The Grove | About Us

The Grove Consultants International

Our people bring a unique combination of creativity
and professionalism to The Grove. By drawing on
our more than thirty years of business experience in
organizational development, consulting and design,
product development and customer services, we
know how to apply the right solution for our clients.
We take a very personal approach to our work with
the belief that relationships are key to our collective
growth and success.

David Sibbet
President and Founder

David has been an organizational consultant and information designer since 1978, building on his eight years of experience working in public affairs leadership development at the Coro Foundation. He is the author of many of The Grove’s leading-edge group-process tools and models for facilitation, team leadership and organizational transformation. A master facilitator of large-scale group processes, strategic visioning and creative, future-oriented symposia, David frequently lends his coaching and design expertise to Grove project teams. He holds a master’s degree from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a B.A. in literature from Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Laurie Durnell
Director of Consulting

Laurie is a senior consultant who has worked in organizational consulting, team development and management since 1993. A seasoned graphic facilitator and trainer, she has designed and delivered numerous programs incorporating Grove Storymaps™ and experience-based training for corporations and public-benefit organizations. Laurie has an M.B.A from Simmons Graduate School of Management, with an emphasis on organizational development, and a B.S. in natural resource conservation from the University of California, Berkeley.

Tomi Nagai-Rothe
Senior Consultant

Tomi is a senior consultant with fifteen years of experience in both private- and public-benefit organizations. She draws on group process, graphic facilitation and visual design skills in her consulting practice and teaches The Grove’s methodology to individuals and groups. Currently, she is developing culturally sensitive ways to let groups capture their own ideas and images. Tomi received a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies and creative writing from Oberlin College, and she is an internationally certified instructor of Shintaido (a spiritual martial art form) at the second-degree black belt level. She joined The Grove Consultants International in 1988.

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Meet Our
Consulting Team

David Sibbet Laurie Durnell Tomi Nagai-Rothe

Grove Staff

Grove Teams

Tiffany Forner, art director View Bio Hide Bio has been the creative lead on a variety of communication-design and product development projects in her ten years with The Grove. Tiffany has a bachelor’s degree in design from the University of California, Los Angeles. Megan Hinchliffe, chief administrative officer & asst. to David Sibbet View Hide brings more than sixteen years of administration experience to her role managing all facets of administration and accounting at The Grove. She has a bachelor’s degree in American studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz and holds a certificate in human resource management from San Francisco State University. Donna Lafayette, workshop coordinator View Bio Hide Bio has more than twenty years of customer-service experience in a number of industries. She attended art school in New York.
Edward Palmer, IT coordinator View Bio Hide Bio has more than sixteen years of hands-on enterprise-support experience. He carries multiple degrees from Haskell Indian Nations University and Humboldt State University. Bobby Pardini, director of design solutions View Bio Hide Bio manages The Grove’s design team and has worked on many communication-design and product-development projects. He has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia and a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined The Grove Consultants International in 1990. Thomas Sibbet, director of client services View Bio Hide Bio brings more than twenty years of experience at The Grove to his role of making sure that prospective clients’ needs are met with appropriate and timely solutions. He received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Humboldt State University. Noel Snow, customer service associate View Bio Hide Bio has a background in performing and fine arts and brings award-winning customer-focused experience to her interactions with Grove clients. Andrew Underwood, customer service associate View Bio Hide Bio has worked at The Grove for two years. He received a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin University.

Customer Service Team

Our customer service representatives are available by phone and email to help you find the right products to meet your needs, and to ensure you are making the most of your visual planning, team performance and facilitation tools from The Grove.

Consulting Team

Our consultants plan and facilitate collaborative processes and work with organizations to help them develop or align around a strategy or vision. Each is versed in The Grove’s highly effective graphic facilitation methodologies, and has experience working with organizations of diverse size and industry.

Design Team

Our skilled information and graphic designers collaborate with clients to develop compelling graphics that bring a group’s words and strategic visions to life in both print and digital media, from large-format infographics to presentation and meeting supports.

Workshop Team

Our workshop team plans, designs and delivers both standard and customized workshops to help our clients with strategic visioning, team building and a variety of other key organizational challenges.

Copyright Policy

The Grove’s models and templates are the intellectual property of The Grove Consultants International and are based on best practices drawn from more than thirty years of fieldwork. The Grove is committed to sharing its ideas, processes, and tools in order to foster collaboration, and while we strive to make these easily accessible, only authorized licensees may use our proprietary information and materials. Such licensees must acknowledge The Grove as their source by displaying a Grove copyright notice and may reproduce such proprietary information only with our express written permission.

Any unauthorized reproduction or use of our copyrighted material without The Grove’s express written permission is a violation of U.S. copyright law.

If you wish to use our copyrighted material, we are happy to assist you with a purchase or discussion of an appropriate licensing arrangement. Please call us at 1.800.49.GROVE or (415) 561-2500, or e-mail us at products@grove.com. We are happy to help you collaborate with us.

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