Experience

Christine Rontal, MSW (she / they)

Christine Rontal is the principal consultant at Capacity Bridge. The drivers of her 25+ year career in the nonprofit sector have been an aptitude for nonprofit business administration and a passion for community development, the natural environment, and relationship building. In each chapter of her professional life she has been intentional about the integration of these elements. 

With a Master’s in Social Work from Columbia University focused on Social Enterprise Administration, she was an early change agent for union desegregation and international human rights. Her early leadership roles—as consultant to charitable foundations in New York, Executive Director of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation in Oregon, and Commissioner for the City of Portland’s Human Rights Commission—centered on strengthening nonprofit and public systems to better serve a diversity of communities. In 2019, she integrated a focus on the natural environment into her practice which led to her current passion for advancing interconnected healthy communities and thriving natural places. Her work is rooted in frameworks such as Biomimicry; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging; Critical Race Theory; Movement Building; Real-Time Strategic Planning; Emergent Strategy; and Nonviolent Communication.

Across geographies—from Africa and Alaska to Peru and the Pacific Northwest—Christine has intentionally woven her personal passion for connection and learning with a diversity of change makers into her professional path. She has supported micro-finance and community development initiatives abroad, collaborated with Tribal Councils on planning processes, and helped advance multi-local and culturally specific organizations in both rural and urban regions. Through her consulting practice, she has partnered with leaders nationwide to strengthen nonprofits in conservation, housing, land use, education, health, social justice, and the arts.

Christine’s volunteer contributions mirror this dedication. As a board member for 1,000 Friends of Oregon, she supported rural and urban communities in advancing statewide land use laws for the shared benefit of both types of regions. Currently, she provides pro bono support to community-based organizations that advance the interests of communities of color. Christine’s breadth of experience enables her to quickly recognize strategic and operational opportunities across sectors. Whether designing systems, facilitating collaboration, or composing a plan that brings vision into action, she thrives on solving complex puzzles that strengthen communities, natural places, and the intersections therein.