Ira Baumgarten
Ira Baumgarten is a Senior Consultant for the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI). He coordinates NCBI’s school based diversity and leadership programs. Ira is a trained mediator and also provides consulting services to resolve workplace conflicts. He has developed and instituted successful organizational intervention models.
He recently worked with Kinuso School District in Alberta Canada, a mixed community of First Nation and Non-First Nation families. The project goal was to build strong inter-group relations resulting in a more caring school environment for all children and their families.
Prior to becoming a consultant, Ira worked for over twenty years administering education and training programs for the Civil Service Employee Association (CSEA) and the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Company. At CSEA he was responsible for the negotiation and administration of the educational benefits for the CSEA-State represented workforce. In that capacity he assisted in the development of the New York State – CSEA Partnership for Education and Training and served as its labor Co-director for six years. In that capacity he instituted many educational opportunities including creative writing and photography classes for workers entitled Unseenameria – Pictures and Words of Working Lives.
His interests include training for sprint-triathlons, traveling and camping with his wife, Nadine, being a new Grandfather, and writing. He currently is engaged in self-publishing an end-of-life story and audio book for adults.
Ira has a BA degree from State University of New York at Oneonta and a Masters Degree in Adult Education from Syracuse University.
Visiting artist at Arts Letters & Numbers Summer Workshop 2018 and current advisory council member.
