Lumen Impact Group
Lumen Impact Group

About Us

At Lumen Impact Group, everything we do is designed to support the leaders and teams of our clients. Every ah-ha we help clients discover and every challenge we help leaders and teams successfully address, powers us in achieving our greatest impact by helping you achieve yours. We partner with you to develop your path forward and the people to implement it. Because the world needs your greatest impact.
lisa@lumenimpactgroup.com
Lisa Diaz, Founder

Facilitator ● Strategist ● Governance Coach ● Implementation Specialist ●
Cultivator of Leadership and Culture

Lisa is recognized across the country for her foundational work with schools, nonprofits and small/medium-sized businesses. Clients rely on her expertise in effective leadership, organizational change, strategic planning, intentional culture, and management and systems processes. As a facilitator, Lisa turns the mirror around and shines new light on clients and their work. She ensures diverse voices, stakeholder feedback and data are considered, and she uses probing questions to expand leader and team perspectives. With more than 20 years of board-level and leadership coaching experience, Lisa helps leaders and governing boards bring their best selves to their organizations and teams — all in pursuit of effective partnership and impactful outcomes.

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laura@lumenimpactgroup.com
Dr. Laura Groth, Senior Partner

Researcher ● Technical Assistance and Sensemaking Provider ● Policy Analyst ● Coach

Laura’s experience spans early childhood, K-12, and higher education research, policy, and technical assistance. She investigates challenges such as effective policies, human capital systems, and school improvement. Laura leads many of Lumen’s research efforts and ensures its projects and products are grounded in relevant literature and appropriate evidence. She also coaches leaders and professionals toward career fulfillment and advanced outcomes.

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loutlaw@lumenimpactgroup.com
Lauren Outlaw, JD, Senior Partner

Policy Specialist ● Legal Compliance and Risk Management Advisor ● Strategic Planner ● Facilitator

Lauren manages compliance-driven projects by leveraging her legal background and 10+ years of experience in policy research, analysis, and development. When policy and regulatory jargon cloud execution, she marries legal and policy compliance to strategic plans and operational processes. Lauren’s equity-focused lens in facilitation and meditation with clients and other stakeholders ensures outcomes driven by inclusivity.

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amy@lumenimpactgroup.com
Amy Ruck Kagan, Senior Partner

Facilitator ● Strategist ● Leadership Coach ● Organizational Development Specialist

Amy has dedicated her career to ensuring that zip code does not dictate the quality of one’s education, working across the public education ecosystem to achieve sustainable and equitable systems improvements. She has been an unrelenting advocate for students and for equity for more than twenty years. Amy brings a keen political savviness, a national and international presence, and strategic relationships and partnerships to all projects. Amy is a visionary leader who thinks outside the box, finds creative and effective solutions, and builds and manages productive and strong teams. Amy lives in Park City, Utah with her husband and two young sons. Amy is an enthusiastic outdoors-woman who finds solutions while skiing or hiking. Amy is an avid reader, a Peloton enthusiast, and an amateur baker.

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stephanie@lumenimpactgroup.com
Stephanie VanDyk, Junior Partner and Chief of Staff

Facilitator ● Adult Learning Designer ● Lumen Project Manager ● Client Liaison

With experience as an educator and consultant, Stephanie guides teams through strategy, team culture, and project implementation. She creates custom experiences for clients as they work through their culture and organizational goals. She fosters relationships and turns client needs into actionable plans through guided, collaborative work time. Stephanie also serves as a project manager and connector of human resources, developing systems and processes for continuous improvement on the Lumen team.

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cori@lumenimpactgroup.com
Cori Egan, Junior Partner

Researcher ● Project Manager ● Data and Policy Analyst

Cori has worked as a teacher, researcher, project manager, and consultant. Her expertise includes data collection and analysis, school turnaround efforts, and organizational improvement through thoughtful program evaluation, system design, and strategic planning. Cori helps schools, nonprofits and other organizations understand their current state and path forward, coordinates projects among Lumen team members and clients, and leverages talent and capacity to ensure timely completion of deliverables. Cori uses data to zoom in on the policy landscape and to identify organizations’ strengths, pain points and opportunities for growth and continuous improvement.

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lauren@lumenimpactgroup.com
Lauren Tyler, Program and Operational Administrative Professional

Grants Management Specialist ● Technical Assistance Designer and Provider ● Client Manager

Lauren helps organizations pursue their visions through creative management strategies, funding analyses, and adult learning opportunities. In her previous roles as a teacher, school- and district-level leadership team member and nonprofit grant writer, Lauren cultivated expertise in creating cultures grounded in inclusion, equity, and excellence. Her work drives outcomes by helping clients establish foundations built by all stakeholders.

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don@lumenimpactgroup.com
Don Sytsema, Finance Manager

Compensation and Benefits Administrator ● Budget Manager ● Bookkeeper

Don spent 26 years in the field of law enforcement before retiring in October 2021. He joined Lumen’s team shortly thereafter working behind the scenes, part time, to make sure that the “Lumen Ladies” have the resources they need to make their greatest impact. 

Don lives in Central Michigan with his wife and three sons. Don enjoys spending time with his family whether on vacation or at home. He also enjoys skiing, camping, golf, theater, and is an avid sports enthusiast.

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Certifications

DUNS:117444883

CAGE:8HYW6

Testimonials

"Lisa did a fantastic job with our entire strategic planning team. Her process was beyond organized. As a new administrator, I was able to lean on Lisa for her expertise and knowledge of strategic planning. She did everything from meeting organization and to facilitating subgroups, focus groups and staff culture surveys. Her work with the school board and administrative team was respectful, while also filled with appropriate advice and constructive feedback. I could not imagine going through this process without Lisa. She will continue to be a trusted resource for years to come."
Jamie DeWitt
School Leader, NexTech High School
"Lumen Impact Group has been critical in supporting Bluum’s efforts in Idaho to manage our $17.1 million federal Charter School Program grant. As one of the country’s first non-profit organizations to receive federal CSP funding, the stakes for our work are very high, and our efforts to help open, expand and replicate public charter schools face scrutiny. I sleep better knowing Lumen Impact Group has worked closely with us to build our processes, procedures and playbook for managing the responsibility of directing and overseeing a significant federal grant. I highly recommend them to others. They are true pros."
Terry Ryan
CEO, Bluum
"As a family-owned and operated company, we needed to preserve our culture and define our mission, vision and values better as we grew. Lumen Impact Group helped capture a variety of diverse perspectives and hopes for the future in a way that connected everyone involved. Lumen Impact Group helped us create a clear strategic focus and for our future stabilized our culture. Lisa also coached our leadership team in supporting implementation."
Mark Smith
President, Krapohl Ford & Lincoln
"Lisa Diaz and Lumen Impact provided invaluable support to Colorado Charter Facility Solutions during our start-up phase. I was the new non-profit organization’s executive director (and only employee at the time), and Lisa knew answers to questions that I did not even know to ask. She made sure the board of directors was set up correctly and that the organizational documents were in place. Lisa helped me establish the organization’s goals and ways to track progress. Lisa is organized, patient and kind, and worked quickly, thoroughly and collaboratively. She is a good listener and even acted as an executive coach/therapist at times. When necessary, Lisa can be direct, yet she is always focused on the goals of the organization and its success. I highly recommend Lisa Diaz and Lumen Impact Group. "
Jane Ellis
Executive Director, Colorado Charter Facility Solutions
"I have worked with Lumen Impact Group at both the individual and organizational level. As a coach, Lisa has a natural ability to get to the heart of the matter quickly and to ask questions that help her clients translate insight into action. Each team member who has worked with Lisa in a coaching capacity has demonstrated visible growth that has positively impacted individual and team performance. As an organization, we are trying to be purposeful about the culture we are creating, as a means of best fulfilling our mission. Lumen Impact Group has been a tremendous thought partner along the way and has facilitated critical steps in a collaborative yet efficient and fun way. Our team was in awe at how much we accomplished collectively in a short period of time. We are moving toward our ideal culture much more quickly than I thought possible, and I have no doubt it is because of Lumen Impact Group’s guidance. "
Kasey Miller
Chief of Staff, National Association of Charter School Authorizers