ABOUT REBECCA BORLAND REYNOLDS
![]() Rebecca Reynolds, reinvention expert, systems innovator, human development adept, visionary, and author, specializes in the achievement of clients' large-scale change endeavors.
Over three decades of bringing about 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. Her new book, Thresholds of Change: The Way through Transformational Times, that presents her groundbreaking ideas and practices is available now. LISTEN to a short interview with Rebecca on Thresholds of Change to learn more about how her model can benefit you and your team/organization.
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, based on primary material discovered in the Vatican Archives in Italy, got her an internship with Denver's then three-year-old Opera Colorado. By 1988, Reynolds was the opera's development and marketing director, reporting to General Director and Founder, Nathaniel 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, including the design of the award-winning Backstage Tours program for children and her 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 (WGBH Boston, creator of Zoom, and voice 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. 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 organizations, including the arts, civic, environment, education, sports, and social service. 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, 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. industry, academia, NGOs, and members of the general public. 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 its broad acceptance by Federal land management agencies. 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. 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 with experience companioning the dying and their families.
2010s: Expanding Authorship and Giving Back
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 published by her client organizations. 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. She also writes short-story fiction, poetry, and travel essays. In addition to Hospice work, Reynolds has served on various boards and financially supports nonprofits including the Denver Art Museum, Clyfford Still Museum, Wikipedia, Public Radio, her alma mater Hampshire College, and more. Reynolds also speaks at events and conferences about leading change, cross-sector collaboration, and entrepreneurship. She mentors emerging entrepreneurs and business founders in the for profit, nonprofit and government sectors. 2019 - present: A Year in Tuscany and beyond
Taking a respite for renewal from her consulting work in the advancement of people's ability to bring about large-scale change, in 2019 Reynolds spent a year in Tuscany. She returned to the medieval hill town of Siena, her home base while conducting research for her college thesis. While there, she donated her services to various philanthropic organizations, including the acclaimed Chigiana Music Academy, Siena Italian Studies, an intensive cultural immersion program, and Tenuta di Spannocchia, a heritage farm property, Italy. In Siena, Rebecca 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 also worked on her B-2 level in Italian, and started writing a book based on the hundreds of change projects she's undertaken over the past three decades. In early 2020, Rebecca came stateside for a visit and with the pandemic, return to Italy was not possible. She now resides in Santa Fe, NM, where she recently completed a three-year strategic change project for the Southwestern Region of the US Forest Service and a two-year term as President of her HOA board. Currently, her focus is her new book, Thresholds of Change: The Way through Transformational Times, published in October 2024. Rebecca also enjoys yoga, ballroom dancing, concerts, theatre, architecture, and speaking Italian. Education
Sabbatical, Siena, Italy - Siena Italian Studies, Level B-2 Italian Language 2019 Aspen Institute Leadership Fellows Symposium, Cape Town, South Africa 2011 Byron Katie's School of the Work 2007 | Staff Member 2008 Certifications in Executive Coaching, Training, Interpersonal Communications & Conflict Resolution, Hospice (1990s-2000s) BA History, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 1985 - Award-winning thesis, 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 |
“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 Borland Reynolds Reynolds on the job...
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