Inspiring speaker...

Bestselling author...

Nonprofit coach...

Former policy analyst...

Successful 
business entrepreneur...

Nonprofit trainer of small and large initiatives and ...

The foremost authority on the
New Civic America

Debra J. Berg brings to her audiences an eye-opening and seldom-publicized trend positively impacting America: the power of one citizen to engineer a solution to a problem society has, time and again, been unable to fix. Her book, The Power of One, provides empirical research illustrating that entrepreneurial savvy, purposefully employed, can bring self-reliance to hundreds of thousands of the disadvantaged.

Since The Power of One’s release, Debra has been interviewed by The Chicago Sun Times and dozens of radio and TV stations across the nation. She speaks regularly before a wide range of service and corporate audiences inspiring them to volunteer and support the civic and social entrepreneurs in their communities. Most importantly, she is taking the insights she's gleaned from successful civic entrepreneurs and training a wide range of nonprofit leaders and their staffs on the topics of visibility, fundraising, business partnering, and leadership.

Prior to her career as an author and researcher, Debra was a finance and policy analyst for three state legislatures, a health care finance analyst, the CEO of a top U.S. micro-business, a support specialist for the wireless industry, and a corporate trainer to groups as large as 10,000. After her book’s release, she hosted her premier radio talk show for VoiceAmerica.com, "The Power of One: What's Your Mission?” and launched Power of One Publishing, LLC (POP), a research, publishing, and speaking effort. In addition, POP coordinates “cause-partnering” events for socially responsible corporations and human service nonprofits to expand their membership, client, and volunteer bases. In 2007, the National Institute for Civic Enterprise (NICE) was founded as the mission arm of POP. Its unique NICEnetwork.org site was established to connect civic and social entrepreneurs via the NICE Community Forum’s social network and encourage idea replication through its one-of-a-kind knowledge base.

A native of East Central Illinois, Debra holds BA and MPA degrees from the University of Illinois in political science/economics and public administration. At Illinois, she was recognized as a Charles E. Merriam Scholar on Illinois local government and was awarded a congressional internship during the Watergate hearings. Debra resides in Eustis, Florida and is married to Paul A. Berg, the city manager of Eustis. They have two grown daughters, Julie and Janie.