“Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.”
— Wallace Stevens

About Me

As a leader for over 25 years in fund-raising for higher education (Georgetown University) and the health-care sector (Children’s National Medical Center), I earned a reputation for recruiting and developing high-performing teams and finding effective and creative business solutions in times of crisis and rapid change.  

As founder of Lighthouse Advance and a leadership coach and fund-raising consultant, I am committed to partnering with leader-clients to 

  • raise awareness of their leadership presence and style that could be holding them back; 

  • bring clarity to thorny, seemingly un-solvable issues; and;

  • set their organizations on a path toward achieving desired business goals. 

We do all of this in an atmosphere of trust and good-will.

A member of the International Coaching Federation, I hold an Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership.

What my clients say

Through transformational conversations, our clients open new doors…

“My sessions with Marji were invaluable. I really made great progress in defining my leadership values that help guide my decisions and path as a leader at the hospital. She was able to help me see new insights into my relationships with peers and those that work under me. I am stronger leader because of the sessions and the lessons learned.”

— Daniel S.
Director of Nursing Operations,
Major Medical Center.

“I think the coaching was a tremendous help in my specific goal of being more mindful, less harried and feeling more in control of my work life. I also think it helped to advance me in my overall ability to decide about fundamental leadership goals and values by creating opportunities for personal evaluation. I can more clearly visualize the type of leader I want to be and have strategies for how to model that in my agency. I also have insight on how I can most effectively lead myself. Finally, it generally increased my confidence in my own abilities as both a team member and a leader.”

— Emily S.
Director of Research, Reference, and Client Outreach,
State Government Agency

“I found my sessions with Marji to be incredibly helpful. My initial goals were related to acclimating to a new supervisory role and an inherited staff. She helped me improve the entire team’s self-direction/self-sufficiency; moved me from my previous task-oriented thinking to focus on higher-level issues; and gave me a number of strategies for incorporating more cerebral tasks in my day.”

— Aaron K.
Director of Library and User Services,
National Academic Consortium