Elli Nagai-Rothe

Elli Nagai-Rothe

Elli Nagai-Rothe has over 14 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, training design, leading participatory group processes, and intergroup dialogue facilitation. She specializes in working with non-profits and social enterprises. Deeply committed to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, Elli served for four years as the Diversity and Equity Point Person on the Board of Directors for the Association of Dispute Resolution of Northern California (ADRNC). She helped to establish and ultimately chair ADRNC’s Diversity and Equity Committee. Since 2006, Elli has served on the Board of Directors of Diversity 2000, helping to design, plan, and implement an annual diversity conference gathering diversity and social change practitioners from across the U.S. to engage in dialogue and thought-leadership on issues of Diversity and Inclusion.

From 2004-2006, Elli served as the principal of a rural start-up school in southern India, focused on providing a quality, holistic education to students of socially and financially marginalized communities. Elli’s leadership of Victoria Matriculation School included the establishment of inclusive school policies, creating a learning environment that emphasized equity in a caste-conscious community, and leading workshops in effective teaching techniques. Elli completed her MA degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University. Her interests lie in the intersection of global race relations, social justice, and exploring the role of inter-group dialogue as a tool for conflict transformation. Elli has facilitated numerous inter- group dialogues on issues of race, power, gender and cross-cultural understanding. She managed a campus dialogue program involving 200+ campus community participants, led dialogue facilitation training workshops for graduate students and staff, and consulted with the Inova Fairfax Hospital’s Cultural Competency Program to facilitate inter-group dialogues for 3rd-year medical students that address unconscious bias.

Elli was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to New Zealand in 2010 where she conducted research in affiliation with the New Zealand Human Rights Commission on institutional racism and promising strategies to address racial inequity. While there, she also organized and facilitated the Human Rights Commission’s annual Youth Forum on cultural diversity in partnership with UNESCO. Most recently she served as the Manager of Restorative Justice Programs at SEEDS Community Resolution Center, working with schools around the Bay Area. She continues to consult with local, national, and international non-profit organizations, providing support in the areas of organizational development, Diversity and Inclusion, project evaluation, dialogue facilitation and strategic planning.

WordPress Cookie Notice by Real Cookie Banner