HSD Team

Dr. Glenda Eoyang works with public and private organizations to help them thrive in the face of overwhelming complexity and uncertainty. She is a pioneer in the field of human systems dynamics (HSD), which she founded. Through Human Systems Dynamic Institute, Glenda uses her Models and Methods to help others see patterns in the chaos that surrounds them, understand the patterns in simple and powerful ways, and take practical steps to shift chaos into order. Her clients include Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oxfam International, Canada School of Public Service, Cargill, Fraser Health Authority (BC), and Roche/Genentech.

Glenda’s latest book, with co-author Royce Holladay, is Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty in Your Organization (Stanford University Press, April 2013).

Royce Holladay has been working to support people as they navigate change for over 30 years. With a Masters degree in counseling, she began learning about the dynamics of personal change. Since learning about Human Systems Dynamics, she builds on and expands those skills in multiple areas of her work and personal life. She works with individuals of all ages, supporting them in the challenges of living, working, and playing in the complexity of today's world. Over the past decade, Royce has co-authored five books based on Human Systems Dynamics, including the book she and Glenda co-authored, Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty in Your Organization. Her most recent books are a series of brief guides designed to help people apply HSD principles to specific areas of work in human systems, such as coaching, instructional design, and facilitation.

Barbara Capps joined the Human Systems Dynamics Institute in January 2016 as the Executive Assistant to the HSD Executive staff. She brings a wealth of organizational skills and experience to provide adaptive support as the HSD Institute continues to expand its reach and the boundaries of the field. She's a strong team player, anticipating and responding to needs of HSD staff members, Associates, clients, or customers.

Ahmed Avais, a distinguished Agile Coach and Human Systems Dynamics Professional, has over two decades of experience guiding organizations across healthcare, finance, and transportation sectors. As a business agility coach at Project Brilliant, he holds prestigious titles including Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC), Certified Team Coach (CTC), and Professional Certified Coach (PCC). His expertise has been instrumental in driving success and innovation for Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized firms, and startups across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Residing in Apex, North Carolina, Ahmed leads a vibrant family life with his wife and four children. His dedication extends beyond professional commitments to a passion for personal growth, mastery, Agile games, and outdoor adventures. Whether it’s hiking, globe-trotting, or exploring diverse cultures, Ahmed's enthusiasm and holistic approach make him a compelling and influential figure in the Agile community.

April and her husband Eric are originally from the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.  They moved to Shoreview, Minnesota from Ft. Collins, Colorado in 1995, after attending graduate school at Colorado State University.  After 25 years, they returned to Ft. Collins in 2022 with their two adult sons.   

April serves on the Board for FocoCafé, a non-profit restaurant that provides nutritious and delicious meals to the people of Fort Collins, regardless of their ability to pay, using mostly local, organic, and sustainably grown ingredients.  In her role on the board, she sees a way to help the wider community see itself clearly and seek to understand hunger and houselessness. It’s also an opportunity to volunteer in nutrition, regenerative agriculture, and public health ecosystems.

April’s formal education includes a B.S. in chemical engineering from Iowa State University.  After seven years working as an engineer, she received an M.A. in Counseling from Colorado State University, and focused her creativity, analytical, and counseling skills on facilitating career development for people of all ages.  Her most recent position was as state lead for career readiness and work-based learning for the Minnesota Department of Education.  April’s mission is to help people connect and contribute themselves to the world…and the world needs all of us!  

April is re-developing her coaching practice as a support to education provided in a community of practice.  She has been working with Janice Ryan (also an HSD associate) to create a virtual community of practice on resilience for young people to generate their lifework, while learning and applying the HSD paradigm, models, and methods.  April is excited to pilot the community of practice in 2024. 

April’s independent professional development research involves learning about trauma and nervous system regulation, as well as the re-emerging use of psychedelics with integration therapies, to help youth heal and move forward with their lives.  In the future, April hopes to partner with a non-profit to form an environmental community of practice for people of all ages who are inspired towards career challenges relating to sustainability, as well as write companion books for teaching youth HSD for use with their career exploration and experimentation. 

April is an award-winning Toastmaster who enjoys public speaking.  She loves to listen to a variety of music and has played the violin and sung in a variety of choirs.  She’s attempting to learn ‘shuffle’, salsa dancing and (inspired by Tamela) Hula Hooping.  She loves yoga, wall Pilates, hiking, kayaking, cooking healthy meals, and learning about nature and history along the Front Range in Colorado. 

Kate is an independent consultant, based in Guelph, Ontario, Canada and has focused on the people side of change, leadership and learning for 20+ years.  Her passion lies in helping organizations navigate complexity, understand themselves better, and find pragmatic solutions to team and organizational issues, while building leadership and adaptive capacity.  Kate’s clients range across the public, private and not for profit sectors, and her work has been as varied as those contexts - design and delivery of learning programs, team exploration and future planning in response to engagement findings and change initiatives, organizational reimagining of purpose, systems and structures, and ongoing team and organizational effectiveness intervention.

A long-time connector of dots and finder of possibility, Kate has been formally applying human systems dynamics and complexity theory to her client work and life since 2015, but according to family lore started playing with patterns and looking for different ways of approaching problems at the age of 3. 

Kate believes deeply in the power of community to shift patterns and find solutions, and has established a thriving local circle of practitioners focused on change, leadership and learning.  She loves being part of the magic that happens when people come together around an issue or a practice.  Her volunteer work also centres community and supporting others in their journey toward life and work that is fit for purpose.

Kate earned an MA in Industrial /Organizational Psychology from University of Guelph, and a BA (Hons) in Psychology from McMaster University.  Kate became a certified Human Systems Dynamics Practitioner in 2015.

Paul lives with his wife Deborah Magnuson and their 12-year-old golden retriever in New Brighton, Minnesota. Deborah and Paul have two adult twin daughters, Heather and Ariel. He is currently retired and enjoys spending his time between the apartment in New Brighton and a small cottage in the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin.

Paul enjoyed a 40 plus year career, mostly in finance, accounting, and administrative management. He held various managerial and executive positions in the not-for-profit, for profit, and governmental sectors, throughout his career. He has worked in various States and spent 4 years living in Latin America while working for a Non-Governmental Organization.

He has served in various capacities on several Boards of Directors, including a 6-year term on the Human Systems Dynamics Institute board from 2007 through 2013. Paul is currently active in the building of a global community of students and practitioners in the emerging field of Spiral Dynamics and Integral Theory.

Dr. Leguizamon Grant, is the Executive Director of Rainbow Research - a national social justice-focused research and evaluation not-for-profit organization. He hails from a rich family lineage of people who have committed consistently across countless generations to a life of service to humanity. He has continued that tradition as an educator for more than 30 years at Metropolitan State University, as an organizer and trainer of organizers and leaders through various efforts all across America and in Africa, and as a consultant. Sam has always embodied and practiced integral social innovation braiding economic, racial, cultural, gender, trans-border, and environmental justice. 

Sam was in a 2007 Cohort of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute, and this offered tools to better see, understand and influence patterns in world-ecology. Sam's innovations have included an eco-industrial park, a community development credit union, an individual savings account program, a community-supported agriculture project, food systems organizer, the development of an organizer training program, the development of a community development practitioner training program, the development of an early childhood environmental education center in Sierra Leone, eco-village training in West Africa, permaculture design training in the United States and Africa, organizing bases of environmental justice leaders in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and lots of  facilitation of JEDI work with organizations of all sizes and scales.

Sam is a published author, with works in the Journal of Sustainability Education, the Journal of Avian Conservation and Ecology, the CURA Reporter, and Changemaker Press. He is co-editing a book now with two colleagues on Ecological Imperialism, and completing an article for publication on the phenomenology and the embodiment of race.

Sam has a PhD in Transformative Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He did his Masters work on Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University. His BA is from Macalester College with a triple major in Philosophy of Social Science, Biology and Environmental Studies. He did Post-Bacc work in integrated watershed management at the University of Minnesota and completed all coursework for a second PhD in Community Economic Development at SNHU.

Phei Sunn was first acquainted with strategic foresight and complexity work in 2007 and subsequently ventured into the field of Organisational Development since 2010. Over her 20+ years span in the Singapore Public Service, Phei Sunn has worked across policy, operational, and corporate portfolios. The work in the Public Sector is appealing because it can be so complex and diverse, yet deeply bounded by a common mission and purpose.

As an internal OD practitioner, Phei Sunn has conducted delivered training programmes, consulted with public agencies and teams, and written case studies related to change and self-organising. She is passionate about designing and facilitating conversations, and developing others. She believes in deepening her reflective and adaptive capacities so that she can be a better use of self in her work. 

Phei Sunn holds a Masters in Social-Organisational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, a Masters in Public Administration from the LKY School of Public Policy, and a Bachelors (Hons) in Economics from the National University of Singapore. She also has a graduate diploma from the NTL-CSC Organisational Development Practitioner Certificate Programme, and is a certified Human Systems Dynamics Professional in working with complex adaptive systems.

Tamela’s passion is centered around helping others to fulfill the highest expression of themselves. She is a Certified Facilitator and HSD Practitioner and uses her skills and experience to improve engagement and transform leadership in municipal government. 

Tamela previously served in the Office of former Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Sly James, as Senior Advisor for Operations. She’s also served on numerous boards and commissions including the Kansas City Credit Union’s Supervisory Committee, the Kansas City AIDS Foundation, and the Avila University Alumni Board. 

Tamela earned a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and an MBA in Management from Avila University, where she’s served as a guest lecturer for several years. 

Tamela comes from a family of seasoned educators and orators. She spends her spare time lending her talents as a voiceover artist, podcast host, on-air personality, poet, and inspirational speaker. 

Fueled by deep pride in her family surname, Tamela believes that Courage Comes in Handie.