ICW Consulting Group is an affiliation of experts and thought leaders in the field of organization development, leadership, team development and strategic processes. We have similar values and viewpoints regarding how we work with clients, and have complementary strengths. Founded in 1998 by Ilene Wasserman, ICW serves our clients by bringing together the best resources for their particular needs.
When you engage with us on a project, we bring together the right subset of our team based on your unique needs and desires.
Ilene Wasserman | MSW, Ph.D. | Founder & President
For over 25 years, Ilene has been on the cutting edge of research and practice in creating inclusive workplace cultures and environments through strength-based methodologies, capacity building, and relational leadership and strategy. She has worked with both private and public-sector organizations to build and strengthen diverse leadership teams, staff relationships, and effective communication strategies to help them achieve their goals. Her areas of professional expertise include Diversity & Inclusion, Change Management, Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Public Speaking, and Group Facilitation.
Ilene is deeply committed to providing the foundation and motivation that sustain learnings with senior leaders, teams and staff long after the consulting relationship has ended. Ilene uses an action learning approach integrating learning and development with her clients’ everyday work.
Ilene received her PhD from the Fielding Graduate University in Human and Organizational Development. She also holds Masters degrees both in Counseling Psychology and Social Work from Washington University and a B.S. from Cornell University in Human Development. In addition to her formal education, Ilene is trained in Future Search, Gestalt, and Appreciative Inquiry. has conducted foundational and advanced workshops in Appreciative Inquiry.
Ilene is a Senior Fellow of the Wharton Leadership Institute, a Fellow of the Institute of Coaching (an affiliate of Harvard Medical School), a Fellow of the Taos Institute, and serves on the Board of the Lewin Center, on the Board of the CMM Institute and is a Member of NTL. She has served on local boards including the Support Center for Child Advocates where she facilitated their strategic planning process, and on the Lower Merion Human Relations Commission where she chaired the Commission from 2014-2018.
In addition to consulting and coaching, Ilene teaches organization development and leadership at the graduate level. and is the co-author of: Communicating Possibilities: A Brief Introduction to CMM, and Peer Coaching at Work: Principles and Practices as well as several articles and book chapters (for a full list of Ilene’s published works, click here).
Jeffrey Branch | Ed.D. | Principal
Jeff has over 25 years of experience as an organization development and effectiveness consultant, executive coach and adult education practitioner. Jeff utilizes inquiry, dialogue and systems thinking to help organizations achieve and sustain high performance. He has worked with multiple sectors including corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.
One of Jeff’s key initiatives while serving as a senior leader with a Philadelphia regional healthcare system, included the design, facilitation and integration of Diversity and Inclusion learning modules for all levels of leadership. His role included the design, implementation and facilitation of an action learning curriculum engaging the clinical and non-clinical leadership groups within the system.
Jeff is also on the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in the Organizational Development and Leadership (ODL) graduate program, where he serves as Program Director of two Higher Education Graduate Programs; Organization Development and Leadership, and Public Health Management and Administration. A major facet of Jeff’s research and teaching practice includes the intentional design and engagement of mentoring and coaching practices as a multi-dimensional curricular and co-curricular teaching and learning strategy to promote practitioner development.
Jeff is a member of NTL Institute of Applied Behavioral Sciences and the International Organization Development Network (ODN), where he served as a chair of a special project for the Strategic Planning Implementation Team. He has also served as a member of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). To help facilitate his own immersion experience into the work of diversity and inclusion, Jeff joined the Global Citizens Network in 2006. This organization focuses on preserving the culture of indigenous peoples across the world. His initial experience included weeks of volunteer work with Native-American peoples in the Northwest, United States and subsequent travel to Latin American countries. He expects to continue the work globally with anticipated trips to Africa, South America and Israel.
Elisa Carletti | MOP
Elisa, an associate with ICW, is an Organizational Psychologist with experience as consultant and trainer in Italy and US. She is passionate about DEI, group dynamics and empowering leadership. She holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from Università Cattolica di Milano and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Università di Bologna.
Elisa collaborates on a large-scale networking project which brings together thought leaders in the field of Organizational Development and also serves as Teaching Assistant at Teachers College, Columbia University, at the Practicum in Change and Consultation in Organizations.
Bernardo M. Ferdman | Ph.D.
Bernardo is a Consultant with ICW Consulting Group and also the principal of Ferdman Consulting. Bernardo, a Board Certified Coach and native Spanish speaker, has extensive international experience. As a university professor since 1986, Bernardo has broad knowledge of theory, research, and practice in diversity and inclusion, organization development, cross-cultural management/leadership, and Latinos/as in the workplace. He has published extensively and regularly makes presentations and conducts workshops for a range of audiences on these topics.
As a practitioner, Bernardo works with organizations, groups, and individuals to improve performance and leadership and to increase inclusion, focusing on assessment, coaching, dialogue, facilitation, and learning in the context of diversity.
Placida Gallegos | Ph.D.
Placida, a Consultant with ICW Consulting group, has over 30 years experiencing supporting individuals from all backgrounds, groups and organizations in thriving and achieving optimal outcomes. As a researcher, she has emphasized organizational high performance, leadership development, cultural assessment and strategic change initiatives. In addition to her work with ICW, Dr. Gallegos is the founder of her own firm.
Kathy E. Kram | Ph.D.
Kathy, a Consultant with ICW Consulting Group, is the Shipley Professor in Management Emerita at the Boston University Questrom School of Business. Her primary interests are in the areas of mentoring, relational learning, the transition in to retirement, and diversity issues in executive development and leadership. She is a founding member of the Center for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations (CREIO), and served as a visiting scholar at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) 2000-2001.
Kenneth R. Lay
Ken, an ICW Strategic Partner, draws on his multidisciplinary expertise to provide executive coaching, resilience training, and strategic business consulting.
Ken has broad functional and industry experience as a global executive leader for Fortune 50 companies. He is an ICF Certified Executive Coach and a Senior Fellow, Human Capital, with The Conference Board. He is engaged as an Executive Coach with Carnegie Mellon and TALI in the development of Black leaders for meaningful advancement in corporate and community roles.
Ken is the President and Founder of Perspective Always Matters LLC, and Managing Partner with The Center For Resilience.
CONNIE ROSE | MBA, PCC, CAPP
Connie, an Associate with the ICW Consulting Group, specializes in executive and leadership coaching services. Her coaching supports her clients in gaining a new sense of clarity around what they want and how to pursue it. Connie has over 20 years of experience as a trusted advisor to senior executives, top talent and emerging leaders. She is also an executive coach at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and with the Bryn Mawr Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute. She helps leaders expand the scope of their thinking, communicate more effectively, manage difficult conversations successfully, and hold people accountable in a clear, collaborative way.
Tony Silbert | MSOD
Tony, a Strategic Partner with ICW, has over 25 years of experience in business consulting, organizational development, training design and delivery, positive change leadership development, and coaching. He brings strengths-based and participatory approaches to strategic planning, innovation, leadership development, and culture building.
He is Dean of the Appreciative Inquiry & Strategy program at the National Training Laboratories Institute, teaches in Providence College’s MBA program, and provides leadership development training with the UMass Boston, Center for Collaborative Leadership.
Tony has supported industries across the globe including Healthcare, Financial, IT, Government, Pharma, International Development, Non-profit/Social Enterprise, Telecommunications, and Logistics.
Erin Taylor | MAT
Erin is ICW’s Client Relationship Manager and a Consultant. With grounding in the tools of formal organizations, anti-oppression movements, and both school-based and outdoor education, Erin’s work and interests focus on using land, food, and facilitation to build and heal people’s relationships with place, identity, and human systems. In addition to her work with ICW she consults independently to nonprofits on both organizational and curriculum development.
Amanda Trosten-Bloom
Amanda, an ICW Strategic Partner, is a widely acclaimed consultant, master trainer, energizing speaker, and pioneer in the use of Appreciative Inquiry for high engagement, whole system change.
She builds results oriented partnerships with organizational and community leaders and teams in support of strategic planning, culture change and organizational excellence and works across sectors in business, nonprofit and government organizations.
Amanda is co-author of Appreciative Leadership: Focus on What Works to Drive Winning Performance and Build a Thriving Organization (McGraw-Hill, 2010); the best-selling Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change (Berrett-Koehler: 2003 and 2010); Appreciative Team Development: Positive Questions to Bring Out the Best in Your Team (iUniverse, 2005); the Encyclopedia of Positive Questions – Volume One: Questions to Bring Out the Best at Work; and more than a dozen articles and book chapters.
Jennie Udell
Jennie is ICW’s Chief Coordinator and Project Manager. She supports all areas related to logistics and billing. Her process-oriented perspective and experience in business management support both ICW’s clients and associates in reaching their goals. Jennie began her career in hospitality, first as a corporate meeting planner then later as a business owner producing meetings and events for a variety of corporate and non-profit clients in the Philadelphia area. Following a passion for creating inclusive environments, Jennie chose to shift her path from hospitality to Organizational Development. Jennie has a BA from the George Washington University and is pursuing an MS in Organization Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Gabrielle Wanamaker
Gabrielle, a Senior Associate with the ICW Consulting Group, has over twenty-five years of experience as a management consultant specializing in strategy and leadership development using a DEIB framework. She builds intra-organizational trust to strengthen staff and leadership’s capacity to achieve desired outcomes. With a background in corporate finance and human and organizational systems, Gabrielle advocates co-creating KPIs using a triple bottom line approach by keeping people, profit, and the planet in mind. She is Adjunct Faculty at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and is also a member of the Academy of Management and the OD Network.
Jess Wass | MSOP
Jess, an Associate with ICW Consulting Group, is an Organizational Development Consultant, Executive Coach, Facilitator, and Speaker. Her focus is on helping people reach their full potential at work by getting to the heart of what truly drives them and helping ordinary managers become extraordinary leaders. Jess holds a Master’s degree in Social-Organizational Psychology with a focus in Change Leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University. She participated in the Executive Masters program where she pursued her degree while working full-time. She has a BSBA in Finance and Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis where she was also an Ervin Scholar.