Our Team

Chris has degrees in Economics and Mathematics from Ithaca College and an MBA   from St. John Fisher College.  He is certified by the Project Management Institute as a Project Manager Professional.   Since creating Organizational Harmony, he has helped raise over $308 million in competitive funds for schools, and non-profits.   Chris has an award rate of 74%, and has created the  highest scoring application for several competitions to include the US Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation, the US Health and Human Resources Telehealth Network Grant Program, the NYS Department of Education’s Mission Transition Program, the NYS DOH Community and School Health Program, and the NYS Department of Education Response to Intervention Program.  Chris wrote three  Race to the Top – District grants which all placed in the top 20 out of 392 applications and resulted in over $47 million in funding.

As an officer in the US Army, Chris served ten years active duty and 14 years in the National Guard and Army Reserve.  His tours included Company, Battery, and  Battalion command.  He also served in combat as General Petraeus’ project planner for the Iraqi Army and was awarded the Bronze Star and Combat Action Badge. As the Chief of Force Generation was responsible for the successful development of the Multi-National Forces Project Plan which planned, integrated, and synchronized $5.7 Billion in resources to ensure the Iraqi Security Forces were prepared to secure their nation during the December 2005 elections and capable of independent operations in all   provinces by 2007. Chris also served at the Pentagon on Crisis Action Team 3.

Chris worked as a non-profit director and vice president for agencies supporting individuals with developmental disabilities.  In these roles, Chris developed many new employment opportunities, clinical programs, and homes for people with developmental disabilities. In one organization, he raised more than $13 million in   additional revenues and was key to increasing customer growth by 42%. In these roles, Chris managed up to six facilities and led as many as 200 people.

 Lynne Paeno

Lynne Paeno is a grant writer, evaluator, and researcher with deep knowledge of grant and RFP/proposal writing for state, local, and federal opportunities and extensive  experience in grant research, fund development, project  management, and program design. Her expertise spans a variety of verticals including education, law enforcement, defense, homeland security, IT, transit, and economic/community development.  Lynne has worked with more than 80 K-12 school districts creating proposals for a  variety of topics, including unique programs such as such as Illinois Department of  Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Public Sector Electric Efficiency.  Sample funded proposals include Elementary and Secondary School Counseling, NYS Teaching is the CORE, NYS Universal Pre-K, Supportive Integrated Services for Veterans, Basic Center, and 21st Century Community Learning Centers. She has excellent writing skills with an ability to quickly adapt and develop high-quality  content about client needs, products/services. One of her key assets is her ability to defuse the tensions of clients and end staffers working to tight deadlines.

Lynne’s experience includes:

• 25 years’ experience as a grant writer
• Leadership Training Certificate
• Strong editing and writing skills, and ability to analyze and integrate disparate data/information into a cohesive narrative
• 15 years of experience in developing fund development/strategic planning,    prospect research
• Supercharge Your Search Training
• Searching For and Finding RFPs Training
• Author, ” The Professional Grant Writer,” 2007

 K. Dixon Zorovich

Dixon is an independent grant writer and project manager, providing writing, research, and management services to not- for-profit organizations.  She received her Master’s of Public Policy from the Bloustein School of Public Policy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where she specialized in  environmental policy.  Dixon worked at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development for seven years, where she was responsible for all aspects of program development and management, including research, data analysis, grant writing, and project administration.  As Senior Project Manager, she coordinated the center’s work on brownfields, producing one of the nation’s first in-depth analyses of the role of brownfields redevelopment in job creation.  In addition, Dixon was the co-author on the seminal Work Trends survey, a quarterly series that queries American workers on a wide range of workforce development issues, and a contributor to the Natural Assets Project, which examined the scope for reducing poverty through asset building in the form of environmental capital.  Following her tenure at the Heldrich Center, Dixon first served as the Director of the LaGuardia Workforce1 Center for the City of New York, and then worked for the National Audubon Society.  As the Center Director of Audubon Greenwich, Audubon’s oldest nature education center in the country, Dixon helped fulfill the Audubon mission of protecting birds, other wildlife, and their habitats by managing 650 acres of open space and delivering nature education programs to thousands of children and adults.  By connecting people to nature and encouraging a culture of conservation, Dixon, and her staff built the capacity of local residents to engage in community-based conservation and create healthy, sustainable bird-friendly communities.

Shane O’Neill White

Shane O’Neill White is a lifelong resident of the Finger   Lakes specializing in public health. She has contributed to Organizational Harmony projects as a freelancer since 2021. She completed her Master of Public Health in Public Health Practice at the University at Albany School of Public Health in 2014, following completion of a Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a second major in Chinese Studies from SUNY Albany.

Shane is well-versed in the challenges rural communities face, from the standpoint of the citizens and the organizations serving them. She enjoys projects which tackle barriers to health care and education in high-poverty areas, and projects with unique collaborations between groups with similar goals. Several projects she has contributed to for Organizational Harmony have addressed transportation-related barriers for patients and students, and interventions to overcome the digital divide for low-income and rural populations.

Shane has five years of local government experience with progressive responsibility in a rural health department, where she worked from 2015 to 2020 in quality assurance and then management in the role of Deputy Director. Her health  department experience included facilitating community health improvement planning, quality improvement projects, in-house policy development, and accreditation. She left the office to pursue remote-based work in 2020. Outside of   her work for Organizational Harmony, Shane enjoys a variety of writing projects from resume writing to independent journalism on missing and unidentified persons. In her spare time, she has begun studying Spanish with a goal of achieving proficiency by 2023.

Lisa Semler

Lisa Semler, provides customer relations, data management, and administrative supports to Organizational Harmony.   Lisa has experience as a Human Resource Generalist and Data Analyst. Lisa also is a voice model for many telecommunication companies to include AT&T and other national directory  services.