Maya Thornell-Sandifor, NLA Board President (she/her)
Maya Thornell-Sandifor has been bridging different worlds since she was a child. “I’m a preacher’s kid, so my dad was very politically active in the faith community since I was a little girl,” she shared recently. “He would take me on marches and to political organizing events, and it was bred into me that change isn’t fixed. You have to participate in the system if you want things to be different.”
She was also raised by a highly successful businesswoman: “My mom was in corporate America, and that also informs how I approach my consulting practice. Even justice organizations are institutions that need to run effectively and efficiently. They need to think about things like impact, financial strategy, organizational development, change management, leadership cultivation, and all of those things—but through a lens of equity, justice, and inclusion.”
Her familial influences lit the spark in her to support change agents in bringing about the greatest good for as many people as possible. Earlier in her career, she held pivotal senior roles at both The Women’s Foundation of California and Social Policy Research Associates. As Maya was able to hone in on the sticking points that organizations usually encounter while getting started, and then later as they work to grow their impact, she leaned into leadership development roles, working as a project director with CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and director of Learning Strategy at Philanthropy Northwest. More recently, she worked to build and reinforce the pipeline of resources flowing to justice organizations as the director of Racial Equity Initiatives at Borealis Philanthropy.
Maya now applies all of these skills and lessons in her own practice. In 2021, she founded Mandala Change Group, a consulting practice that provides change management and organizational development strategy services with a DREI lens.
With 20 years of experience in achieving institutional and systems-level change encompassing both racial and gender justice, she recognizes what she calls the tipping point for multi-entity organizations that exist to build progressive power. “I'm excited that NLA can be both a model for what's possible and support other multi-entity organizations in using all the tools to advance progressive agendas,” she shared. “If we can lift the veil on multi-entities and speak in layman’s terms to potential donor partners I'm hopeful that we can raise the resources we need to build NLA and TCS capacity to meet the moment.”
Maya holds an MS in Organizational Development from University of San Francisco and a BA in Marketing and Communications from Simmons University.
