James Madison University

Org Design @ August  -  IDEO  -  Zappos  -  TFA

Association for Talent Development (ATD)

ATD Org Dev Conference Advisory Board Member

Seed&Spark

Equity & Inclusion Advisory Board

August was founded to help organizations realize their most ambitious goals by building more
open, agile, and inclusive teams. Our superpower is helping large, complex organizations
succeed in a world where change and complexity are the new normal. We understand that
lasting change requires changing individuals, teams, and the systems that shape how they
interact. We focus on these four transformation levers and drive change by moving beyond
theory to everyday practice:
- Agile Ways of Working
- Operationalizing Equity & Inclusion
- Empowered Decision Making
- Psychological Safety Through a Learning Culture

August Public

Partner and Org Design Practice Lead

Schools, in order to be nimble and stay relevant and impactful, need to abandon the rigid structures designed for less dynamic times. The NEW School Rules expands cutting-edge organizational design and modern management techniques into an operating system for empowering schools with the same agility and responsiveness so vital in the business world.

The New School Rules

Author

In the Design for Change Studio at IDEO, I managed multidisciplinary teams in creating visionary org solutions grounded in employee needs. In this role, I built an employee engagement strategy for the Gates Foundation. I designed a culture initiative with the Toronto Airport Authority, which was subsequently recognized as the best large airport in North America for Customer Service. I also developed innovation strategies and trainings for multiple organizations.

IDEO

Principal Designer and Design Lead, Org Design

Focused on partnering with business, government, education, technology, and social sectors to innovate and grow through introducing self-organizing practices.

TOP Consulting

Holacracy Consultant

WestEd

Board Member

Elected in November 2012 to represent over 600,000 Nevadans on the State Board of Education. Crafted and influenced policy and regulations for Nevada's public schools. Worked to ensure an equal and excellent education for all students.

State of Nevada

Elected Board Member, Nevada State Board of Education

Led the e-commerce retailer's transition to the cutting edge self-organization practice of Holacracy ™ where I lead a team of more than 80 trainers and facilitators.  Also ran college recruiting and diversity initiatives and managed the external communications for the project. My work was widely covered in media outlets including Forbes, The Huffington Post, Fox, and CNN Money.

Zappos Family of Companies

Org Design Lead

I worked in several capacities at Teach For America, and spent most of my time on the recruitment and admissions team. In this role I led Teach For America’s on-campus recruitment efforts for a portfolio of 12 universities. I managed all aspects of the recruitment campaign including; developing vision and strategy, operations, event planning and execution, public speaking, and working with the admissions team to select corps members. I trained and professionally developed teams of coordinators, recruitment fellows, and numerous alumni to maximize impact. I facilitated diversity discussions at team-wide conferences; was selected to participate in a strategy session with senior leadership to support significant growth in corps diversity; initiated a study of recruitment role effectiveness for the 2009-2010 recruitment year which was rolled out to all managers as part of the learning and development continuum for the entire recruitment team.

Alexis Gonzales-Black