Tara Acker Email & Phone Number

Agawam, Ma

Provide organizational development services to staff and boards of directors of over 130 Jewish day and overnight camp client organizations to advance their organizational effectiveness and long-term financial sustainability. Core focus areas:• Strategic Planning • Board Development and Governance • Fundraising • Adaptive Leadership • Alumni Development• Branding and Communication• Enrollment and Retention• Life & LegacyServe as director of an accelerated, cohort based, online GPS Strategic Planning professional development program for affiliated and non-affiliated camps. GPS provides a structured process for camp teams to complete a strategic plan in 3 months. Serve as a liaison between camp clients and JCamp180 for participation in matching grants, targeted training, and outreach programs.Since 2018, co-lead design and execution of the annual JCamp 180 Conference. The annual conference provides camp professionals, volunteers and partner organizations from across North America with a three-day intensive experience focused on professional development and networking. Past plenary speakers included Mark Cuban (2020), Jake Tapper and Rochelle Walensky (2021).Serve as senior advisor to JCamp 180 on analytical work including as a thought partner for JCamp 180's professional development programs, learning activities, and overall department measurement.

Cambridge, Mass

The Leadership and Peacemaking Global Network (LPGN) is a 501c3 nonprofit. Our goal is to develop, test and provide support for the utilization of adaptive leadership training for projects and people globally. LPGN is committed to providing services in the following areas: • Training in adaptive leadership for individuals and groups • Supporting a framework that acts as an incubator for groups and individuals wanting to employ adaptive leadership to connect and learn with other practitioners around the globe• Gathering research on global best practices in conflict resolution and provides training through our network• Developing tools to measure the effectiveness and impact of adaptive leadership projectsOur global network currently includes representation from nine different countries.

Established Environmental Performance Strategies (EPS) Consulting Group to leverage extensive government experience to create solutions for public and private sector clients in a wide range of areas including: Performance Measurement and Data-Driven Decision Making; Environmental Compliance, Permitting and Enforcement; Case Management in Air, Water and Waste; and Organizational Leadership and Change.

Responsible for the overall operations of the SomerStat Department. Supervised the SomerStat team in the execution of the following duties:• Monitoring City departments in their service delivery, financial performance, and completion of projects and priorities established by departments and the Mayor• Securing personnel, financial, service, and operations data from administrative systems and external sources• Cleaning, integrating, and analyzing data to develop recommendations on initiatives• Preparing for, convening, and facilitating regular meetings with department heads and the SomerStat panel staffed by heads of the core management departments • Briefing the Mayor daily on citywide problem areas or opportunities• Serving as project manager for initiatives of the Mayor’s officeAccomplishments:Introduced and executed idea to make Somerville, MA the first city in the United States to measure happiness and well-being of its residents, attracting positive national and international attention to Somerville, including a front-page story in the New York Times and featured on CBS Evening News. The goal was to use the data to help inform policy decisions. Happiness Press: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/us/01happiness.html?_r=4&hphttp://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0404/Somerville-Mass.-aims-to-boost-happiness.-Can-it• Introduced LeaderStat, a performance framework that uses adaptive leadership techniques to help staff solve common challenges in the workplace. LeaderStat seeks to empower and connect staff to a common purpose• Created a city-wide exercise to redefine goals and strategic objectives and align them to Mayor’s goals• Facilitated cross-departmental training in partnership with Harvard Professor Hugh O’Doherty• Established regular forum for all City managers to evaluate cases and develop strategic solutions to common challenges • Applied the LeaderStat framework to all levels of the organization

Advised and assisted project leads on an EPA funded, multi-state initiative to develop common measures for evaluating effectiveness of common state environmental programs. Goal of project was to compare results and inform state agencies of best regulatory tools and practices for protecting the environment. Project tasks: • Developed common sector definitions and common indicators among project’s states• Researched data implications, resolved data quality issues• Developed training materials for data collection• Organized multi-state meetings and workshops• Trained staff on statistical tools, including use of random samples and selection of effective sample size• Reviewed reports for quality assurance plans • Managed all documents for website posting• Presented routine project accomplishments to stakeholders including NEWMOA Board of Directors• Performed data analysis and assisted project’s state leads in reporting results to environmental regulatory agencies across the U.S.

The Environmental Results Program (ERP) replaces environmental permits with sector-specific performance-based standards and an annual certification of compliance. It comprises of a series of tools designed to increase outreach and corporate accountability for small businesses. ERP applies a unique measurement approach that uses statistics to evaluate performance trends over time to make informed resource decisions.Accomplishments:• Created partnership with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Developed national “scale-up” strategy to promote ERP model to other states. As of 2008, 24 states adopted the ERP model• ERP named as finalist in the 2001 Ford Foundation / Innovations in American Government awards competition

Master Of Public Administration - Mpa, Leadership

Bachelor'S Degree, Mass Communication

Master Of Arts - Ma, Environmental Policy / Race / Women’S Studies