Lea has more than 23 years of hands-on experience working with community based organizations. Her emphasis is in establishing long-term sustainability within these organizations by developing strategies that build strength in management and resources for CGSI’s clients. Her formal education is in the disciplines of Business Management and Marketing. Lea has been responsible for the management and implementation of projects exceeding $50,000,000 in value.

Lea’s leadership has attracted and garnered local and national clients. She combines her real-life experience and education in helping CGSI clients’ foster success. Developing solutions through partnerships and leveraging of available resources at both local and national levels, she is frequently called upon to bridge communication or knowledge gaps between non-profit needs and government initiatives. Lea forges collaborations between non-profits, public agencies, educational institutions, and the business community to reach CGSI client objectives and desired outcomes. Working closely with clients, she ensures that they have the skills and knowledge that will enable them to continue on their path to success. She has served as an officer for several non-profits’ Board of Directors, mentored CEOs, and is currently spearheading the efforts of a national pilot program.

When not at work, Lea spends much of her time being mom to her sons and helping them with their extra-curricular activities, community projects, and projects at her church.
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Prior to joining CGSI in 2002, Megan worked for a political and issue advocacy firm in Washington, D.C. and for the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum Foundation in New York City. She completed her Masters of Arts degree in Humanities in 2001 at Arizona State University, and applies her nearly ten years of experience in community and government relations, organizational development, and fundraising to all aspects of her work.

Megan works with clients through organizational and programmatic assessments, landscape studies, and development of outcome driven programs. She translates this data into effective fund development plans, awareness and outreach campaigns, and streamlined communication tools with client staff and board and committee members. She has organized press conferences to announce federal and community coalition collaborative grants, implemented surveys among Hispanic and Native American youth, planned and executed successful fundraising events, and coordinated the pilot phase of a state-wide dropout prevention initiative.

Megan has been active in the community as a member of a local city commission, presenter at technical assistance workshops for community-based coalitions and non-profits, and is the current Secretary of the Encanto-Skyline Kiwanis Club. She has also served as a grant reviewer for local and national agencies and presents annually at the American Humanics Management Institute Conference.
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Fran Goldstein brings more than twenty-five years of service to non-profit organizations in the areas of strategic planning, organizational analysis, partnership building, and grants consulting for arts and human service organizations. She was the first director of the new Department of Grant Resources for the District of Columbia and served as a special assistant to the District City Council Committee for Health and Human Services. Fran was instrumental in developing agency-wide approaches for obtaining new federal grants in education, health and human services, economic development and the arts. Fran has also serves as grant reviewer for foundations.

Since returning to the Valley, Fran has worked with both the social services and arts. Fran brings her skills in grantsmanship and building private/public partnerships to CGSI’s clients.
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Richard Nagasawa received his doctorate from the University of Washington and is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Arizona State University (ASU). He has taught and conducted research at ASU for over 30 years. In that capacity, Richard has written, received, and been involved in numerous grants and contracts.

Recently, Richard was an evaluator of several programs with the City of Phoenix: Hope VI Revitalization Project; “Daring Adventures” and the Sudanese “Lost Boys Center.” He was also an external evaluator (as a member of the APRC) of the AZ Department of Education’s “Reading First Program.” As a member of CGSI’s team, Richard is responsible for undertaking research and evaluation projects, and conducting technical assistance workshops.
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Xavier received his doctorate from Cornell University. Xavier has been working in the field of community development for over 10 years. He has extensive experience conducting community-led planning, grant-writing, project design, and program evaluation. Xavier works with clients, facilitating the development of effective community-led planning and program implementation that incorporate evidence based strategies. Xavier was instrumental in the Arizona state-wide implementation of the bullying prevention program. As a member of CGSI’s team, Xavier is responsible for facilitation, program development, and evaluation instrument development.
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Miguel Montiel received his doctorate from UC, Berkeley where he served as an Assistant Professor. At ASU, he has held assignments in Social Work, Honors College, the Hispanic Research Center, Public Affairs, and as Assistant Vice President. He was a Loaned Executive for the City of Phoenix, chaired the Human Services Commission, sits on the Board of the Arizona Center for Public Policy and on the Arizona Judicial Council.

Miguel's work includes Debatable Diversity: Critical Dialogues on Changes in American Universities (1998), and with Richard Nagasawa completed a book entitled The Practice of Evaluation. He was honored by Motorola with the Motorola Presidential Professorship in the Department of Chicana/o Studies at Arizona State University (ASU). As a member of CGSI’s team, Miguel is responsible for undertaking research and evaluation projects and conducting technical assistance workshops.
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