Todd Porter has served USCLO as Technical Director and Empathy Coach for the HBCU Oral History Project, as well as serving as interim Chief Operating Officer. He currently serves as Facilitator and Strategist, focused on engaging loved ones without color to use their voice and position to join in support, advocacy, and justice for people of the global majority. In addition to USCLO, Todd serves as coordinator for the Public Witness Team of the North Texas - North Louisiana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a member of the International Charter for Compassion’s Social Justice Sector.
Since 1995, Todd Porter has been managing energy in commercial buildings. His leadership roles in Performance Assurance, Client Satisfaction, Quality, and Research and Development led to the discovery that the biggest challenge in saving energy isn’t technical. It's facilitating change in ways that outlive the immediate initiative and achieve long-term impact. In other words: How do humans move from knowing to taking action and doing so in a way that is sutainable?
To explore the dynamics of change in human systems, Mr. Porter completed Case Western Reserve University’s masters’ program in Positive Organization Development. This practical curriculum integrates the science of human development with the practice of organizing humans to work together toward common goals. This expertise in human organizing - combined with the creative skills embedded in his BA in Electrical Engineering and MA in music - accords Todd a unique set of expertises: Relational, Artistic, and Technical.
Combining these areas over the past decade, Mr. Porter has led compassionate communication workshops based on Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication: a Language of Life and is currently a candidate for CNVC Certified Trainer. His workshops have equipped professional, community, and faith-based groups that include large suburban school district leaders, university interview officers, movers and shakers within the Wild Goose Festival and other 501(c)(3) organizations, church staff and municipal leaders, and participants in a variety of regional and national conferences.
The conviction underlying all of Todd’s work is that empathic connection between human beings enables us to create the world we long for: A world in which everyone has what they need.