Our Team

Christine Wallace Caldwell, MA

Chris has an extensive background in nonprofit leadership, strategic planning, group facilitation, program development, unconscious bias, and corporate social responsibility. She brings a particular skill in grasping the common elements of group work, and synthesizing to capture a unified vision and focused path forward. She serves organizations ranging from corporations, science and research institutions, to non-profit service organizations. She works throughout Oregon and the U.S., including Puerto Rico. Internationally she serves clients in Brazil, China, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the UK. Her broad experience allows her to understand a breadth of organizational visions and styles.

Chris has developed over 20 strategic plans for large and small organizations with a strong foundation in stakeholder engagement and organizational process. She regularly develops global corporate responsibility programs for large company foundations. Her nonprofit leadership includes serving as the founding Executive Director of ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum in Ashland, Oregon. In southern Oregon she worked closely with statewide environmental and science education organizations, developing effective partnerships throughout the state.

With a Masters in Speech Communication, Chris has significant experience as a public speaker, conference presenter, trainer and facilitator. She served as a peer reviewer for National Science Foundation (NSF) and participated in multi-institutional grants with NASA, NSF and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Science Education Partnership Awards.

In 2015, she provided facilitation for the International Summit on the Nutrition of Adolescent Girls & Young Women, and oversaw the development of Preliminary Calls for Action submitted to the UN Working Group on the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. She was an author on an article from the Summit published in 2017 in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Committed to local involvement in social justice, Chris currently serves as a Commissioner for the Portland Human Rights Commission.

Lauren Moreno

Lauren provides Catalysis clients with a broad range of services including program implementation and strategic planning. Lauren enjoys guiding collaborative teams to envision and implement strategic projects and initiatives that better organizations and communities. She leverages her experience in program design, group facilitation, project management, partnership development, evaluation, and fundraising to serve our clients. Lauren’s belief in the power of collective action, dedication to facilitating high-quality, inclusive processes, and ability to synthesize stakeholder insights, are reflected across her work.

Prior to joining Catalysis, Lauren served as director of strategic partnerships and programs at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). She has extensive experience developing and facilitating science communication professional development programs for STEM professionals. Lauren was instrumental in launching Portal to the Public, a nationally renowned network of organizations that connects STEM professionals with the public in meaningful conversations. She has served as principle investigator for National Science Foundation funded grants, including Designing Our World, a project designed to empower girls to pursue engineering careers by exploring the collaborative, personal, and altruistic aspects of this field.

She led OMSI’s efforts to develop Portland’s Innovation Quadrant, an emerging innovation district. She served on the Portland Metro STEM Partnership Steering Committee and as an advisor to several federal grants. She is currently a member of the Institute for Learning Innovation board of directors.

A fourth generation Portlander, Lauren is passionate about building thriving communities—through hard work, sharing meals with friends and family, enjoying public spaces, and tackling one house project at a time.

Tecie Astorga

Tecie provides a high level of project coordination and client services. With a B.A. from Portland State University in Business Management and Human Resources, Tecie brings a breadth of skills in ensuring successful planning and program implementation. Her expertise includes report design, market research, preparing and implementing surveys, data collection and report development. Tecie also provides important meeting coordination, logistics, and advance preparation, ensuring successful meetings and events.

Tecie has worked on large-scale global corporate social responsibility programs, providing program support and evaluation for community science education programs. When working on strategic planning projects, Tecie provides support throughout the process, from research, to stakeholder engagement, to final report preparation and dissemination.

Tecie has a responsive approach to working with clients and particularly enjoys helping organizations meet their vision.  Tecie has a harmonious demeanor when working with clients as well as in her personal life.  Her inclusive leadership skills are displayed on stage through her family German polka band that she has been a part of for over 20 years.  She has found music to be a catalyst for not only bringing people together but also assisting in bringing about positive change.

Malia Knapp-Rossi, MA

Malia provides Catalysis assistance in office functions, research, data collection and analysis, and meeting support. She has over four years of professional experience coordinating City government and nonprofit sustainability and community building programs.

Malia has a BA in Sociology and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning. In her graduate program she helped produce an award-winning Anti-Displacement Plan for the City of Vancouver and engaged over 500 community members, including leaders and hard to reach populations who are vulnerable to displacement through interviews, informal introductions, surveying, and focus groups.

Malia identifies as a broad-range generalist who has skills in Adobe Suite, GIS Mapping, database management, graphic design, program coordination, and event planning. She also has passion and deep expertise in facilitation, group decision making processes, and community engagement. As a trained deliberative facilitator through the Center for Public Deliberation she has facilitated over 50 civic and community engagement events. Malia’s breadth and depth of interests and skills allows her to collaborate well and contribute quality content to projects.

Malia is an author to several published articles reflecting on and analyzing the field of urban planning, the nature and dynamics of City government work, and the development of a program she helped institutionalize at Portland State University. She currently lives on a farm and enjoys creating and hosting fun, educational, and immersion-based events to help people connect to themselves, the land, and community.