Dara Menashi

Background

About Dara Menashi

I help mission driven organizations craft strategies and programs that result in tangible results for the people they serve. I do this work by taking what can seem like overwhelming problems and breaking them down into manageable pieces. My approach incorporates best practices from management consulting, foundation giving, non-profit management, advocacy, academic research and public sector reform to guide and support decision-making. Throughout my career, I have turned powerful ideas into real world results—as a trusted advisor and practice developer with the Child Welfare Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Co-Founder and President of Kids Insight, an innovator at McKinsey & Co, a system reform consultant to child welfare agencies across the nation, and a policy advisor on economic development initiatives. The critical element for all successful change efforts is identifying the barriers – differences in individual skills and approach, social and cultural impediments, and structural obstacles – and figuring out how to overcome them. I have accomplished this in a broad set of subject areas ranging from human services to economic development to education. Over the years, colleagues have looked to me for help in creating innovative solutions that turn promising concepts into high impact projects that change program and business operations, and more importantly – improve outcomes for the people they serve.