Webinar Overview
PRESENTED BY The Independent Consultants Community of Interest (ICCI)
Moderator: Gail Vallance Barrington
Panelists: Stephen Kester, Hema Vyas, and Morgan E. Braganza
WHEN: May 6th, 2025, 12:00PM -1:00PM ET
WHERE: CES webinars take place online using Zoom. You can check the system requirements for using Zoom here.
REGISTRATION: Please go here to register
COST: Free for CES and non-CES members
LANGUAGES: English. French support for questions and discussion provided.
Webinar focus
What motivates evaluators to transition from traditional employment to independent consulting? The shift from employee to entrepreneur presents both challenges and opportunities, yet many evaluators successfully make this leap. A variety of factors drive this decision, including external pressures such as organizational dynamics, political influences, and economic considerations. Equally important are personal motivations—skills, experience, career stage, and the desire for professional growth.
In this panel, three evaluators at different stages of this transition will share their journeys. They will discuss the pivotal moments that shaped their decision, the risks and benefits they weighed, and the realities they encountered along the way. Attendees will gain insights into the challenges and rewards of independent evaluation consulting, along with practical strategies for those considering this career path.
Biographies of presenters
Gail Vallance Barrington, Moderator
Gail Vallance Barrington, PhD, CE, owned and managed her consulting firm, Barrington Research Group, Inc. for 35 years. She has taught evaluation courses and workshops for many years. Books include Consulting Start-up and Management (SAGE, 2012) and Evaluation Time (co-author B. Triana-Tremain, SAGE, 2022). Her chapter, “The Independent Consultant: An Insider’s Guide to a Consulting Career,” will soon appear in Bickman and Rog’s The Evaluation Handbook: An Evaluator’s Companion (Guilford, 2025). In 2008 she won the Canadian Evaluation Society’s Contribution to Evaluation in Canada Award, and in 2016 the American Evaluation Association’s Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Award for Evaluation Practice.
Panelists:
Morgan E. Braganza
Morgan E. Braganza is an Assistant Professor (Social Work) at Redeemer University (Ontario). She earned her PhD (social work) in 2020. Before commencing a career in academia (in 2012), Morgan served as an independent research and program evaluation consultant, often working with urban and rural social service agencies to lead evaluation projects on programs such as mobile crisis response. She also evaluated academic programming at several universities. Although her primary role since 2012 has been to engage in academic pursuits, she continued to serve as an independent evaluation consultant in a limited (part-time) capacity. Given her passion for independent consulting, even while in academia, she is considering transitioning back to full-time independent consulting.
Hema Vyas, CE
Hema Vyas is a dynamic program evaluator, planner, and speaker with over 20 years of global experience in tackling complex challenges and building sustainable solutions. She is renowned for her excellence in impact measurement, strategic planning, and partnership development. Her expertise spans sectors including labour market & training, system-wide education from elementary through to post-secondary, and housing. A founding partner of D-sides Working Solutions, three years ago, Hema works with organizations to measure, adapt, and succeed, aligning performance to goals and leveraging resources efficiently to focus on forward momentum. She loves the breadth of projects she works on and the variety of people she meets. Her approach blends creativity with rigorous discipline, using participatory methods to move towards successful outcomes.
Stephen Kester
Stephen Kester specializes in strategic, utilization-focussed evaluations that improve organizations’ strategies and structures to achieve intended results. For over 40 years, he has worked to combine community organization for social change with international development and humanitarian work. He has a master’s degree in business administration. Prior to retirement, Stephen was Head of Evaluation at Global Affairs Canada, leading and conducting effective program evaluations. Based on that experience, he has moved successfully into independent consulting, improving organizations by aligning their decision-making, structure, and operations with the vision, goals and the needs of members, constituencies, and beneficiaries.
Contact Support
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