OurTeam
Michael Nelson
Education Consultant
Michael Nelson is an organizational leadership coach, under the umbrella of the International Coaching Federation. She has decades of experience in arts and educational organizations both as an employee and contractor. From 2018-22 she served as a school board director for Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, including serving one year as vice chair and one year as chair. With the Board and Superintendent, she navigated through exceptional challenges including Covid, redesigning school boundaries for the district, conducting a new superintendent search, and working to build stakeholder engagement to create the district’s Board Resolution Committing to Equity and Inclusion. She was actively engaged with the Minnesota School Boards Association and the Associations of Metropolitan School Districts and has presented on the importance of trust between Superintendents and School Boards.
In the past year, Michael also served as six-month contractor with the Minnesota Learner-Centered Network, focused on student-centered learning.Her volunteer work currently includes serving on the Prior Lake-Savage Equity and Excellence Committee, the City of Savage Community Equity Commission, and district referendum efforts.
Michael has a passion for finding ways to expand the capacity of people to engage – and stay with – difficult conversations. She co-created the End in Mind Project’s online tool, “The Art of Difficult Conversations.” Additionally, she and her husband Andy write, coach and present on ways to navigate in life when unexpected things unfold.
Michael graduated from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota with a B.A. in both Mass Communications and Humanities. She received her MA in Art History from the University of Notre Dame.
We’re Focused On You
What Our Customers Are Saying
“Winterset CSD selected PartnerED to lead our district through the updating of our strategic plan and development of a Profile of a Graduate. Our board wanted a process that would encompass our entire district and foster the engagement of our entire community. The process that our consultants facilitated exceeded our expectations, as our community had numerous opportunities both in-person and virtual to provide their input throughout this process. The provocations and activities that were included in the process ensured that our Key Community Stakeholders were exposed to emerging trends in education and that our local community needs and values were considered as we developed our strategic plan and POG. We found our consultants to be knowledgeable, responsive, and supportive as we engaged in this process.”
– Justin Gross, Superintendent Winterset Community School District, Winterset, IA
“I reached out to Paula O’Loughlin and her colleague to potentially conduct a training for staff at my institution. From the very beginning, Paula was very timely and consistent in our communication. She showed a high level of enthusiasm about the opportunity and shared her ideas about the content. Her experience and expertise were a perfect match. Therefore, it was very easy for me to move forward with the training. Throughout the entire planning process, Paula was definitely a collaborative partner and maintained regular contact. At the training, Paula was an engaged and personable presenter which allowed attendees to easily participate. Her extreme knowledge of the subject matter greatly benefited the staff and evaluations were very positive. I would highly recommend Paula of PartnerED!”
– John Drussell, LICSW, MSW, Section of Social Work, Mayo Clinic
