Abby Alexanian (she/they) is the creator of Constellate and a social change coach and consultant with fifteen years of experience in the nonprofit sector and a passion for helping organizations do their best work. Abby holds an MBA in nonprofit management and a Master in Public Policy from The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and received a certificate in Solidarity Economy Organizing from Concordia University.

Abby’s vision for Constellate began to take shape while she was a lead consultant at Root Cause at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when all her nonprofit clients were plunged into the uncharted territory of rapid adaptation and reinvention across all areas of operations and service delivery. Abby’s work during this time with nonprofit leaders to rapidly change, test, and revise approaches inspired her to initiate and oversee a deeper study of the ways Root Cause’s clients adapted during the pandemic and lessons that could be applied to future disruptions.

Abby brought these lessons from coaching through pandemic-provoked rapid change cycles and subsequent adaptation research to her role as Director of Operations at SEIU Education and Support Fund, where she built operational systems and processes to support the organization’s rapid growth. This growth – a positive “disruption” brought about by a significant increase in funding – was nevertheless an enormous operational challenge that required ongoing balance between rapid responsiveness to immediate needs and significant investment in building the infrastructure needed for long-term success. Through this work Abby developed many tools and processes to enable positive, sustainable change that she now uses to support Constellate’s consulting and coaching clients.

As a consultant over the last decade, Abby has worked with dozens of organizations – from one-person teams to 100+ member networks – across the areas of health, education, housing, workforce development, equity and inclusion, arts & culture, environmental justice, and more. They have led many types of projects, including those focusing on change management, social service program quality, performance measurement and evaluation, strategic planning, coaching organizational leaders, and continuous learning and improvement. Abby’s passion for supporting workers and social service organizations comes from their own experience as a direct service provider, which includes working as the children’s advocate and case manager in a domestic violence shelter in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In addition to their work with Constellate, Abby is a painter and multimedia artist whose work explores themes of social and environmental change, creation and destruction, and generating future possibilities. They live in Western Massachusetts with beloved pup Lucy.