Created in 1990, Tongel Consulting Group (TCG), Inc., assists organizations anticipating or undergoing change by helping them to create:
Leadership that embodies change
Organizational Designs that manifest change
Cultures that embrace change
Community that supports change
TCG believes that change must be owned by the organization and that TCG’s role is to inform, advise and facilitate the change process. TCG focuses on the importance of organizational culture and diversity in organizations; the needs of partnering and collaborating organizations and brings a unique perspective on women-led organizations, as they often have distinct and differing styles of leadership, organization, tasking and communication. TCG assists public, private and non-profit organizations with:
•Strategic and feasibility planning, organizational development, collaborative projects, organizational and community assessments, restructuring and reorganization, mergers, change management and total quality initiatives.
•Facilitating large and small group processes.
•Research, data collection and analysis.
•Researching and writing federal, state and private grant proposals which have generated over $25 million in new and additional revenues to various public and private agencies.
•Developing, writing and publishing marketing plans, business plans, strategic plans, community reports, and training manuals.
•Designing, developing and conducting professional, leadership and supervisory training and developing and implementing management, team development and diversity programs.
Marsha Tongel, the President of TCG, has worked professionally in the public, private and governmental sectors and has over 20 years of experience in organizational consulting, management, fundraising, finance, sales and human relations. In addition to her full-time professional commitments, Marsha has taught part-time at Penn State University, Indiana University, Point Park University, and the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC). She has developed and taught customized grant writing workshops and classes for various educational and community organizations and has been a key presenter for Basic Grantwriting, Goals and Objectives, Methods and Project Planning programs offered by the Carnegie Library Foundation Center. Marsha has been a peer reviewer for the U.S. Department of Education and PANO (Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations) and a facilitator for Executive Leadership Circles for the Executive Service Corps.
She was funded by The Forbes Funds’ Tropman Fund for Nonprofit Research to conduct research on, “How do the governance, management, and organizational practices of Pittsburgh nonprofit organizations, which are considered to be outstanding performers, fare when compared to the standards of excellence codes?” An article based on this research was published in the Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences.
For the past decade, Marsha has also worked on a contractual basis with CCAC, through their Business and Industry Program, as a coordinator, consultant and facilitator. Through the College, Marsha became a certified external Achieve Global, Kaset Customer Service and Development Dimensions International (DDI) facilitator and provides leadership, quality management and supervisory training to diverse corporations and organizations within the community. As a facilitator, she has presented workshops on Total Quality Management, Leadership, Strategic Planning, Supervisory Skills, Team Building, Communications, Cultural Diversity, and Labor/Management.
Marsha was the founding Coordinator of CCAC’s Professional Development Academy, a collaborative effort of the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Community College of Allegheny County and Allegheny County Government. The Professional Development Academy is a professional skills resource for the management and staff of area nonprofit organizations. She has developed curriculum for both Frontline Supervisors and Direct Workers. She worked with CCAC and the Local Government Academy to develop a Quality in Government Conference for local government officials and with the Institute of Advanced Technology and the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) on professional development programs that link OVR staff and counselors to local business and industry resources.
Marsha has also developed and presented workshops on Interpersonal Violence and Aggression, Crisis Intervention, Total Quality Management in the Non-Profit Sector, The Art, Science and Technique of Grant Writing, The Changing Roles of Women in Today's Society, Ethics and Business, Using Creativity in the Resource Development Process, Sexual Harassment, The Context of Organizational Culture. She is co-creator of Gender~Link™, a program to improve and enhance relationships between women and men. Marsha presented a workshop on Ancient Teachings…Future Learnings, Reaching Back to Move Forward at the annual 2001 Organizational Development Network Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia and was part of a panel for a workshop on So You Want to Partner?, for the 2007 Non-profit Summit in Pittsburgh, where she talked about organizational culture. She also co-presented, Keys to Success with Organizational Partnering at the 2007 Erie, Pennsylvania Non-Profit Conference. Marsha has partnered with GlaxoSmithKline to introduce a program she developed on diversity, called What’s in Your Cultural Backpack?, for middle school students in the Sto-Rox School District.
She has held positions of leadership within the community as the former President of the National Association Of Women Business Owners- Pittsburgh Chapter and Vice-President of Government Affairs; President and Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee for Crisis Center North; Co-Founder and Chairperson of CLEOPAC; member of the Board of Directors of the Allegheny Valley Chamber of Commerce, member of the Organizational Budget Committee for Benedictine Place, and a Trustee for the Assumption Theater Guild. She was also a member of the Board of Directors of SMC/Pennsylvania Small Business Councils, Vice Chair of the Benefits Committee and a member of the Women’s Business Initiative.
In 1995, she was elected as a delegate to the recent White House Conference on Small Business and was the Issue Chair of the Procurement Committee for the Western Pennsylvania Delegation. After the Conference, she was appointed to the Regional Implementation Team for the White House Conference initiatives. Marsha was appointed by Mayor Murphy to the City of Pittsburgh’s MBE/WBE Committee, reviewing municipal and authority contracts for minority and women owned business participation. She was appointed by Allegheny County Manager, James Roddey, to serve on the Human Capital Committee of Allegheny County’s New Idea Factory, a group of committees to create new economic development ideas for the region. She was also a delegate to the 2000 Pennsylvania Conference on Small Business.
In 1996, she was selected for the Pennsylvania Honor Roll for Women and in 1998 selected as one Pennsylvania’s Best 50 Women in Business. This year, she was awarded the Make the Connection Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners- Pittsburgh Chapter for the work that she did on the Women’s Economic Summit.
Marsha A. Tongel attended Duquesne University, where she received a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology, and Xavier University, where she received an M.S. in Criminal Justice. Currently, Marsha is also a doctoral student at Union Institute, where she is furthering her study of organizational development and change.
She has been trained in ISO 9000 and to conduct Future Search Conferences and Capability Snapshots, a 360 organizational assessment tool. Through a scholarship from the National Science Foundation, Marsha attended the Evaluators Institute, learning about more about organizational performance measures and the logic model.
