Mary Hiland, LCSW, Ph.D.

Mary Hiland is gifted in her understanding of people and organizational dynamics. She is very effective in balancing the needs of people for participation and achieving results. Process design, facilitation, and strategic coaching are her strengths. Deep experience in the nonprofit sector,business experience, blending of practice and research, and cost-effective approaches to organizational and people challenges distinguishes Mary. She brings experience, scholarship, credibility, and flexibility to deliver results for you.

Experience
Mary Hiland, LCSW, Ph.D. has over thirty-five years' experience in the nonprofit sector – twenty as an executive—and over fifteen years' experience as a business owner. She has had a successful consulting business for over nine years. Dr. Hiland has led two nonprofit mergers and in her consulting practice has facilitated the mergers and/or strategic restructuring of numerous nonprofits. Her executive experience includes being the CEO for one of the largest nonprofits in the Bay Area—an agency with over 500 staff and a budget of $25 million.

Dr. Hiland understands a board's perspective first hand, having chaired and served on several local nonprofit boards. She has presented at numerous conferences, conducts workshops on effective governance, nonprofit leadership and management, and strategic alliances. She has taught governance and nonprofit management at San Jose State University.

Education and Research
Dr. Hiland is a researcher and published author. She has researched the board/executive relationship and she has taught several workshops and coach executives and board leaders drawing on this expertise. More recently, she has studied and identified the critical success factors in effective board development processes. Complementing years of experience, Mary has a Ph.D. in human and organizational systems (with a focus on nonprofit leadership and governance) and three Masters Degrees: in social work, public administration, and organizational development. She has specialized leadership training from state of the art sources such as Harvard Business School, Peter Block's School for Leading and Managing Change, and the American Leadership Forum.

Credibility
Mary has been deeply involved in the community. Her service activities have included:

Mary has been recognized by her peers and the community with several community
service awards: