The LLC Team
Deborah Meehan, Executive Director
Deborah Meehan is the founder and Executive Director of the Leadership Learning Community (LLC). In 1991 Deborah received a Kellogg National Leadership fellowship. She was also a 1991 Salzburg Fellow and returned to Salzburg in 2007 as a member of the Global Youth Leadership faculty. Deborah also conducts an annual Women’s Leadership Seminar for women law fellows. She has served as a consultant for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to build an alumni association for the 700 leadership alumni of the Kellogg program. She serves as a board member for the International Leadership Association and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of MN. Deborah has created a consulting services arm of LLC and conducted evaluations for national and international leadership programs and produced leadership scans, literature reviews and made program recommendations on behalf of 30 foundations that include a broad range of small, large, regional, state and prominent national foundations.
Natalia Castañeda Chaux, Marketing and Communications Director
Natalia joined the Leadership Learning Community in 2009 to help the organization activate its network of more than 3,000 leadership stakeholders around the nation. She conducted research to identify the needs of leadership development practitioners and developed a communications and engagement plan around those needs, including: a monthly electronic newsletter that covers current issues in leadership development and offers practical advice; a thought-provoking webinar series that has engaged more than 1,500 participants; a community blog featuring field experts; and various regional events. As a member of the LLC consulting team, Natalia has conducted communications assessments and developed strategies for various organizations as part of social network analysis projects, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Switzer Foundation, the Kellogg Fellowship Leadership Alliance, and the Synergos Institute. Natalia received her B.S. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in Journalism, Advertising track. She is co-author of the LLC publications Leadership and Networks and How to Cultivate and Activate Your Network. Prior to joining LLC, Natalia was the Marketing Manager at Consorte Media, a Hispanic-focused advertising company.
Zoe Madden-Wood, Research Associate and Project Manager
Zoe manages the research and evaluation projects. She is trained in project management, social network analysis, and has a quantitative and qualitative research background. Over the last few years, she has worked independently on several research projects for organizations such as UniversalGiving, the Coral Reef Alliance, and the IEEE. Before moving to San Francisco, Zoe held a position as an editor at PR Newswire China, had previously worked as a research assistant on a health project concerned with infant nutrition, and had been a researcher in a public policy-oriented communications firm. Zoe received her B.A. from George Washington University in D.C. and her M.A. from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she studied cognitive linguistics. Her volunteering work often emphasizes global and immigrant communities, and has included helping refugees obtain citizenship and working with speakers of underdocumented languages in language and culture preservation techniques. She speaks Mandarin and French, and in her free time enjoys climbing and hiking.
Lauren Rodriguez, Research Associate
Lauren comes to LLC with a commitment to transformative change, a bilingual/bicultural perspective and international experience working with diverse communities in the United States, Mexico, Chile, and Spain. She brings her background in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, data analysis and report writing to redesigning the way leadership development is conducted and evaluated. Over the last few years, she has worked on research projects for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Center for Latino Policy Research at UC Berkeley. Lauren received her B.A. from UC Berkeley in Political Science and her MSc from The London School of Economics, where she studied Sociology and Race Ethnicity and Postcolonial Studies. In her spare time you can find Lauren volunteering at migrant and refugee rights organizations or in Nuevo Vallarta Mexico saving endangered Olive Ridley Sea Turtles.
Miriam Persley, Administrative Assistant
Miriam has a strong background in administrative processes gained both in the public and private sectors. Her work focuses on fostering the academic growth and success of underprivileged students at all levels. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Spanish and Portuguese: Foreign Languages and Literature. At Cal, she also studied architecture, visual arts, sociology, ethnic studies, public policy, and education, among other subjects. Her passion for creating communities and educating people motivates her work at LLC and her interpersonal exchanges.
Eleanor Cooney, Communications Coordinator
Eleanor has provided Administrative and Communications Consulting support for LLC since early 2012, and in 2013, she joined the team as our Communications Coordinator. Eleanor received a BA degree in Industrial Art from San Francisco State University in 2001, and in the past decade has worked primarily for youth services nonprofits that place emphasis on youth leadership development, including EdventureMore, Aspiranet, and Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth. Eleanor brings her experience in visual communication and curriculum design to her role at LLC, where graphic design and marketing metrics are her primary domain.
