Our Team

Kyle Bozentko

Executive Director
kyle@cndp.us

Kyle Bozentko brings over 15 years of political campaign, public policy, and deliberative engagement experience to his role as Executive Director of the Center for New Democratic Processes. Kyle has contributed directly to the design, implementation, and evaluation of over 45 multi-day deliberative engagement projects (citizens’ jury, citizens’ assembly, and other deliberative mini-publics) with partners in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and France. He has over 2,000 hours of deliberative engagement facilitation experience with groups ranging from a dozen to 250+ participants.

Kyle has overseen, contributed to, and executed deliberative engagement projects on issues as diverse as nuclear waste management and disposal, improving diagnostic accuracy, developing federal guidelines for data sharing and privacy in the UK, the use of AI in decision-making, and COVID-19 pandemic data sharing initiatives, to hospital relocations/consolidation, climate change and energy policy, urban infrastructure planning, municipal governance reform, and improving trust in and effectiveness of media. Beyond this, Kyle has consulted or advised teams and/or governments on deliberative engagement projects and initiatives in Australia, Japan, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore and South Korea. He served on the International Association of Public Participation – USA (IAP2 USA) Board of Directors from 2015-2018 and the MNsure (Minnesota) Health Industry Advisory Committee from 2016-2018. Kyle currently serves on the State of Minnesota Office of Collaboration and Dispute Resolution Inaugural Advisory Committee and served as Co-Chair of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium Executive Committee from 2016-2020. Kyle has contributed to articles and research featured in the Brookings Institution, Real Clear Policy, GOVERNING, the Journal of Medical Internet Research, the Journal of Medical Ethics, and the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Larry Pennings, D. Min.

Associate Director
larry@cndp.us

Larry brings a broad array of group facilitation and process design skills, dispute resolution and conflict management expertise, and organizational development experience to our work. After working closely with the inventor of the Citizens Jury process for over 15 years, he is one of the most highly knowledgeable and experienced practitioners of jury-based public deliberation methods in the world. He has served in roles of Lead Agenda Designer, Facilitator, Process Manager, and Trainer of Facilitators for deliberative projects on a wide range of topics. His work in these capacities was essential to the successful development of our project portfolio as well as the development and institutionalization of the Citizens’ Initiative Review process in Oregon. Larry has contributed to or overseen more than 30 deliberative events, several of which have received national or international awards including; The Citizens Initiative Review (IAP2 – 2013; Harvard Ash Center – 2017), Clearing the Error (IAP2 – 2016), and Rural Climate Dialogues (IAP2 – 2017).

He also brings strong management and consulting skills to our team drawing on his Masters in Management from the Antioch University Center for Creative Change and his Doctoral degree (D. Min) from San Francisco Theological Seminary. His professional management experience includes working with clients on organizational transformation, providing coaching and mediation, openly confronting challenging organizational issues and conflicts, and recognizing systemic patterns that get in the way of achieving goals and taking productive steps forward. These skills also ensure that our internal administrative operations are exemplary and our projects are delivered on time and according to agreements. In addition to his deliberative democracy and civic engagement work, Larry has designed and led multi-day mission-change training for over 1500 employees of a state agency; consulted with non-profits on organizational leadership and management, served as an interim executive director for an international non-profit and, offers leadership coaching to individuals.

Sarah Atwood, PhD

Head of Research and Engagement
sarah@cndp.us

Sarah is the Head of Research and Engagement at the Center for New Democratic Processes. Sarah draws on over 15 years of experience as a facilitator, scholar, and public historian to oversee the design and implementation of our engagement work as well as our organizational research activities. Sarah has consulted with clients such as Pfizer, Inc., The New York Times, the National Health Service (NHS England), and the Kettering Foundation (Ohio). She has designed, implemented, and/or contributed to citizens’ jury and public deliberation projects on a diverse range of topics, including nuclear waste storage and disposal, health service delivery and hospital siting, artificial intelligence guidelines, national security, and international relations (USA), race and representation in news media, as well as the relationship between law, race, and citizenship in Antebellum America. Her work employs interdisciplinary and cross-cultural deliberation and facilitation techniques developed through her extensive work leading both small and large-group trainings, classes, and deliberative processes (up to 140 people). Sarah brings experience working within academic, public, and private sector projects and has a breadth of experience working with organizational and individual partners from a range of professional and personal backgrounds. She has extensive experience in research, project, and curriculum design with an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the development and implementation of group dialogue, deliberation, and educational materials. Sarah has worked on public history and engagement projects with Minnesota Historical Society’s Department of Inclusion and Community Engagement, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (US), the Minnesota Humanities Council, and the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.

Sarah received her PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. She holds a BA from Hamline University and MA from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Jonathan Wong

Communications Strategist
jonathan@cndp.us

Jonathan is an experienced communications professional that spent his career in the government and nonprofit sectors. His experiences include digital marketing communications, civic engagement, strategic planning, and complex cross-sector collaborations. At the Center for New Democratic Processes, Jonathan helps manage all aspects of communications. Jonathan is passionate about social justice and raising social equity. Outside of his job, he actively works on statewide and regional initiatives in Minnesota that aim to address racism at the systemic levels.

Jonathan received both his Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications and his Master in Public Administration from St. Cloud State University. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and was a 2020-21 Humphrey Policy Fellow.

Malcolm Oswald

Citizens’ Juries c.i.c. (United Kingdom)

Malcolm Oswald is Director of Citizens’ Juries c.i.c., a social enterprise based in Manchester that was established in 2016 with a mission to involve the public in public policy by designing and running mini-publics in the UK. He worked for 18 years as a specialist in information governance in the NHS, involving considerable consultation with public and other stakeholders across the UK about who should get access to health records and for what purposes. He has managed over 30 large and small projects inside and outside healthcare over the last 35 years, organized and run many workshops, and written numerous reports. In 2013, he completed a PhD in Bioethics and Medical Jurisprudence at the University of Manchester. His thesis explored how, in a democracy, decisions to prioritize healthcare resources should be made. This led Malcolm to establish Citizens’ Juries c.i.c. to design and run citizens’ juries in the UK with the Center for New Democratic Processes. Since 2016, as Director of Citizens’ Juries c.i.c., Malcolm has worked in partnership with the Center for New Democratic Processes to design and run nine citizens’ juries, all of which concerned health and/or health research policy. The jury members have been drawn, and the juries run in, North West and North East England, Coventry, Gloucestershire, and Brighton. Malcolm is an Honorary Research Fellow in Law at the University of Manchester, and has worked with academic health researchers on several juries.

Lisa Crosby

Port Townsend, WA
Lisa comes to the Board of CNDP after a lifetime of democratic reform discussions with her father Ned Crosby, founder of the Center. Currently living in Washington State, Lisa has a background in conflict resolution, group facilitation and environmental science.

Tom Eckstein

Chair
Founder, Arundel Metrics, Inc.

Matthew Holm

Program Director, Corporate Affairs
Carlson 

Valerie Lemmie

Director of Exploratory Research, Kettering Foundation
An adept leader and strategic thinker with over 35 years of managerial experience in solving complex community problems and controversial issues, Valerie Lemmie is director of exploratory research at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. In this role she identifies research opportunities, oversees research studies, and convenes learning exchanges that explore ways citizens and public officials work together to solve shared community problems and advance democratic civic engagement, equity, and inclusion. Prior to joining the Foundation, Valerie served as city manager in Petersburg, Virginia, Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio; Public Utility Commissioner of Ohio; acting chief of staff and district director for Congressman Mike Turner (Ohio’s 10th District); and adjunct professor at Howard University and the University of Dayton. An active volunteer, Valerie serves on the board of directors for the National Civic League, National Freedom of Information Association, Dayton History, Dayton Foundation, and Initiatives of Change, USA where she is treasurer. She is also a US Trustee for the grassroots based SIVIO Institute in Zimbabwe. Valerie is Board Chair of the Ohio Matriots, founding board member of the Alliance for Community Schools, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Neal Peirce Foundation. An elected Fellow and past board chair of the National Academy of Public Administration, Valerie has also served on presidential and congressional advisory committees on the family, urban redevelopment, and greenhouse gas reduction. An international keynote speaker on democratic governance and civic engagement, Valerie received her BA in political science and urban sociology from the University of Missouri and an MA in urban affairs/public policy planning from Washington University. A published author, a book chapter she recently coauthored appears in the 4th edition of the Effective Local Government Manager published by the International City/County Management Association.

Mark Ritchie

Former Minnesota Secretary of State
Mark Ritchie is the immediate former president of Global Minnesota, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization devoted to advancing international understanding and engagement. A graduate of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Iowa State University, Mark served as Minnesota’s Secretary of State from 2007 to 2015. He co-chairs the public-private partnership working to bring the 2027 World Expo to Minnesota and serves on the national board of directors for Expo USA, Communicating for America, the U.S. Vote Foundation, the Center for New Democratic Processes, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Board of Advisors. In 2019, Mark was appointed by then Secretary of the Army Mark Esper to serve as Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army (CASA) from Minnesota.