Lori Brewer Collins
Founder & Executive Director
As the Founder and Executive Director of Cultivate the Karass, Lori is the heart of the organization. She had the privilege of being Jake Brewer’s mother. Cultivate the Karass is an extension of Jake’s legacy; he continues to inspire her, and us, every day.
She is a sought-after speaker on Cultivate the Karass’s behalf and works to raise awareness, engender participation, find alliances, and represent Cultivate the Karass alongside other groups. She spearheads fundraising efforts and oversees all Cultivate the Karass activities.
Lori is an internationally recognized executive development facilitator and coach. For over 20 years she has worked with leaders in complex, cross-cultural settings including Fortune 100s and global multinationals. She is especially effective working with senior-level leaders.
Lori served as Manager of Custom Solutions for the Center for Creative Leadership – EMEA and was Lead Faculty. She was also one of CCL’s original thought leaders in the Organizational Leadership practice. She served as senior principal and executive coach in two firms: Cambria Consulting and Axialent. Earlier in her career, she was Manager of Leadership and Corporate Culture at Saturn Corporation, General Motors.
Lori has an M.Ed. in Human Resource Development and Counseling from Vanderbilt University, a B.A. in Business Management from Michigan State University, and is a Certified Executive Coach through the Hudson Institute of Coaching.
Jeff Buenrostro
Co-Founder & Board Member
Jeff was one of Jake Brewer’s closest friends, in whose memory Cultivate the Karass is founded. Jeff provides insight and direction to all Cultivate the Karass activities through his role as founding member of the Board of Directors and his commitment to keeping Jake’s legacy and vision alive.
Jeff is Founder and COO and CPO of Metric Theory, a digital services marketing company. Jeff holds responsibility for overseeing general business operations. His main focus is attracting, developing and retaining team members through an award-winning company culture. He creates and implements work/life integration programs and culture initiatives that support individuals and teams in exceeding their personal and professional goals. Jeff is also an ongoing contributor to Forbes where he writes about his programs and other relevant topics.
Jeff holds an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business with a focus in in Public Management and Global Management, and a B.S. in Human and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University.
Mindy Finn
Facilitator & Board Member
Mindy Finn is a media strategist, an early founder of the digital democracy movement, and specializes in brand marketing, issue advocacy and civic reform. She was also a candidate for Vice President in the 2016 election, as the running mate of Evan McMullin. Along with McMullin, she is Co-CEO & Founder of Stand Up Republic, which is building a movement to defend democracy in America through the promotion of liberty, equality and truth.
Mindy is also the founder and current president of Empowered Women, a non-profit working to inspire, educate, and give voice to a bold new generation of American women—the leaders of today and tomorrow.
Previously, Mindy headed up strategic partnerships for Twitter in Washington, D.C., specializing in business development, and was a founding partner of Engage, an online media strategy company, which she left in 2011 to join Twitter.
Mindy has worked on digital programs for President George W. Bush and Governor Mitt Romney, and started her career as a Congressional correspondent for the Waterbury, CT Republican American and as a staffer for Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX).
Mindy graduated from Boston University with a degree in Journalism, and earned an MS in Political Management from the George Washington University. A Texas native, Mindy lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, David Feinberg and two sons.
Emily Hoole
Director oF Programs
Emily is a mission-driven global and commercial leader, responsible for creating vision and direction, developing and executing strategy, stakeholder management, and creating positive cultures where people can thrive. A bridger for people and organizations, Emily builds and connects people across diverse networks for opportunities and collaboration.
15 years experience in training and development industry creating robust leadership frameworks and architectures, facilitating change and organizational transformation and building agile and inclusive cultures.
Senior leader of global research and evaluation function for field impact, thought leadership and fueling product and service development.
Responsible for establishing client evaluation systems and organizational success metrics.
Experience establishing new business units.
Cross-cultural leadership experience and extensive work with clients in North America, EMEA, Middle East, and APAC.
Specialties: Leadership development at the individual and organizational levels, organizational learning and development, training methodologies (face-to-face, virtual, hybrid), leadership and culture change, virtual/hybrid teams, evaluative thinking, analytics and assessment, quantitative and qualitative methods.
Britt Brewer
Director of Operations
Britt is a coach, strategist, and creative leader dedicated to helping people and organizations navigate change with clarity and purpose. With 15 years of experience in marketing, creative strategy, and leadership development, she blends structure and imagination to bring big ideas to life.
As Director of Operations for Cultivate the Karass, Britt designs systems and experiences that connect people across perspectives and foster alignment, collaboration, and growth. She is also the founder of Brewer Creative, a coaching and consulting practice that bridges creativity and leadership — helping individuals and teams clarify their vision and amplify their story.
Outside of work, she’s a devoted music lover who finds renewal in live shows, long hikes, and meandering walkabouts through Washington, DC.
BILL POTAPCHUK
Facilitator & Coach
Bill Potapchuk has helped organizations and communities reach collaborative agreements and make progress on critical issues for more than 30 years. His work ranges from catalyzing, designing and guiding large-scale, inclusive community processes to skilled facilitation of retreats, workshops, and summits. Bill helps leaders work toward collective impact, find impactful harmony among competing initiatives, build consensus on contentious policy issues, develop outcome-focused strategic plans, and build effective coalitions.
Bill started his peacemaking career at the Conflict Clinic, Inc., an organization first conceived in the book Getting to Yes and then launched at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. He has served as Executive Director of the Program for Community Problem Solving (PCPS), a partnership of the National League of Cities, International City/County Management Association, National Civic League, American Chamber of Commerce Executives.
In 1999, Bill founded and still serves as President of the Community Building Institute. He is an adjunct professor in the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and was recently named as a Fellow in their Center for Peacemaking Practice. A native of Cleveland, Bill received his BA in Urban Studies from Case Western Reserve University, his MA in Political Science from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and his MS in Conflict Resolution from George Mason. He is widely published, has co-authored chapters in major textbooks for the field as well as a wide array of monographs and journal articles.
Meet Our Advisors
Katie Harbath
Katie Harbath is the Chief Global Affairs Office of Duco Experts and founder of Anchor Change, a newsletter and consultancy that explores the complexities of the digital age and global politics. Through her writing, speaking, and advisory work, Katie helps leaders navigate an ever-evolving landscape—combining deep analysis with compelling storytelling to make sense of rapid change.
Described by Foreign Policy Magazine as an “election whisperer to the tech industry,” Katie is a trusted guide for leaders seeking clarity and transformation in a fast-moving world.
Her career spans political campaigns, civil society, and global technology leadership. At Facebook, she spent a decade building and leading international teams that managed elections and empowered governments, political figures, and organizations to connect meaningfully with their audiences. Prior to her time at Facebook, Katie held senior digital roles at the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the DCI Group.
She is a board member at the National Conference on Citizenship, Democracy Works, R Street, the Georgetown Institute of Politics and the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Madison-Wisconsin.
Katie graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Eli Lehrer
Eli Lehrer is president of the R Street Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public policy research organization (“think tank”) whose mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government. R Street works extensively on both state and national policy, focusing on issues that other groups tend to neglect: tackling issues that are complex, but don’t necessarily grab major headlines. As president, Eli oversees all R Street operations, makes major strategic decisions and is ultimately responsible for all of R Street’s products. He also tells pirate jokes.
He is a widely published writer whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today and The New York Times, among other publications. Eli serves as a contributing editor of National Affairs and writes regularly for The Weekly Standard. He also serves on the board of the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization for LGBT conservatives and their allies.
Eli graduated cum laude from Cornell University with a bachelor’s in medieval studies. He received his master’s in government with honors from The Johns Hopkins University.
He lives in Herndon, Virginia, with his wife, Kari and son Andrew.
David Altman
David has held five different Executive Team positions at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®. Prior to his current role as Executive Advisor, he served 2 years as Chief Research and Innovation Officer, 5 years as the global Chief Operating Officer (COO) a job that involved leading the work at CCL in EMEA, APAC, and Americas. As COO, he also led the Global (sales) Pursuit Team and several verticals and oversaw Information Technology, Portfolio Solutions, and Global Operations. Prior being COO, David spent 4 years living in Brussels Belgium where he was Executive Vice President and Managing Director of CCL’s EMEA region. Before that and for 9 years, he was Executive Vice President of CCL’s Research, Innovation, and Product Development group. David maintains an active portfolio of direct client work and focuses on senior leaders and teams. Prior to joining CCL, David was a tenured Professor of Public Health Sciences and Pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston Salem, NC (10 years) and Senior Research Scientist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, CA (10 years). David is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He has long been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). For 5 years, he served as co- director of the RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows Program. For 15 years, he was National Program Director of the RWJF Substance Abuse Policy Research Program. For 4 years, he was Co-National Program Director of the RWJF Ladder to Leadership Program. In 1997, he was selected as one of 40 Americans for a 3-year W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Program. As part of this program, he rode his bicycle from California to North Carolina to raise public awareness about hunger and endowment funding for an international hunger relief organization.
René L. Rocque
René L. Rocque has over 20 years of experience in combatting fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs. She currently serves as the Deputy Inspector General at the Department of Education Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Prior to joining the Department of Education, Ms. Rocque served at the Department of Justice OIG from 2017 to 2023, first as Senior Counsel to the Inspector General and then as the Assistant Inspector General for Evaluation and Inspections. From 2012 to 2017, she served as Principal Deputy Counsel, and eventually acting Counsel, at the Central Intelligence Agency OIG. From 2009 to 2012, Ms. Rocque worked in a series of progressively more responsible legal and management roles at the Department of Homeland Security OIG.
Ms. Rocque began her federal career investigating and litigating fraud matters as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Fraud section of the Department of Justice. Prior to that, she was a litigation attorney at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobson, L.L.P.
Ms. Rocque earned an A.B., with honors, in English and American Literature at Harvard University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.