Meet Our Team
Stephen M. Pratt (he/him/his)
Stephen M. Pratt is the President of Impact Catalysts. Prior to launching Impact Catalysts in 2016, he was a Partner and Director of Advisory Services at Root Cause. Steve has more than two decades of experience in nonprofit management, having served as CEO of two direct service organizations, two capacity-building intermediaries, and a scholarship foundation. Steve has also had a role in the founding of six social impact ventures including Boston After School & Beyond and Bridgespan’s Bridgestar Initiative.
One of these start-ups, Eureka-Boston, was a learning community for nonprofit CEOs that developed into the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, representing over 600 community-based organizations in the Commonwealth. At Eureka, Steve coached 56 CEOs of nonprofits in youth development, housing and homelessness, health care, community development, arts, and environment. He has served as a resource for early stage social entrepreneurs and seasoned executives of multi-service agencies.
Steve has led a range of consulting engagements in the areas of education and youth, housing and homelessness, workforce development, civic engagement and advocacy, and health care improvement. As part of this work, Steve led the development of our performance measurement system tool and framework for financial sustainability planning. He has written extensively on nonprofit strategy and leadership, financial sustainability, and performance measurement.
Steve has an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Government and English from Hamilton College. A cancer survivor, Steve has completed the 192-mile Pan-Mass Challenge bicycle ride 11 times, raising over $70,000 for cancer research and advocacy. Steve also serves as board chair of Food For Free, an innovator in promoting food security in eastern Massachusetts.
Lauren Dybel (she/her/hers)
Lauren Dybel is a consultant at Impact Catalysts, where she supports where she supports strategy and implementation, and oversees research and project management for client engagements. Lauren has held direct service and capacity building roles in the nonprofit and youth development fields in Boston for several years, including as an AmeriCorps VISTA, community partner in Boston-area schools, and professional mentor for youth. Lauren is passionate about the intersections of health, equity/liberation, youth, trauma, and community. She graduated from William & Mary with a degree in neuroscience and public health, including an honors thesis on the neuropsychological impacts of sexual violence. A native of Virginia, Lauren is open to the possibility that one of Steve’s jokes may end up being funny.
Jessica Arbaiza (she/her/hers)
Jessica Arbaiza is an associate consultant at Impact Catalysts, where she supports research and project management for client engagements. Jessica previously worked in the healthcare field as an EMT and later on as an emergency room technician. Jessica is currently serving on the City of Chelsea, Massachusetts planning and development board. She is passionate about addressing social justice issues and is excited to help organizations with social impact questions. She graduated from UMass Lowell with an academic background in Biology, where she also was involved in environmental research. As a Massachusetts native, Jessica has perfected the eye-roll in response to Steve’s jokes.
Dr. Natalie Moore-Bembry (she/her/hers)
Natalie Moore-Bembry advises Impact Catalysts on tactics to ensure the inclusion of a diverse range of voices in our research. She also weighs in on the analysis of research and the development of scenarios that we bring forward for consideration by our clients.
Dr. Moore-Bembry is an independent consultant and thought leader in the application of cultural humility to the practice of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She also serves as an educator, working in particular with first-generation college students hoping to bring their lived experiences to the social work field. She earned her doctorate of education from Rowan University. She has a BSW and MSW from Monmouth University. She is a Licensed Social Worker and a Certified School Social Worker in the state of New Jersey. She has a wide range of experience in the field of Social Work, including working with the Mentally Ill Chemically Addicted (MICA), the developmentally disabled, and Child Welfare. With over 15 years of experience within the field of child welfare, Dr. Moore- Bembry has held positions such as: a child welfare worker, school social worker, and finally as a child welfare trainer.
She has taught at the undergraduate and/or graduate level at Rutgers University, Monmouth University, St. Joseph’s College, and Delaware State University. At St. Joseph’s College she designed and instructed an online undergraduate Human Behavior and Social Environment course that focused on racism, oppression, discrimination, and the use of cultural humility. Dr. Moore-Bembry also designed an online graduate level Social Welfare Policy and Services course at Delaware State University. At Monmouth University she taught Social Work Practice with Communities, Field Practice in Social Work and Advanced Field Practice in Social Work for in the undergraduate program where she also served as a field instructor and mentor for senior BSW field students. In the MSW Program, Dr. Moore-Bembry taught Advanced Clinical Practice with Children, Social Welfare Policy and Services I, and Social Work Practice in Groups.
Devon Tomasi (she/her/hers)
Devon Tomasi has served as an associate consultant at Impact Catalysts, where she supported research and project management for client engagements. Currently pursuing her MSW at University of New England, Devon provides research and analytical support to Impact Catalysts as an independent consultant. She previously worked in the education field, first as an associate teacher at an elementary school in Boston and then as a research assistant focused on education evaluation and improvement on a national scale. Devon is passionate about addressing issues of equity and is dedicated to helping organizations maximize their social impact. She graduated from Middlebury College, with an academic background in neuroscience, psychology, and education. A Vermont native, Devon responds to all of Steve’s jokes with a stoic, “ay-yup.”
Artie T. Westie
Artie T. Westie is Impact Catalysts’ Chief of Security. He also helps with scanning and print jobs for client engagements. He has been known to cut to the chase during video calls.