What We Do
Executive Coaching
Coaching is an opportunity for leaders to engage in a supportive learning process that is goal driven, engaging and reflective. Working one-to-one, the goal of coaching is to accelerate the leader’s strengths while exploring their capacity to elevate their leadership profile and skills.
At Applied Strategy Associates, we offer individual executive coaching for a leader seeking to strengthen their ability to make an impact on the organizations they lead. We also work with organizations that wish to invest in the future of a valued leader or key employee. Using collaborative coaching strategies, we address the unique skills, aspirations and leadership potential of the employee within the context of the organization’s mission and goals.
Organizational Development
A nonprofit’s survival can depend on its ability to adapt and change, while maintaining a strategic focus on its mission and sustainability. High performing and successful nonprofits regularly engage in an introspective organizational development design that builds organizational strength.
At Applied Strategy Associates, we are experienced in leading organizations through a focused process of assessing an organization’s strengths and weaknesses while identifying systemic factors that hinder growth and innovation. We accomplish this through engaging the organization in strategic planning, board development and facilitating staff discussions around organizational change. We also will work with staff leadership to creatively maximize resource development capability, including board engagement, donor relations, funder research and grant writing.
Professional Development for Staff, Middle and Senior Managers
Today's non-profits experience change at a rapid pace, and new demands are placed on employees and managers to develop skills, knowledge and attitudes that support continued growth and organizational success. At Applied Strategy Associates, we will work with organizations to develop customized training opportunities that enhance the development of staff, middle and senior managers, helping them adapt to new contexts and expectations within an atmosphere of growth.
Interim Executive Services
The nonprofit sector is experiencing increasing leadership movement as executives retire or transition to other disciplines. As a result, an organization may find itself temporarily without executive leadership while it faces the daunting task of finding its next leader, a process that can take up to a year.
At Applied Strategy Associates, with over 40 years of executive and senior leadership experience, we can offer seasoned interim executive and senior leadership, providing the client organization the time to thoughtfully find its next leader. With our interim executive services, we are not just place holders. Our role is work closely with organizational leadership and boards to not only maintain stability, but to also assess the current state of the organization and develop a clear, shared vision of what the organization needs in its next leader.
Who We Are
Paul Castro - Senior Consultant
Paul is an executive coach and organizational consultant with almost 40 years experience in leading and managing complex organizations. Paul recently retired from Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, after serving as President and Chief Executive Officer for nearly 18 years. As an active member of the national non-profit community, he currently serves on the board of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and has served on the boards of Families International, the Alliance for Families and Strong Communities, the Association of Jewish Family and Children's Agencies and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. Paul has served as adjunct faculty at the American Jewish University and Hebrew Union College graduate programs in non-profit management. He holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from California State University, Fullerton, and a Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School.
Nikki Cavalier - Consultant
Nikki is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and educator who has more than three decades of clinical and management experience in a broad range of human services settings. She has served as a trainer and group facilitator for direct service providers, middle management and executive leadership, and has consulted with nonprofits and health care organizations in the areas of strategic planning, program development and regulatory compliance. For the past eight years, she was on the faculty of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, where she worked with both graduate students and agencies to develop educational partnerships that increase service capacity while training the next generation of human service professionals. Nikki has a bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and earned her Master of Social Welfare degree at UCLA.
Our Partners
