About Us

Stephen McCormick is Senior Associate of Skillful Means. He has spent the last 20 years focused on helping organizations, communities and multi-stakeholder partnerships bring clarity to goals, strategies, processes, organizational structures and professional relations in order to accomplish critical tasks. He serves as chief process consultant on a number of ongoing collaborations involving public sector, private sector and community representatives. His public sector clients have ranged from the City of Aurora in Colorado to Zdrusenie miest a obci (the Association of Towns and Municipalities) in Slovakia. He also provides OD and strategy planning consultation, staff and board training, and evaluation services to foundations and non-profits in the United States, East Central Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Africa.

From 1996 to 1998 Stephen was Director of Organizational Development at the Open Society Institute, resident in Budapest; he oversaw the establishment of the Department of Training and Development and the institutionalization of training programs for the 1000+ employees and board members within the network of foundations and institutes established by George Soros, and served as OSI's main organizational troubleshooter. Prior to this, he was the Central European representative of the National Civic League and a Managing Director of Chautauqua International, Inc., an international consulting partnership working in the field of democratic governance. He has worked professionally in almost every country of East Central Europe and Central Asia, as well as in Madagascar, Senegal, the Philippines, France, Spain and South Africa. From 1989-1991 he was resident in Kenya, as manager of a USAID-funded school renovation effort. Stephen has worked as an consultant, facilitator and trainer since 1979 and as the director and supervisor of training programs since 1984.

Stephen holds a Masters degree from Yale University and a Diploma in Organizational Behaviour from London University. He is close to fluent in French, speaks passable Slovak and can rapidly regain his Swahili. He worked with Outward Bound in Colorado from 1979 to 1989 as Instructor, Course Director and Director of Professional Development Programs.