Leibsohn & Associates has brought together a talented and diverse team with the ability to support strategic development and communication for any corporate, non-profit, or public agency. The team has a combined 250 years of experience in high level executive positions in government, the non-profit sector, and Fortune 500 companies. Expertise among team members includes organizational development, strategic communication, philanthropic strategy, policy development, high-level writing, national campaign creation and execution, program design, curriculum development, crisis management, executive coaching, systems reform, partnership development, and much more.
This wide range of expertise and backgrounds allows clients to receive a customized, tailored approach and scope of work to support their needs. The variety of capabilities, personalities, and ideas within the firm offers an inspiring and rich experience for clients to get honest and personalized service with outcomes that matter. Click any of the names below to view their respective biographies.
Ms. Leibsohn began her career in the finance sector working for Morgan Stanley and Groupama Asset Management. Ms. Leibsohn has worked for a variety of companies with community relations/strategic partnerships focus, including America’s Promise Alliance, Special Olympics, Booz Allen Hamilton, The Ritz Carlton, Boys & Girls Clubs, Second Genesis, Playworks, Walden Media and After School All-Stars. She has been a featured speaker at numerous national conferences, including the National Middle School Association, the National Youth Leadership Council, Youth Service America, Operation Hope, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the US Chamber of Commerce.
Ms. Leibsohn is a graduate of the University of Maryland. She currently sits on the advisory boards of The Ritz Carlton’s Community Footprints Initiative, BOOST, Usher's New Look, Creative States with Sir Ken Robinson, and the National Service-learning Partnership.
An international expert in leadership, diversity, change management, and conflict resolution, J’Lein has worked extensively throughout the United States, Africa, and the Middle East.
Highly sought after for her ability to bring diverse groups together in emotionally-charged situations, J’Lein has worked extensively in acute-conflict areas. Most recently, J’Lein has been invited to help reconcile the sectarian conflict in Bahrain and previously her work took her to the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Kenya.
Recognizing that new ideas or policy are only as effective as the commitment of those on the frontlines of implementation, J’Lein’s extensive skills help companies, governments and non-governmental organizations culturally align. Recent engagements include working with the U.S. State Department, the Ministry of Interior in Bahrain, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the South Africa Police Service and Ministry for Social Development in South Africa.
Inspired by a strong, personal belief in the power of relationships, J’Lein designs and facilitates Learning Journeys to introduce business leaders to the grassroots social entrepreneurs who are using business models to solve social issues. J’Lein guides these global experiences for individuals as well as the Young President’s Organization, Ashoka, the Rotary Club, and Foundation Source.
A frequent international keynote speaker and guest on radio and television talk shows. J’Lein’s work has been featured in two documentaries, multiple publications and she has contributed chapters to two university textbooks.
Active in her Phoenix, Arizona community, J’Lein is a member of the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations , Valley Leadership and Charter 100. She is the current chair of the O’Connor House Domestic Violence Awareness Campaign and voluntarily consults with local schools on bullying prevention.
Ms. Baker retired as President and CEO of the Freddie Mac Foundation and Vice president of Community Relations for Freddie Mac, where she led one of the DC Region’s largest corporate philanthropy programs which invested nearly $284 million over 15 years to children, families and communities. Most recently, Ms. Baker served as President of the African American Nonprofit Network (AANN), an organization committed to increase the flow of African American talent into the nonprofit sector. She has done extensive work in strategic planning, visioning, and moving organizations to the next level of development. She is a strong advocate on issues pertaining to vulnerable children, especially those whom are adopted or in the foster care system.
Reflecting Ms. Baker’s commitment to her work and the community, she participates on a number of nonprofit boards: Chair of Leadership Greater Washington; Vice Chair of the African-American Nonprofit Network; Vice Chair and Secretary of the National Visionary Leadership Project and on the Board of Trustees of the Barker Foundation. Ms. Baker has served as Chair of Washington Grantmakers; the Executive Committee of the National Council of Negro Women; The Community Foundation for the National Capitol Region’s Survivors’ Fund Governance Board; and Safe Shores – The D.C. Children’s Advocacy Center; Ms. Baker is a founding director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Ms. Baker was educated in the public school system of Washington, D.C. and graduated from Emerson College with a B.S. in speech communications and continued her graduate studies at the University of Maryland and Southeastern University, from which she received an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 2004.
Mr. Arabia is an accomplished business consultant with expertise in developing corporate, financial, and marketing strategies. He is also proficient in managing overall operations and human resource requirements. Formerly a Lead Partner with Gallup, he led teams and guided programs from research to execution, determined and delivered strategic and creative recommendations, and managed implementation. He is skilled at executing comprehensive research and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, developing rigorous business and human capital projection models, formulating solutions to crucial issues, developing strategies for growth, and delivering recommendations.
Prior to joining Gallup in 2005, Mr. Arabia worked for several Atlanta-based technology companies, serving most recently as a senior consultant with Accenture’s Growth and Strategy Group. He has worked with clients in the electronics, high technology, Internet, hospitality, manufacturing, transportation, and professional services industries, among others. Mr. Arabia holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA from Emory.
Mr. Chaltain is a DC-based educator and organizational change consultant. He works with schools, school districts, and public and private sector companies to help them create healthy, high-functioning learning environments. Mr. Chaltain’s writings have appeared in both magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Post, Education Week and USA Today. A periodic contributor to CNN and MSNBC, Sam is also the author or co-author of several books, including The First Amendment in Schools (ASCD, 2003), First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights (Oxford University Press, 2006), American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009).
Mr. Chaltain has a Master’s degree in American Studies from the College of William & Mary, an MBA from George Washington University, and holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Ms. Butler has over 10 years experience building relationships and creating programs with national, state and community level organizations. She has worked with over 300 organizations including Youth Service America, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, KaBOOM!, CVS, ING, Capital One, and many others. Ms. Butler specializes in brokering and building relationships and helping organizations realize the unique gifts that they can share with others. Her experience in the youth engagement field has helped organizations authentically involve young people in their work, and her focus on building community recognition programs brought much needed attention to the hard and often-time, thankless work being done in communities all over the United States. She is the founder of Butler Unlimited, Inc. — a full service management consulting firm handling all aspects of program development, implementation, relationship building and event management/facilitation.
Ms. Butler has both a Master’s in Public Administration with a focus on Social and Education Policy and her Bachelors of Science in Government from Cornell University. She is a member of the American Management Association and the National Association for Professional Women.
Dr. Edwards is an expert in the areas of middle grades education, school improvement, classroom assessment, and the connection between dropout prevention and middle grades education. Dr. Edwards most recently served as Executive Director of the National Middle School Association (NMSA), the nation’s largest professional association focusing specifically on the education of young adolescents.
Previous to this position, Dr. Edwards served as the vice president for testing and professional development for Measured Progress, a non-profit provider of customized assessment and professional development on various areas of assessment. In that position she worked in cross-company teams and directed the work of departments responsible for item development and graphic design/publications for both customized and off-the-shelf assessments. She was also responsible for professional development for educators around summative and formative assessment. Prior experience also includes service as a middle grades teacher, school and district administrator, and Kentucky Department of Education’s director of curriculum and assessment development during Kentucky's historic educational reform initiative in the 1990s. Dr. Edwards has also served twice as the chair of the Alliance for Curriculum Reform and is past president of both the National Middle School Association and the Kentucky Middle School Association. Dr. Edwards has served on numerous advisory boards, including America’s Promise, The League, and the National Youth Leadership Council, and she currently serves on the National Education Leaders Network for Special Olympics. Dr. Edwards holds a Masters and Doctorate from the University of Louisville.
Pamela Lynne Sorensen is the founder of Pamela’s Punch, a website inspired by her involvement with many civic, business, and community events and organizations. Pamela’s Punch began in November of 2006, and is now acclaimed as the place for getting the “who, what, when, where” of Washington, DC’s social and philanthropic scene and in 2011 opened an L.A. office. Recently, Pamela’s Punch was picked as a Top Ten Blogs of Washington DC by Capitol File magazine. In addition, Pamela does freelance media, speaking, and event hosting engagements.
After moving with her family to the metro area in 1990, Pamela attended the Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA where she was a Tri-Delta and earned a B.A. in Speech Communications. She continued to reside in the northern Virginia area post-graduation and began her career in sales and business development for a number of industries, including defense contracting, professional services, telecommunications, and executive networking. Pamela played in an integral part in the revenue stream growth and success of Net2000 Communications, ExecutiveBiz – where she became Partner – and the Potomac Officers Club. She was a founding Board Trustee of the Northern Virginia Technology Foundation, now EqualFooting and a member of the CharityWorks Advisory Board.
As an active member in the non-profit community, Pamela has been involved in fundraising and media outreach for the countless charities with a local, national and global focus. Currently, she serves in leadership positions on the boards of American News Women's Club, Refugees International Young Humanitarian Circle, Trust for the National Mall L'Enfant Society, Washington Humane Society Fashion for Paws: Executive Committee Member, and Once Upon a Prom.
Some of her television highlights include appearances on FOX News Channel, Planet Green's, "Emeril Green" with Emeril Lagasse, and Lindsay Volkswagen’s “Sign Then Drive” commercial in D.C. Pamela contributed to Washington Life magazine with her article in SUNDANCETWENTYTEN, was picked by DC Modern Luxury magazine as the Top 10 Blogs of 2009 and and was chosen by Washingtonian as one of “Washington’s 25 Most Beautiful People” in 2002..
