Ronda Zakocs | Founder & Principal
Ronda is driven by a passion for helping purpose-driven organizations ignite and accelerate impactful social change efforts. Serving each client as a thought partner and coach, her unique consultative approach is inspired by adaptive action, developmental and utilization-focused evaluation, dialogue education, and systems thinking.
Ronda specializes in helping groups clarify their visions for social change, understand the systems they seek to change, articulate an initial strategic approach, forecast milestones, collect actionable information, and engage in strategic learning to inform the next tactic.
Prior to founding Insight for Action, Ronda was an associate professor at Boston University School of Public Health and an evaluation director for the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center. As an academic, she studied the organizational dynamics of community, state, and national coalitions seeking to prevent intimate partner violence, reduce underage drinking, and limit access to guns. She has co-authored over 25 peer-reviewed studies.
Ronda received her Ph.D. in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health at Chapel Hill, a Master’s in Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health, and a BA in Journalism at the University of Oregon.
Ronda lives in Portland with her husband, children, dogs, and multiple beehives surrounded by vegetable and flower gardens. She loves restoring the creek behind their house, spending time in the woods, and trying to practice what the Buddha taught.
Ronda identifies as a white, heterosexual, cis-gender woman.