Rebecca Reynolds Consulting
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ABOUT REBECCA REYNOLDS

Rebecca Reynolds, reinvention expert, systems innovator, human development master, visionary, and author, specializes in the achievement of clients' large-scale change endeavors. 

Over nearly three decades of leading large-scale change, Reynolds has developed innovative models and methods to advance her clients' capability in their work. She has used and taught these methods in a wide range of contexts, testing their validity in real-time situations with hundreds of diverse groups. Routinely, results have far exceeded expectations, and word of mouth has consistently caused Reynolds’ work to expand. With each change project, the complexity and scope grew, proving the scalability of her methods. 

CAREER TRAJECTORY
At age 29, Reynolds founded RRC to advance her penchant for change work, her passion for learning, and her curiosity about people and their visions. RRC's first clients emerged out of her accomplished career in executive management of nonprofit arts organizations.

1980s: Executive Positions in Nonprofit Organizations

​Reynolds entered the nonprofit arena in Denver during the economic downturn of the ‘80s. She'd earned her BA in History in 1985 from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, and her award-winning thesis on opera history got her an internship with Denver's then 3-year old Opera Colorado. By 1988, Reynolds was the opera's development and marketing director, reporting to General Director and Founder, Nat Merrill (of Metropolitan Opera fame), and then in 1989, she was recruited by Colorado Ballet board chair, Tom Kundinger, to become the ballet's first executive director. Reynolds specialized in turn-arounds and institution building based on highly successful fundraising, marketing, board development and financial management skills. These two positions provided the platform for major achievements, one of which was involvement with Denver's passage of the landmark Scientific & Cultural Facilities District, a tax to support the arts and culture organizations of Denver.

Reynolds soon recognized that her abilities were uniquely suited to the dynamics of change and decided she could accomplish more in this arena as a consultant. Rebecca Reynolds Consulting (RRC) was born.

1990s: A World of Nonprofit Clients
Founded in 1991, RRC's early years focused on Reynolds' pioneering efforts in support of  nonprofits and, initially, RRC clients came from the arts. One of Reynolds' first projects was the opening of Denver's Buell Theatre, for which she led marketing and national public relations, recruiting and overseeing the New York firm Ruder Finn and award-winning ad campaigns designed by Denver's Richard DeOlivera. Reynolds also served as associate producer to executive producer, Christopher Sarson (of Masterpiece Theater) for the opening night show and live simulcast on cable channel A&E.

RRC's first foray beyond the arts involved the transformation of a struggling homeless shelter in Fort Collins, CO. After that, RRC clients quickly expanded into education, environment, social justice, health and human services. Reynolds' focus was institutional transformation through strategic visioning and advancing internal capability. Accomplishing this always took place in the rich context of collaborative leadership, which defines the nonprofit sector.

For example, Reynolds worked on Vancouver Island, British Columbia to protect old growth temperate rain forest from massive clear-cutting that was standard practice at the time, while learning about ecosystem health and sustainability as these ideas were being pioneered. She worked on the El Paso, TX - Juarez, Mexico border to advance refugee and asylum seeker services, while learning about the complex dynamics of environmental injustice, institutional and cultural racism, and the power of convening diverse groups to learn from each other. And Reynolds worked in the highly privileged community of Aspen, Colorado on strengthening its nonprofit community, including the arts, civic, environment, education, sports and social service missions. This range of people, place and project afforded Reynolds the challenging opportunity to expand herself as a person and as a practitioner, providing deep insight into the universality of human endeavor and the pursuit of growth through change.

​Reynolds began to speak and train on subjects including what defines the nonprofit sector (service), how NPO boards differ from for profit boards and what that means for board governance, strategic planning geared to the social advancement agenda, fundraising and capital campaigns to leverage the 501(c)3, and financial management in the nonprofit arena. These topics evolved into Reynolds' popular Nonprofit Know-How Series, which was presented regularly by United Way, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, various Chambers of Commerce, Leadership Programs, Arts Councils, and other technical assistance providers throughout Colorado and beyond. 
2000s: The Shift to Federally-led Projects
In 1997, Reynolds conducted a strategic planning retreat for the Air Program of the US Forest Service, which led to a new specialization in federal government natural resource management. By 2000, RRC's focus had shifted from an exclusive focus on nonprofits to meet the growing demand for her work on federally-led projects: at first in organizational transformation like that of the Air Program and later to the Office of the CIO and its impact on an entire federal agency, and then to large collaborative endeavors involving multiple federal, state, and tribal governments and many diverse stakeholders. These projects have addressed air quality; fire, fire effects and smoke; climate change; forest and watershed health; contaminated site cleanup; endangered species and habitat; water quality/quantity, and more. In 2004, Reynolds was instrumental in pioneering a landscape scale approach to land management for the State of New Mexico, more than a decade in advance of broad acceptance of this approach. For the firm’s natural resource management clients, Reynolds has developed leadership strategy, managed complex decision-making processes, designed and implemented innovative technology solutions, developed strategic messaging campaigns, written policies and plans, designed outreach processes and facilitated meetings, workshops and conferences.
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​​Having worked extensively with and advised top executives throughout her career, Reynolds became a certified executive coach in 2002. This qualification added greater depth to her one-on-one work with clients, which she expanded to her own team coaching application to offer real-time support in identifying and achieving desired mindset and behavioral change in group endeavors. Reynolds is also a certified Trainer and Practitioner of NLP, the highly acclaimed change and communication technology, and a trained Hospice volunteer.

​2010s: Expanding Authorship 
Over the next ten years, RRC continued to garner larger and more complex projects, each with its unique challenges. For all these, Reynolds authored a wide range of policy and planning documents, reports and proceedings. To aid client learning, she developed models and wrote guides on how to use them, supported by templates and examples. In 2010, Reynolds started a blog focused on the ideas undergirding her work. The blog transformed to a collection of articles (presented here under the Acumen link above) on subjects pertaining to large-scale change and leadership. In 2012, Reynolds published Nonprofit-KnowHow, The Guide & Workbook, a book for nonprofit leaders based on her popular Nonprofit Know-How Series. A year later, Reynolds took a sabbatical to write the curriculum on her methods. She also writes short-story fiction, poetry, and travel essays, samples of which are available on Reynolds' author site here.
Now: Expanding Impact and Giving Back
Reynolds continues to work in the advancement of people's ability to bring about large-scale change, both on projects and in creating and teaching her curriculum. She also continues to donate her services to nonprofits, including the acclaimed Chigiana Music Academy and Siena Italian Studies, a highly successful cultural immersion program, both based in Siena, Italy.  Reynolds has served on Advisory Boards, including the Denver Cooperative Preschool and AlterMed Research Foundation, and financially supports nonprofits including the Denver Art Museum, Clyfford Still Museum, Wikipedia, Public Radio, her alma mater Hampshire College, and more.

Reynolds speaks at events and conferences about leading change, cross-sector collaboration, and women entrepreneurs. She also mentors women executives and emerging entrepreneurs in the for profit, nonprofit and government sectors.

In 2019, Reynolds spent a year in Siena, Italy on sabbatical. She was working on her book, The Cycle of Change, based on the hundreds of change projects she's undertaken over the past three decades. While in Siena, she lived as a pedestrian, a choice in support of the planet, and tried barefoot trekking, a completely new experience after decades of hiking the backcountry of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. She enjoys yoga, ballroom dancing, concerts, theatre, architecture, and speaking Italian. In 2020, she came stateside for a visit and with the pandemic, return to Italy was not possible. She now resides in Santa Fe, NM.
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“Assisting individuals, teams and institutions to do what they do better, with greater ease, more creativity, and a deeper sense of accomplishment, I add to their contribution to the community, to society and to the world.
​I will never cure a disease, save an ecosystem or feed the hungry, but my clients do. And they do so better, faster, and bigger because of RRC. This is my mission and my great passion."


~ Rebecca Reynolds

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Reynolds with Placido Domingo, Opera Colorado Gala, 1988
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Reynolds (on right) at the opening night of Opera Colorado's Aida, 1986.

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Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, opened 1991.

​Reynolds for the environment...
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With Arianna Huffington at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen, Colorado.
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In her sabbatical home, Siena, Italy.
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The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis, Santa Fe, NM

​My Favorites … ​Check out some of Rebecca's favorite online destinations.
Education
Sabbatical, Siena, Italy - Siena Italian Studies, Level B-2 Italian Language 2019
Aspen Institute Leadership Fellows Symposium, Cape Town, South Africa 2011
Certifications in Executive Coaching, Training, Interpersonal Communications & Conflict Resolution, Hospice (1990s-2000s)
BA History, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 1985

    - Award-winning thesis, Italian history (18th century), based on 6-month research study in Italian archives, including the Vatican
BA Coursework, New York University, Gallatin Division, New York, NY 1982
​Internship, United States Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Washington D.C. 1980

​THE METHODS, THE PRACTICE, THE INSPIRATION

THE METHODS

THE PRACTICE

THE INSPIRATION

PictureRebecca Reynolds Consulting
Rebecca started RRC in 1991. Working in hundreds of projects, on all kinds of issues, with thousands of people, Rebecca honed and tested her applied methods. RRC provided the working lab for how to support people in major change to bring about results exceeding expectations and the lasting transformation of the people involved.
​MORE ON RRC >>

PictureBig Endeavor
In 2013, Rebecca began developing curriculum to bring her unique methods to a learning public.  Big Endeavor (BE) was created in 2017 to present this curriculum in an applied online learning environment. The Cycle of Change is the foundational course offering, with free access being offered as of April 2020 as support in these times of major change.​
MORE ON BE >>

PictureRebecca Borland Reynolds
The author of a wide range of client documents and the BE curriculum, Rebecca also writes essays, short-stories, and poetry. Her book Nonprofit-KnowHow is a companion for executive leaders, and she's currently finishing The Cycle of Change, a revolutionary framework for navigating change. 
MORE ON RBR >>

​PRIVACY POLICY

​CLIENT AREA
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“Rebecca takes people to a whole different level as to what they see as possible –
from this experience they create previously only-imagined results.
​Not only is this extraordinary, but also what we need in this world right now.”

​Arthur Blazer, Former President, Mescalero Apache Tribe
​Former Deputy Under Secretary, Environment, USDA
​Former State Forester, New Mexico


​Copyright 2011-2022 Rebecca Reynolds Consulting, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Contact RRC

720 763 9500
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