Meet our team…
Dani Beam, Principal
Dani works with individuals and organizations to find creative, practical, and integrated solutions to meet crucial needs and leverage team strengths. She has worked with local, regional, and global businesses and nonprofits to:
train leadership
raise funds
build organizational capacity
Her approach is holistic—she looks at all the components of a situation to address the challenge at hand and create a positive ripple effect to elevate the organization as a whole.
Dani’s capacity-building expertise is rooted in her 25 years as an organizational leader, facilitator, and nonprofit fundraiser. During that time, she supported and advanced the missions of a wide variety of businesses and nonprofits.
Dani’s core strengths are deep listening and empathy. She has a keen sense of client needs and the best ways to engage organizational leaders.
While living in Dallas, TX, and working for Viscern—a national consulting firm that provided fundraising and other consulting services for 10,000 organizations—she honed her expertise in conducting needs assessments, strategic plans, feasibility studies, and capital campaigns. She has also tackled revamping systems, employing best practices, and creating customer-centered services for one of the world’s largest conservation organizations, The Nature Conservancy. Dani has worked with the brightest and the best and knows for a fact—all organizations can improve their services no matter how sophisticated and global their reach is.
As the owner of Beam Consulting, Dani has offered client-centered counsel on annual fundraising, capital campaigns, strategic planning, and marketing for more than ten years. Beam Consulting has worked with organizations, large and small, all over the country. In addition to her consulting services, Dani is known for her highly engaging workshops and trainings.
In her free time, Dani enjoys reading, cooking for friends and family, playing with her nephews, and traveling to new places. She is also an avid swimmer and yoga practitioner and believes that organizations, like everyone else, can benefit from breathing deeply from time to time and seeking a grounded perspective.
Collective Impact Model
You could think of us like the Avengers: our team members have individual superpowers, but we collaborate with each other to provide a well-rounded and integrated approach to your needs for more complex projects. Beam Consulting connects organizations with the right experts to address their areas of opportunity and growth. We provide project management and oversight throughout each project phase which streamlines the client experience and saves time, money, and resources. Essentially, we create a comprehensive and holistic plan under one project umbrella. Usually, nonprofit leaders need to contract with several firms to enjoy the depth of expertise offered through a single Beam Consulting project. We love to work together and that shines through in the work we do for you!
Frequent project contributors…
Amanda Forr, the founder of Element A, has built a career dedicated to the idea that carefully chosen words are meaningful and can drive progress. As a writer, editor, and strategist, Amanda transforms research and data findings into actionable insights and strategic plans. She also tells stories, bringing voices and perspectives to light in authentic and insightful ways.
As senior director of integrated planning for a strategic communications firm, she gained experience across sectors, including economic development, arts and culture, nonprofits, and health care. Amanda also has deep experience in managing and implementing communications strategy and creative work, having served as vice president of brand communications at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, overseeing creative, media relations, corporate communications, and digital marketing. While there, she led an award-winning team, managing the brand and ensuring its adherence organization-wide.
Before the Aquarium, she focused on the written word as a storyteller, journalist, technical writer, and editor for national publications, and a government contractor. She earned degrees in English and media arts and design with a journalism concentration from James Madison University. She also completed the Rutgers Digital Marketing Mini-MBA and has taken Creative Writing courses from Stanford University.
Amanda’s skills include writing, editing, interviews, stakeholder engagement, creative direction, brand strategy, workshop design and facilitation, and marketing/communications consulting. She lives in Hershey with her husband, three children, and two incredibly furry dogs.
Justin Colbert is a seasoned strategic leader with a wealth of experience in international relations, collective impact, strategic planning, and policymaking, spanning roles at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the White House, the Pentagon, and various U.S. embassies worldwide. With over 20 years of service in the United States Army, Justin brings a unique blend of expertise and experience to his endeavors.
Throughout his career, Justin has been a driving force in addressing challenges, and his strategic vision and comprehensive systems approach have been instrumental in designing and implementing complex programs in collaborative environments. Justin has led diverse teams and overseen high-stakes programs. He is widely recognized for his executive influence, strategic planning, and effective coordination skills.
After retiring in 2020, Justin founded Vander LLC, demonstrating his entrepreneurial spirit by launching a successful local outdoor company in the Washington, DC, metro area. The company has expanded rapidly within just four years of operation and has earned a stellar reputation for excellent customer service. Justin enjoys applying this growth mindset to helping clients determine their best paths forward.
Justin holds a Master of Arts in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a major in International Relations from the United States Military Academy at West Point. His educational background also includes an Associate of Arts in Russian from the Defense Language Institute.
When not leveraging his expertise and leadership to help your organization become more successful, you can find Justin watching his son’s basketball games or playing with his dog, Mazie. A fun fact about Justin is that he has his Commercial Driver’s License and could drive your child’s bus to school!
Katie Schock is a seasoned dual-disciplined grants and development professional. She brings 14 years of expertise serving local foundations and a variety of not-for-profit organizations ranging from human services to intellectual disabilities to the arts. She has worked for local and regional organizations to help them raise funds and build sustainable development plans.
Her excellent verbal and writing communication skills afford her the ability to match proposals with donors and cultivate positive relationships with funders. She projects a professional image while building rapport with leaders allowing her to secure local, state, and federal grants exceeding $1 million.
Katie holds a B.S. Degree in Political Science/Pre-Law from Ohio University. In addition to her work, she currently sits as a voting member on the Manheim Township Educational Foundation and the Bible2School Program.
Jill Kratz’s passion is using creativity to solve problems and designing meaningful projects that have an everyday impact. In addition to her skills as a designer, she believes that collaboration is at the heart of powerful creative work. She brings this people-forward approach to every client. Jill has facilitated countless workshops focusing on the intersection of creativity and strategy.
Before creating Demi and co., Jill was the creator and facilitator of creative workshops at Bravo Group, leading the team and clients through every phase of the creative process from exploration to execution.
Prior to joining Bravo, Jill spent time on design teams of two cultural institutions and another Pennsylvania-based agency. Jill graduated from Slippery Rock University with a degree in public relations and a minor in film and media studies, and has served on the board of AIGA Central PA.
Beth Meiklejohn, Owner of TwoRoads Strategy, is an experienced marketing consultant, content strategist, and content writer who has represented smart, savvy organizations across a wide array of industries for over 15 years.
She’s supported organizations of all sizes, including nonprofits, small and mid-sized businesses, multinational corporations, and individual influencers at all levels, helping them develop marketing strategies, craft content, and share their story.
Beth brings her diverse marketing experience and expertise together with a large catalog of content offerings that include brand assessments, strategic planning, and the creation of blog articles, email newsletters, press releases, brand story decks, website content, white papers, video scripts, news articles, and more. She works together with her clients to clearly define and articulate their mission, values, and brand story, then uses that clarity to effectively communicate with key stakeholders to reach her client’s goals.
When Beth is not hard at work for her clients, she’s enjoying time with her twin boys. She’s an avid consumer of business and leadership books, loves running and hiking with her kids, and loves weekends spent treasure hunting through her favorite antique stores.
“I feel like you take the time to truly understand the organization that you are working with. I feel like you offer unique resources to all of the clients, because you have taken the time to understand them and can easily shift resources based on what you know from the clients. In addition, I have always appreciated how organized you are. I know exactly what our organization will receive from a contract and I know exactly what is expected from us to make the contract work. You stick to the contract and the timeline and are super reliable.”
— Tina C.| CEO | LANCASTER, PA