About

Serendipity Strategies was created to support nonprofit organizations as they navigate large scale transformation. Sometimes transformation is a choice, sometimes it’s a necessity. No matter which flavor of transformation your organization is contemplating, it is never easy.

The emotion most often associated with change is fear. Yet, change is not only inevitable, it is often exactly what is needed. How do organizations and the people who work in them, embrace change, plan for it and embrace it with joy?

This is the work of Serendipity Strategies. Whether your organization is experiencing planned change such as a shift in organizational priorities, rapid growth or other factors, or that change comes from somewhere unexpected, such as staff unionization, sudden increase or decrease in a major stream of funding, our work can help. We work with you to not only navigate the change, but to ensure your organization comes through that change stronger.

Meet Julie

Julie spent the first half of her career in high tech international sales and sales management, primarily in the Caribbean and Latin America. She left a 20 year career at AT&T to pursue her passion for making change through organizing and politics. She got her start in movement work at SEIU, first as an organizer and ultimately as Political Director in Virginia.

Julie has served as an Executive Director of organizations in Minnesota, Virginia and Wisconsin. She remains most proud of the work she did to develop and launch the Virginia Progressive Leadership Project, training and coaching the next group of movement leaders in Virginia, leaders who reflect the diversity of the state.

Julie founded her own consulting firm, Serendipity Strategies, in 2020. Serendipity Strategies specializes in supporting organizations and leaders in transformational change. Most recently that has included supporting management teams bargaining their first Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Julie brings experience, wisdom, humor and a deep belief that good things happen when you bring amazing people together. Julie has a Bachelor of Science from Wichita State in Business Administration and a certificate in Labor Relations from Cornell University. She lives with her husband in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she enjoys gardening, biking, tennis, photography and the sport of curling.

Testimonials

It was a delight and very productive to work with Julie to create a mission statement and 2-year goals for our organization. She asked great questions as we prepared. The facilitation itself flowed like water, seamless and natural and dynamic. We also had fun along the way with playful prompts that stimulated our creativity. Then somehow magically, at the end, we'd accomplished all our goals.

Jenelle Ludwig-Krause, Executive Director, Grassroots Organizing of Western Wisconsin

We recently asked Julie to facilitate a session for our coalition. I was impressed by how skillfully she facilitated the group. I went into the morning knowing that there were likely to be hard conversations and a lot of big emotions. Julie was able to create a space where people felt heard and she was able to move us through the conversations to reach productive outcomes. I was so grateful for her help and would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a skilled and kind facilitator.

Anjali Bhasin, Civic Engagement Director, Wisconsin Conservation Voices

Julie has been an instrumental partner on our management team in working to develop our first Collective Bargaining Agreement with our voluntarily recognized Union. She has used her knowledge and expertise to give our team unreservedly sound guidance to ensure we are working towards the best interest of the Union members and the organization. She is a valued partner and we are so fortunate to have her as part of the team.

Tracy Dennis, PhD, Vice President, Human Resources, National Immigration Law Center

Julie supported the National Women’s Law Center’s first collective bargaining agreement negotiations by working closely with management’s team to prepare for bargaining sessions, draft responses to the union’s proposals, and coach the management team during sessions. As we wrapped up the agreement she ensured the organization was ready to honor its commitments by creating tools to track obligations in the contract, helping training supervisors and HR staff in understanding the contract, and advising on priorities. She brings an enthusiastic, pro-union stance, deep expertise on both sides of the table, and a calm, steady approach that honors relationships. NWLC deeply appreciated her contributions to our organization and our labor-management relations.

Nancy Withbroe, Chief of Staff, National Women’s Law Center

Julie served as Interim Executive Director of The Land Stewardship Project for 11 months. As chair of the LSP board, I was so grateful for her calm and reassuring presence during a fairly chaotic transition after the sudden departure of our Executive Director. In spite of some frayed relationships between board and staff, Julie was able to help us all reset and get back to work in our appropriate roles. Julie has great listening skills, clarity in setting boundaries, and is able to discern the underlying issues that create snags in work relationships and organizational operating procedures. She was instrumental in creating some changes that have helped LSP run more smoothly. She also helped steer us through difficult negotiations with a new employee union. In addition, the board benefited greatly from her participation with us in a series of training sessions by Propel Nonprofits which helped us plan our board's future work and the permanent ED search. We are extremely grateful that she was willing to stay on for an extra two months after we hired a permanent ED to help him get up to speed during a busy, stressful time.

Deborah Allan, Board Chair, Land Stewardship Project