Our Team

Elizabeth Scott

Elizabeth Scott has expertise in strategic planning, process-improvement and human capital development. Her wealth of experience managing complex projects is evident in her proven track record working with clients to increase organizational and business efficiency and effectiveness. Prior to founding Brighter Strategies, Ms. Scott served as the Vice President of Strategy and Performance Development for a large Virginia human service organization. Ms. Scott also provided a wide range of management consulting services to federal, state, and local government clients through her earlier career experience working with a governmental consulting agency. She has been an examiner for the prestigious Baldrige-based Virginia Senate Productivity and Quality Award (SPQA). Ms. Scott is a respected and sought after speaker on the topics of strategic and operational planning, outcome measurement development and program evaluation.

Ms. Scott has a M.A. in Organizational Sciences - Organizational Management and a B.A. in Sociology both from The George Washington University.

Margo Bailey

Margo Bailey has expertise in program evaluation and performance measurement, as well as strategic planning and nonprofit management. She served as the Director of Quality Assurance of a large Maryland-based human service nonprofit organization where she had responsibility for developing an infrastructure to support the organization’s activities for incident reporting and investigations, monitoring and review, program audits, and evaluations. She established organization-wide annual operation planning in support of the agency’s strategic direction.

Dr. Bailey’s recent consulting projects include quantitative and qualitative data reporting for a human competency framework study for a large federal agency; supporting the D.C. Children’s Advocacy Center in its development of outcome measures and indicators, survey of the multi-disciplinary team, and survey of children and non-offending caregivers; and completing best practice reports to support strategic planning, survey design, and developing recommendations to support departmental restructuring. Dr. Bailey also serves as an adjunct professor teaching Management Analysis, Human Resource Strategies and Nonprofit Management to graduate students at American University.

Dr. Bailey has a Ph.D. in Public Administration, M.A. in Public Administration, M.A. in Geography from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and B.A. in Urban Studies from University of Pennsylvania.

Dionne C. Clemons

Dionne C. Clemons’ expertise lies in strategic communications management and organizational communication. Specializing in public sector outreach and communications Dr. Clemons previously served in and consulted for federal and local governments as a public affairs professional for more than a decade. As strategic communications counsel she has served a number of local and federal organizations including the District of Columbia Government’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, the City of Falls Church, Virginia, the U.S. Army, and the Department of Defense’s Business Transformation Agency.

Dr. Clemons is expert in designing strategic communications campaigns that align with organizations’ overarching mission, vision and goals. She’s managed research, social marketing, crisis communications and public outreach campaigns for health, environmental and social issues.

Dr. Clemons has previously taught for several universities throughout the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area and speaks on strategic communication management, strategic messaging, branding, and government public affairs. Dr. Clemons has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication and Media Studies from Howard University, an MPA in Public Administration from The American University, and a B.A. in Telecommunications from Morgan State University.

Cathleen O. Szebrat

Cathleen Szebrat is a certified coach and trainer. Her focus is on helping professionals become more innovative and resilient. Ms. Szebrat’s work is based on several key principles: (1) helping clients become more self-observant and reflective by identifying patterns that may block their development; (2) action learning and its emphasis on enhancing knowledge through experimentation and application to real-life challenges; and (3) appreciative awareness to help clients identify what works as well as what needs to improve. She has spoken on the following topics: strategic planning, leadership development; career advancement and effective communication.

Ms. Szebrat received her BA in psychology at George Mason University and her coaching certification from Mentor Coach, LLC an International Coach Federation accredited institute.