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| website = {{URL|evanunger. | | website = {{URL|https://evanunger.me}} | ||
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Revision as of 19:55, 16 July 2026
Evan Unger is an American executive facilitator and collaborative leadership consultant based in Denver, Colorado. He is the Managing Partner at Schwartz + Associates, where he works with executive teams, boards, and operating leaders on high-stakes meeting facilitation, collaborative decision-making, and organizational change.[1] He is the practitioner behind POPRA, a five-element framework for designing collaborative meetings and decision-making conversations.[2] His recent work addresses how artificial intelligence is changing organizational decision-making; he has argued that AI increases rather than diminishes the need for leaders who can run effective, well-facilitated collaborative meetings.[2]
Education
Unger received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Economics from Duke University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan.[1]
Career
Unger has worked in organizational change and leadership development since 1988, both as a corporate executive and as an external consultant.[1] He served in several leadership positions at Merck, the global pharmaceutical manufacturer, and later as Vice President of Leadership, Change & Development at Centura Health, at the time Colorado's largest healthcare provider.[1]
As a consultant with Schwartz + Associates, Unger has facilitated for executive teams in Fortune 100 companies, healthcare systems, school systems, and growth-stage organizations across the United States, Europe, the Pacific Rim, and South America.[1] His practice centers on executive facilitation, collaborative leadership development, organizational change, and virtual meeting facilitation.[2]
POPRA framework
POPRA is a registered methodology of Schwartz + Associates consisting of five elements for designing decision-making conversations: Purpose, Objectives, Process, Roles, and Agreements.[3] The framework is applied to meeting formats ranging from short alignment sessions to multi-day strategy offsites, in both in-person and virtual settings.[2]
In discussing the framework, Unger has also addressed the "HIPPO effect" (Highest Paid Person's Opinion), describing techniques for preventing senior voices from suppressing input from other participants in high-stakes meetings.[2]
Media appearances
Unger has appeared as a guest on business and leadership podcasts discussing meeting facilitation, collaborative leadership, and the POPRA framework, including:
- Manage This (Velociteach), Episode 249, "Stop Wasting Time in Meetings: High-Performance Strategies," hosted by Wendy Grounds and Bill Yates (May 2026)[3]
- People and Projects Podcast, Episode 503, "How to Facilitate Meetings That Actually Lead to Decisions," hosted by Andy Kaufman (March 2026)[2]
- Quality Time (MoreSteam), "Most Meetings Shouldn't Happen," hosted by Dan Swartwout (2026)[1]
- KPI Fireside, "Transforming Meeting Culture," hosted by Keith Norris (January 2026)[4]
- Zero to CEO, "Fix Your Broken Meetings, Build Stronger Teams," hosted by Jason Sherman (June 2025)[5]
- Gemba Academy Podcast, GA 535, "Transforming Meetings," hosted by Ron Pereira (July 2024)[6]
- The EBFC Show, "Mastering Effective Meetings in Construction," hosted by Felipe Engineer-Manriquez (September 2023)[7]
He also participated in a live roundtable on collaborative leadership hosted by Niiamah Ashong on Outlier's Edge in April 2026.[8]
Personal life
Unger lives in Denver, Colorado. He attends an annual ten-day silent meditation retreat, a practice he has described as informing his facilitation work.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Quality Time Podcast: Most Meetings Shouldn't Happen with Evan Unger". https://www.moresteam.com/resources/podcasts/49-desiging-better-meetings-evan-unger.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "PPP 503: How to Facilitate Meetings That Actually Lead to Decisions, with Evan Unger". March 25, 2026. https://peopleandprojectspodcast.com/ppp-503-how-to-facilitate-meetings-that-actually-lead-to-decisions-with-evan-unger/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Episode 249 – Stop Wasting Time in Meetings: High-Performance Strategies". May 18, 2026. https://www.velociteach.com/manage-this-podcast/stop-wasting-time-in-meetings-high-performance-strategies/.
- ↑ [[KPI FIRESIDE EPISODE URL] "Transforming Meeting Culture with Evan Unger"]. January 19, 2026. [KPI FIRESIDE EPISODE URL].
- ↑ [[ZERO TO CEO EPISODE URL] "Fix Your Broken Meetings, Build Stronger Teams with Evan Unger"]. June 9, 2025. [ZERO TO CEO EPISODE URL].
- ↑ "GA 535: Transforming Meetings with Evan Unger". July 4, 2024. https://blog.gembaacademy.com/2024/07/04/ga-535-transforming-meetings-with-evan-unger/.
- ↑ [[EBFC SHOW EPISODE URL] "Mastering Effective Meetings in Construction with Evan Unger"]. September 27, 2023. [EBFC SHOW EPISODE URL].
- ↑ [[OUTLIERS EDGE URL] "Live Roundtable on Collaborative Leadership"]. April 8, 2026. [OUTLIERS EDGE URL].