P. Stewart Lanier

Stewart Lanier (he/him) is a self-employed organization and leadership development consultant. He founded Lanier Associates Organization Stewards, dba LAOS* Consulting, in 1999 and has since served more than a hundred clients including nonprofits, community organizations, congregations, government agencies, and businesses. Stewart collaborates with highly specialized consulting partners to ensure a customized team for each project. Services include organizational assessment, strategic planning, board development, interim executive leadership, and the integration of race-equity principles in organizational practice.

A focus of Stewart’s work is to assist executives, managers, teams and boards to more deeply align their organizational cultures and strategies with the values of equity, transparency, adaptiveness and innovation. This often includes facilitating robust internal and external stakeholder engagement to ensure that all who are impacted by organizational decision making are fully incorporated in planning processes. Stewart is committed to supporting leaders in understanding and addressing the dynamics of power, privilege, and institutional oppression. He has offered workshops on managing chronic organizational tensions, race-equity in a change management frame, succession planning, and executive transition management. In all his work, Stewart seeks to partner with values-aligned organizations to create a more just and equitably society.

Stewart is a facilitator of the “White People Challenging Racism” community-based antiracism workshop and served on their leadership circle for several years. He is a recipient of Community Change Inc’s Drylongsjo award for his antiracism work. He holds certificates in training and development, (ASTD); mediation, (Lombard Mennonite Peace Center); conflict management, (The Alban Institute); the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, (CPP); the Enneagram, (Action for Results); and group-based spiritual direction, (the Rolling Ridge Center).  Stewart began his professional career as a protestant pastor, and maintains his ordination in good standing in the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church. He shares an empty nest with his spouse, Stacey, and two ever-amusing felines. His has three grown children and two grandchildren. When the schedule permits, he enjoys multi-day adventures on his bicycle, as well as commuting and recreational riding. In lieu of playing games on his phone he often entertains himself by editing photos to explore different ways of looking at things.

*laos is an ancient Greek word that means “the people”.