Maya Townsend

Maya Townsend believes that the complex challenges facing today’s organizations and coalitions require collective, connected action. She brings to her work a deep faith in the power of people, an ability to see beyond individuals to systemic patterns, a pragmatic orientation that prioritizes what works, and a commitment to helping groups work through differences to find innovative solutions. She helps clients create adaptive strategies, develop networks, navigate change, and resolve conflict.

Maya is co-editor of Handbook for Strategic HR: Best Practices in Organization Development from the OD Network (AMACOM, 11/2012). Maya’s articles have been published in strategy + business, People & Strategy, Nonprofit Quarterly, CIO, and other online and print media. She wrote the chapter on “Organization Network Dynamics and Analysis” for The NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change. She serves on the Editorial Review Board for OD Review, the premier OD practitioner journal in the United States. Maya currently teaches Negotiation & Conflict Resolution at Tufts University. In the past, she has also taught at Boston University and Northeastern University. 

Maya earned a Master of Science in Organization Development from American University / NTL Institute. She is certified in the Lewis Method of Deep Democracy – CoResolve. She is also a qualified ValueNet Works practitioner and certified in OrgMapper INFLUENCER, the Drexler-Sibbet Team Performance Model, the Center for Creative Leadership 360 assessment suite, the LJ Map Values Identification System, MBTI, and DiSC. She is pursuing a doctorate in Leadership and Change through Antioch University. She can be contacted at [email protected].

“Maya is a phenomenal resource to organizations and leaders. She brings warmth and accessibility combined with the ability to see the big picture as well as the details. A year or so after having worked with Maya on a comprehensive, organization-wide strategic planning process, I hired her to plan and facilitate a 2-day leadership team retreat. I knew that we needed her strategic and thoughtful approach to planning the retreat and her warm yet structured facilitation during the two days. As expected, Maya was very thoughtful about creating and evolving the design, in partnership with each participant, to ensure that we had a clear set of shared goals and a plan for meeting those goals. During the retreat, she helped us to have complex and challenging conversations by utilizing a variety of relevant and productive facilitation methodologies. Maya is a master at balancing structure with flexibility, adjusting based on the needs of the participants and the direction of the conversations and decision-making. Everyone on our team loves working with Maya and we view her as a true organizational partner.” – CEO, Talent Services Company

“Working with Maya exceeded our expectations. Her process was a great fit with our goals and she led the process beautifully. Maya is a talented and well-respected facilitator who brought a clear plan to each session but was able to flex as needed. She quickly built trust with our team and along the way, team members often said “trust Maya’s process.” We did, and we are thrilled with the results!” – CEO, Professional Services Company