Our Team - Adaptive Leadership International

Nizar is the Negotiations Practice Lead at Adaptive Leadership International and teaches graduate negotiations at The George Washington University. A leadership, negotiations, and advocacy trainer fluent in Arabic, English, and French, he has worked widely across the Middle East and North Africa. From 2003–2008 he served on the Palestinian negotiating team, advising the President, Prime Minister, and several ministries, and from 2011–2017 he advised the last two Palestinian ambassadors to Washington, D.C. Now based in the United States, Nizar is active in Arab American advocacy while continuing to consult and train clients across the region.

Based in Australia, Alice is an active member of the adaptive leadership community and convenes adaptive leadership practitioners in Australia to lift the quality of leadership practice across the field. In her consulting work, Alice is committed to driving meaningful and sustained growth for individuals, organisations, and communities through research-backed interventions. She brings, in addition to her facilitation expertise, over seven years of consulting and public sector experience spanning strategy, transformation, and public policy. Alice is valued for establishing authentic and trusted client relationships spanning corporate, government, and non-profit sectors.

Doreen is a strategic partner, process designer, and facilitator. She partners with healthcare leaders and teams to tackle their most difficult workplace culture challenges—especially those that feel stuck, risky, or too complex to solve alone. With over 20 years of experience, she brings a steady, research-based approach to culture transformation, organizational effectiveness, and relational repair in demanding healthcare environments. Known for her ability to work productively with “elephants and undiscussables,” Doreen helps teams go through, not around, the hard conversations required for meaningful change. The result is stronger leadership, healthier team dynamics, and measurable improvements in workplace culture, job satisfaction, and patient care. Doreen holds a Master’s degree in Business Leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Psychology, with change management certifications through General Electric Healthcare and Prosci. She has co-authored and published in the Canadian Journal of Physician Leadership and regularly presents at healthcare conferences and workshops.

Ashraf grew up in the Egyptian diplomatic community and has been working internationally throughout his career. The co-founder and President of Adaptive Leadership International, he specializes in adaptive leadership for system-level change, which he teaches through Harvard's executive education programs. He works with groups facing foundational changes, including those in entrenched conflict and organizations in the healthcare, climate, and government spaces. In addition to adaptive leadership, he consults on negotiations, systems thinking, and Teaming, a management framework developed at Harvard Business School. Over the past 35+ years, Ashraf has had several affiliations at Harvard, including at the College, Kennedy School of Government, Law School, and Medical School.

Elmer operates at the intersection of leadership, innovation, and community impact. As Co-founder of the Adaptive Leadership International LLC, he brings over 20 years of experience co-designing and delivering leadership development programs for the public sector in Asia. He has advanced adaptive change in various sectors by setting up various social labs (Blue Economy Lab, Financial Inclusion Lab, Climate Action Labs, etc) as platforms for multi-sectoral collaboration. Recently, he has been actively involved in prototyping models of Artificial Intelligence-enabled leadership processes as applied to public problems. He has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and a Master's in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management.

David is a coach, consultant, and community leader. He has a broad background in leadership, business development, and developing human potential. He has taught and coached in frameworks encompassing Adaptive Leadership, Immunity to Change, and Trauma Informed Caregiving.

Born and raised in New York City, David has worked in, and led, community-based organizations for decades, including the United Way of Greater White Plains (NY), the Salvation Army, and Rotary International.

David has deep experience in healthcare, including leadership positions with the California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies (CASRA) and the Duffy Health Center (Hyannis, MA). He understands the challenges of healthcare systems from the ground up, having provided direct support to developmentally disabled adults through the Arc of Cape Cod (MA) and has clinical training in spiritual care and chaplaincy as a former Resident and Palliative Care Fellow at Weill Cornell Medical Center in NYC.

David earned a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, and a Master's in Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. He was the Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 19th Congressional District in 2018.

Practice Area Leads