Empowering Organizations for Lasting Change
At the Organization Improvement Institute, we partner with mission-driven teams to build the clarity, structure, and strategic capacity they need to scale their work. Our approach blends practical systems design with deep experience in advocacy, engagement, and organizational growth.
We’ve known each other since high school—friends who shared an interest in public leadership, systems that work, and building things that last. Over the years, our paths took us through different sectors—Tom in policy and nonprofit leadership, Jamal in operations, coaching, and mission-driven consulting—but the through line remained the same: helping organizations do hard things with clarity and confidence. We founded the Organization Improvement Institute to bring our combined experience to the organizations shaping public life—associations, advocacy groups, and nonprofits navigating complexity and change.
Tom brings deep credibility from decades of work at the intersection of law, advocacy, and nonprofit strategy. He currently leads the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York and sits on multiple boards shaping civil justice reform. He’s advised more than forty nonprofits on fundraising strategy and has been named to the Law Power 100 for his influence in New York legal policy. Jamal complements that expertise with systems thinking and execution—building internal structure, guiding leadership transitions, and designing workflows that keep teams on track and aligned under pressure. Together, we help organizations go from stuck to strategic, scattered to focused, and uncertain to equipped.
Tom Stebbins, MBA is the current executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, the Center for Jurisprudence, and the New York Civil Justice Institute. He is also an advisory board member of the Progressive Policy Institute, former board member of the Empire State Society of Association Executives, and founding board member of the newly launched iFraud Foundation. Tom was named to the Law Power 100 as one of the one hundred most powerful people in law in New York three times. Tom has completed strategic assessments of over forty non-profits’ fundraising efforts.
Tom Stebbins
Jamal Johnson
Jamal Johnson, is a seasoned consultant, and executive coach with extensive experience in operations, project management, and team development. Over his career, he has led strategic initiatives for startups, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations, including managing large-scale recruitment efforts for high-growth tech startups, coaching professionals through complex transitions, and designing processes that drive operational excellence.
