Our Services
WJS Consulting Group helps nonprofits and for-profits achieve their mission, increase results for their clients and build their internal capacity to perform at a high level. We utilize over 30 years of experience and best practices from the nonprofit, government and for-profit business worlds to achieve these results.
Areas of Focus:
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— New program development
— Customer/client/stakeholder satisfaction
— Program evaluation
— Strategic business review
— Market research
— Advancement & development strategy
— Design of scaling strategy
— Financial and infrastructure plans in support of scaling
— Implementation plans for expansion
— Development of key staff’s management skills, including individual coaching
— Board of Directors assessment, selection, training and effectiveness
— Increasing the effectiveness and productivity of senior leadership teams
— Facilitation of key staff and/or board discussions
/ Clients /
About Us
Bill Svrluga
Founder & President
I have learned the presenting problem is rarely the real issue – or the real opportunity. What’s often missing is a more skillful diagnosis, a deeper understanding of the customer, a rigorous rethinking of the question, the courage to have candid conversations and the development of strategies that produce the desired outcomes!
Whether it’s being one of the founders of four nonprofits (Jeremiah Program, Twin Cities RISE!, Greater Minneapolis Food Bank, Ujamaa Place) that dramatically improve the lives of economically poor people, helping start a new General Mills company – Yoplait USA, helping communities of color achieve their goals or helping an orchestra produce better music, I am relentless in rethinking the status quo and getting better results.
My passion for meaningful redesign was born in the civil rights movement, refined in higher education, matured in Corporate America and honed in many years of starting nonprofit businesses and consulting for-profit, nonprofit and public sector organizations around the country. My decision many years ago to split my time between strategy consulting and addressing inner city issues has served my clients well. I bring multi-sector experience and perspectives to bear on their thorniest challenges.
Professional Experience
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— VP of Human Resources;
— Member of the start-up team of Yoplait USA;
— Director of Organization Development for General Mills.
Land O’Lakes
— Manager of Training and Development
Associate Dean and/or Dean of Students at:
— Loyola University of Chicago
— Macalester College;
— Carleton College.
— Vice Chair of the Minneapolis Urban League;
— Co-founder and Chair of the Greater Minneapolis Food Bank;
— Chair of Sabathani Community Center;
— Senior Deacon of his church;
— Co-chair of the Minneapolis Initiative Against Racism;
— Trustee of the University of Dubuque, member of Citizen League study teams;
— A founder of Twin Cities RISE!, the Jeremiah program and Ujamaa Place (long-term work skills/self-sufficiency programs for low-income adults);
— Elected to MN Volunteer Hall of Fame.
— MA from Drake University;
— BA from the University of Dubuque;
— Advanced graduate work in counseling and organization psychology from Loyola University of Chicago.
In addition, he has extensive training in group dynamics from the National Training Laboratories (NTL) and in Systems Dynamics and Policy Design with Peter Senge at MIT.