Meet Our Consultants
Bertha A. Proctor, M.S.
A graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park and Indiana State University, Bertha has a wide array of work experience ranging from civil to private sector service. She previously worked for the U.S. Navy Department and for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For the past 21 years she has worked in the non-profit industry. Leadership training and staff development are her forte stemming from education in Communications and Human Resource Development.
Bertha has provided leadership within the Community Action Network serving as a Program Director, Executive Director/Head Start Director and is currently CEO of Pace Community Action Agency. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at a local university, serves on various boards and has conducted state and national trainings. She has also developed and implemented a variety of management systems and business initiatives.
Bertha is enchanted with world travel, as it has provided new perspectives and views from many different cultures, i.e. Hong Kong, Egypt, England, West Africa, Greece, Bermuda, France, East Africa, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica & South Africa. Her adventures in other cultures, background in diversified workplaces and experience in many positions, along with her lively training style offer an array of information and enlightenment. Expertise in areas such as: Organizational Development; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Governance; and Head Start management.
Lori Williams, CCAP
Lori has 31 years of service in community action. She is a graduate of the National Community Action Management Academy and Executive Development Institute. In June, 2009, she completed requirements to obtain the ertified Community Action Professional (CCAP) accreditation. She currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Pace Community Action Agency in Vincennes, Indiana. Her responsibilities include directing, planning and coordinating all corporate operations.
Under Lori`s guidance, Pace has maintained an outstanding record of fiscal accountability and high quality of program services. Annual agency audits indicate exemplary fiscal management and excellent internal controls with no questioned cost or exceptions.
For the past 3 years, she has provided consulting, training and workshop facilitation with an emphasis on financial practices and management to other non-profit organizations. In August 2009, with a commitment to excellence and desire to assist other organizations to improve, Lori completed training to become a Peer-Expert Reviewer for the Community Action Partnership Award/Pathways to Excellence. She developed Pace`s CAPTech Consulting with a purpose and a passion to assist other agencies in improving processes.
Colin Maiorano
Colin Maiorano began working with PACE Community Action Agency in 2007. However, for the past year, he has been working more intensively with PACE Community Action Agency staff and CAPTech Consulting. Colin is the CEO of StrategyWorx, a consulting and training firm in Indianapolis, Indiana.
For 14 years his firm has focused on strategic planning, innovation, process design and leadership development for clients that include many not-for-profits including Community Action Agencies, National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting Stations and Second Harvest Food Bank. He also works with for-profit companies including Eli Lilly, Hewlett-Packard, and Proctor and Gamble as well as numerous small and mid-sized companies and non-profits.
He has implemented consulting projects in six countries including China, Singapore, France, Austria, Canada, and the United States. He is the author of Confident, Credible and Clear- Designing and Delivering well-organized, persuasive presentations as well as numerous articles and strategic plans.
Tai Blythe
Tai holds a Master’s Degree in Leadership Development from St. Mary of the Woods and a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from the University of Southern Indiana where she graduated magna cum laude. She currently works within Head Start/Early Head Start at Pace Community Action Agency where has held positions of Resource Coordinator, ERSEA Specialist, Program Coordinator and Associate Director.
Efficiency and compliance are her specialty. Through the use of technology as the database administrator, Tai has developed streamlined systems. She previously worked with a variety of non-profit organizations ranging from youth development programs and hospitals to Community Action Agencies. Tai has also worked with Fortune 500 companies in developing employee wellness initiatives, workplace safety, smoking cessation and parenting classes.
In addition, Tai is a certified trainer for Denver Developmental Screenings. Tai's creativity, determination for excellence and varied background provide for lively trainings that contain information that can be adapted and used immediately. She is also a certified Massage Therapist with the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.
Amy Fehrenbacher
Amy Fehrenbacher holds Bachelor’s degrees in both Historic Preservation and Architectural History from the Savannah College of Art and Design, as well as an Associate’s Degree from Vincennes University in Architectural Drafting. Amy has also attained the Indiana Homeownership Education and Counseling Certification, the Housing Development Finance Professional Certification (#0108-014) through the National Development Council, the Tax Credit Compliance Systems Certification (TaCCs) for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits through Quadel Consulting and attended Project Development Training through the Enterprise Foundation.
Amy received the Douglas F. Seymour Prize in Vernacular Scholarship in 2005 from the Georgia Vernacular Society, and was the Executive Director at Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation when it was awarded the State Historic Preservation Award in 2005.
Amy is a consultant for Pace Community Action Agency, Inc. She is charged with developing high quality, financially sound real estate projects, focusing on the potential for long term agency asset building. Amy’s responsibilities consist of managing and steering the real estate development process from site identification and financial feasibility analysis to rent-up and operations, including every step in between.
John Day, LCSW/LMFT
John L. Day, LCSW/LMFT holds Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Northern University; he studied theology on the graduate level for 2 years at the Hamma School of Theology at Wittenberg University, and holds a Master of Social Work from West Virginia University.
He has 29 years experience as a mental health professional functioning in a variety of roles. He began his career in community mental health both as a psychotherapist and as an administrator. He entered private practice in 1990 where he specialized in using Play Therapy in working clinically with traumatized and abused children. Mr. Day began teaching college full time in 2000 at Wabash Valley College in Mt. Carmel, Illinois. He teaches a variety of courses including psychology, philosophy, religion, and ethics. He has been named as “The Outstanding Instructor of the Year” all 3 times he has been eligible for this award. Mr. Day also maintains a part-time private practice in psychotherapy, supervises new clinicians, and consults within a Head Start Program and Community Action Agency.
Mr. Day has extensive experience in leading professional training seminars in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, and North Dakota. He has trained mental health professionals, educators, and other human service professionals in a variety of subject matters; topics include: Ethics in Human Service Practice; Professional Boundaries in Human Service Practice; Childhood Depression; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children; Distinguishing Between Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Children; Emotional and Behavioral Challenges in School Aged Children; Communicating with Children; and Bi-Polar Disorder in Children.
Liann Smith
Liann Smith's background includes 18 years of experience at a CPA firm and in the banking industry in many capacities from Bookkeeper to Accounting Supervisor.
Over the past 12 years Liann has worked within Community Action. She began as a Bookkeeper and now oversees all agency fiscal operations. She now serves as Chief Financial Officer.
Since 2004 Liann has implemented new reporting systems that integrate program processes. She has also improved budget monitoring and tracking in compliance with specific regulations. In addition, she developed curriculum and provides ongoing fiscal and financial-related computer training.
Under her guidance and direction, Pace Community Action Agency has maintained an outstanding record of fiscal accountability. Annual agency audits indicate exemplary fiscal management and excellent internal controls with no questioned costs or audit exceptions.
Marci Rowland, PHR
Marci Rowland holds expertise that began in the fiscal arena with 15 years prior corporate experience in for-profit industries. The last 13 years of her career has been with Pace Community Action Agency where Marci serves as the Human Resource Manager and is an executive advisor.
Marci holds a certification as a Human Resource Professional (PHR), which demonstrates her commitment to personal excellence and to the human resource profession.
Her background in fiscal processes supplements and augments her extensive knowledge within Human Resources. Marci also has valuable experience in training other non-profit agencies in best practices through CAPTech Consulting.
Joe Conrad 
Joe Conrad brings 34 years of Community Action experience to CAPTech Consulting. During his years of service, he held positions of Planner, Director of Planning, Director of Grant Administration and Executive Director. Under his leadership, Community Action of Northeast Indiana (CANI) grew from an annual budget of $350,000 to over $33 million and a staff of 35 to 250+. He founded and spun off the most successful food bank in the Midwest http://www.communityharvest.org and provided leadership in the building of a state-of-the-art Head Start child care facility in a distressed inner city location as part of a collaborative community development project with the Allen County Library and Fort Wayne Urban League partners.
During his tenure at CANI, Joe also established and expanded Family Development, a case management program, integrated with all services at CANI as well as a community wide system of coordinated care involving twenty other organizations.
Joe's leadership philosophy emphasizes the importance of continual staff development throughout organizations; utilizing fully empowered teams, and observing principles of servant leadership. He possesses a Bachelor of English and Communication Media (business concentration) from Indiana University. For over a decade, he served as Vice-President of the Workforce Development Board in Fort Wayne, IN. A graduate of the National Community Action Management Academy, Taylor University Institute for Organizational Effectiveness, and Leadership Fort Wayne emphasizes his commitment to continual learning. He is currently CEO of Conrad Consulting.
