My Story

With more than twenty years of training and organizational development experience, Fernando Menéndez has worked with private, public, and non-profit organizations to facilitate learning and improve individual and organizational performance. 

Fernando began his training career at Tufts University and at the JUBILEE Popular Education Center in North Carolina, where he became a master trainer and a protégé of Dr. Jane Vella. In his private practice, he worked with non-profits, community development, private-public partnerships, and corporations, training managers and leaders in critical thinking skills, evaluation methods, strategic planning, and organizational learning. 

For twelve years, he provided training workshops and leadership development services to the training institute of NeighborWorks America and to the Local Initiative Support Corporation in their community revitalization projects. He also designed and organized national and regional conferences with strong learning components. His Thinking Tools Group, Inc. consulting firm worked with companies such as State Farm Insurance to develop evaluation and measurement tools and conducted training and planning sessions for numerous other clients. 

As a public speaker, he has addressed trade associations, universities, and collaborative initiatives on a variety of topics. He conducted a seminal research project for Colorado Hispanics in Philanthropy on the social and economic changes in the Latino population in Boulder County, which led to a major training initiative for community leaders. 

His second practice, the Cordoba Group International, LLC, combined research, situational analysis, and leadership training for private and public clients abroad and in the US, including the Boston Public Schools in their community engagement work. He has taught at the American University in Washington, DC, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, and other universities on the principles of adult learning and education. 

While working in public policy, he continued to teach and train leaders and managers in several subject areas—most recently, working on a training project with Latin American congressional staff on the nature of asymmetric warfare in the Western Hemisphere. His policy work has made him a sought-after commentator on national and global television programs. He also writes extensively for digital and other media and has given testimony to the US Congress on foreign policy issues. His central passion is a focus on the principles and practices of effective adult learning and how learning leads to individual flourishing, organizational excellence, and human progress.

He graduated magna cum laude, earning a degree in economics and philosophy from George Mason University, and he lives in Northern Virginia.