive leaders and new professionals, and has helped design visionary organizations where people thrive. Matt believes in the power of deep listening, awareness, and collaboration, and empowering the strengths and wisdom each individual brings to building community. He is an enthusiastic student of community, leadership, and their convergence, and has published articles and presented workshops on innovative teaching, civic engagement, strategic planning, service, and critical reflection. As the founder of The Rocky Mountain Innovation Lab, Matt knows that empowering meaningful participation leads to the most essential, innovative solutions. While an experienced and thoughtful facilitator, Matt also specializes in project management. He thoroughly enjoys keeping organized momentum for a variety of organizations, including serving in various facilitation and project management capacities for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Civic Canopy, Roaring Fork Valley and Denver Public Schools, and dozens of small nonprofits.
Matt is a frequent partner with Jacob on Colorado's Private Lands Conservation Plan through Keep It Colorado and has worked with Jacob on a number of other projects.
Leander Lacy
Principal Level Affiliate
Leander Lacy is the founder and owner of Lacy Consulting Services. Leander is trained traditionally as a wildlife ecologist and received his M.S. in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources. Lacy Consulting Services focuses on helping environmental organizations and sustainability-minded business meet their goal of improving human and community wellbeing through conservation action. Lacy Consulting Services uses applied social science and robust relationship building to better understand stakeholders. They have developed an approach for integrating justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) into conservation planning. Lacy Consulting Services has also created a science-driven workshop focused on identifying multiple strategies to help you build and sustain trust with diverse stakeholders.
Leander is a partner with Jacob on Colorado's Private Lands Conservation Plan through Keep It Colorado.