Bob Stilger is President of NewStories, a Spokane, Washington nonprofit corporation established in 2000. NewStories helps groups learn and collaborate effectively using appreciative processes - circle, world café, open space, online collaboration. In addition to many years of experience as a facilitator of groups meeting face-to-face, Stilger has extensive experience in use of the internet for collaboration and learning.

Stilger also serves on the Leadership Council of The Berkana Institute, a Utah based-nonprofit institute which works with pioneering leaders and communities in all types of organizations throughout the world. At Berkana Stilger has supported the development of learning centres in Zimbabwe, Senegal, Croatia, India, Holland and England as well as co-leading Berkana's efforts to develop innovative social processes for collaboration at a distance.

Prior to forming New Stories in 2000, Stilger founded Northwest Regional Facilitators (NRF) in Spokane in 1974, and served as its Executive Director for more than 25 years. When he left NRF was a respected regional community service agency with a professional staff of nearly 30, and combined annual operating budgets in excess of $2 Million and construction budgets of $2-4 Million a year.

During his time at NRF he founded or co-founded a number of other nonprofit corporations including FutureSpokane, Washington Coalition for Rural Housing, SpokaneMarketPlace, Northwest NonProfit Resources and Spokane Housing Ventures.

Stilger is a manager, a leader, a program planner, a fund raiser, a negotiator, a facilitator, a designer and a person who quickly grasps the shape, dimensions and texture of many situations and issues. He's a generalist with conceptual and communication skills. His work has been with low income people, business leaders, people from other cultures, environmentalists, industrialists and public officials.

Stilger has worked with governors, members of congress, National Science Foundation, numerous state departments of energy, Swedish Business Exchange Agency, Japanese businesses, colleges and universities and others. In Washington State he's worked with several Governors, Department of Community Development, Department of Social and Health Services, Department of Health, State Energy Office, Department of Trade and Economic Development, Department of Ecology. Federally he's worked with the United States Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Education and Energy as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and National Science Foundations. He has also worked in the states of Idaho and Nebraska and internationally in Europe, Africa, Japan, and Australia.

See http://www.newstories.org and http://www.berkana.org

Past Employment:

Executive Director, Northwest Regional Facilitators, 1974-2000
Program Director, EXPO '74 Environmental Symposium Series, 1973-4.
Assistant Director, Northwest Environmental Communications Network, 1972-3.
Educational Staff, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, 1966-71.
R&D Consultant, Learning Resources Center, Portland, OR, 1967-70

Consultant Services:

Stilger's consulting work has included the following clients: State of Washington -- Alternatives for Washington Program, State Energy Office, Department of Social and Health Services, Community Trade and Economic Development, and Department Of Energy, Washington State Bicentennial Commission, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, National Municipal League, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Nebraska State Energy Office, Washington Coalition for Rural Housing, Spokane County, City of Renton, Berkana Institute.

Volunteer Services:

Advisory Committee Member, American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, Community Resource Center Demonstration Project, 1977-79
Proposal Review Panel, National Science Foundation -- Office of Science for Citizen, 1980.
Co-Founder, Washington Coalition for Rural Housing, 1981-83.
"Core Group", ActionLinkage, 1982-88.
Board of Directors, Spokane Planning Affiliates Network, 1982-87.
Board of Directors, Spokane Voluntary Action Center, 1982-84.
Board of Directors, Spokane Interplayers Theater, 1985-88; Vice President, 1986-88.
Member-at-Large, Executive Committee, Governor's Council on Emergency Food Assistance, 1985-86.
Board of Directors, FutureSpokane, 1986-1990.
Member-at-Large, Executive Committee, Governor's Task Force on Hunger, 1986-88.
Member, State Downtown Housing Task Force, 1988.
Member, Governor's Nuclear Waste Advisory Council 1988-89.
Member, Governor's Nuclear Waste Advisory Board, 1991-94
Member, Spokane MarketPlace Board, 1991-95; Board President, 1992-94
Member, Board of Directors, Transformational Learning Community, 1995-1999
Member, Board of Directors, Berkana Institute, 2001-2004
Member, Vision Group, The Berkana Institute, 2004-Present
Member, Board of Directors, Pioneers of Change, Johannesburg and London, 2001-Present
Member, Board of Directors, Kufunda Learning Village, Zimbabwe, 2002-Present

Education:

Carleton College, Bachelor of Arts, 1971
California Institute of Integral Studies, Masters of Human and Organizational Transformation, 1999
PhD in Transformative Learning and Change, California Institute of Integral Studies, 2004

Contact:

350 East 10th
Spokane, WA 99202
(509) 835 4128

http://www.newstories.org
bob@newstories.org