biography

Emily Norton (she/her) is a facilitator, trainer, and organization development practitioner who has devoted her career to helping oursocial change ecosystem thrive. At the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank supporting social movements, she founded the Next Leaders FellowshipProgram in 2014 to amplify young scholar-activists’ voices and hone their skills. She grew the program into a fully endowed project, now called the Henry Wallace Fellowship Program at IPS. Over her ten years with IPS, she grew leadership programming, developed curriculum, and stewarded IPS’s institutional growth through strategic planning.

During this time, she pursued a Master of Science inOrganization Development at American University to broaden her ability tobolster organizational health, focusing on participatory action research—thepractice of partnering with clients to gather, analyze, and synthesize data toplan and drive action. She also volunteered as a facilitator for femex, acommunity dialogue organization in DC, where she led cohorts through a 16-weekcurriculum designed to help participants re-examine their understandings andexperiences of the world through the lenses of race, gender, power, andsexuality.

She then joined Keecha Harris and Associates (KHA) as a consultant, designingand leading inclusive processes to assess and enhance people practices andorganizational effectiveness for philanthropic and nonprofit organizations. Shehas collaborated with clients and consultants in various consultingconfigurations, partnering with groups like Third Settlements and Co-LabConsulting, and she started her own practice, E. Norton Consulting LLC. She hasfacilitated numerous workshops and retreats across the social sector, resultingin five strategic plans, three learning communities, two program pilots, anorganization’s first successful union contract, and a six-part training seriesand equity charter.

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