About Excelsior Advancement Solutions
Move beyond survival-based planning and into sustainable growth.
We work with nonprofit and for-profit leaders who are navigating complexity, transition, or scale — and need clear strategy, strong systems, and confident decision-making to move forward.
Our work is grounded in one belief: missions should not be fragile.
When leadership, structure, and strategy are aligned, organizations can advance — even in uncertain environments.
Excelsior provides strategic guidance, operational clarity, and revenue-focused solutions that help organizations strengthen what exists, address what’s missing, and prepare for what’s next.
Our Approach
We don’t offer one-size-fits-all solutions.
Every engagement begins with understanding the organization as it is — its people, systems, pressures, and goals. From there, we design practical strategies that support stability, growth, and long-term resilience.
Our work often includes:
Organizational assessment and strategic alignment
Revenue re-tooling and scale planning
Leadership and governance support
Systems strengthening and operational clarity
Leadership
Excelsior Advancement Solutions is led by Andrene Nowell, Founder & CEO — a strategist, solutions architect, and organizational change leader with deep experience across nonprofit, education, and community-based systems.
Her leadership philosophy is simple: Even when the path requires a pivot, progress is always possible — ever upward.
Meet Your Team
Andrene Nowell
Shaped by storytelling, governance, and community leadership, Andrene Nowell builds systems that help organizations move from intention to action. Her work spans media, business operations, nonprofit leadership, and public service, grounded in an ability to identify what’s missing and bring structure to complex environments.
Today, Andrene leads Excelsior Advancement Solutions, partnering with boards, executives, and mission-driven organizations to assess challenges, support strategic planning, and align people, processes, and purpose. She also founded the Fine Feather Foundation, an arts-based youth mental health nonprofit that expanded from an initial pilot serving 40 participants to more than 700 youth over five years.
A three-term elected member of the Allentown School Board, Andrene supported initiatives addressing arts access, mental health coordination, and whole-child approaches to education.
Andrene Nowell demonstrates how insight becomes structure, and leadership becomes lasting impact.
Jose Rivera
Once defined by the streets, Jose Rivera now builds systems for change. Born in Spanish Harlem and shaped by poverty in Allentown, he survived violence, addiction, and 27 years in and out of prison before choosing transformation in 2012.
Today, Jose designs community-driven solutions as Community Engagement Coordinator at the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. He has led transformation work as a Director of Community Resilience and Credible Messenger, translating lived experience into effective organizational strategy.
Jose earned his Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Muhlenberg College in 2023 and began his Master’s in Organizational Leadership at Muhlenberg on August 26, 2025. He specializes in aligning people, systems, and resources to solve complex social problems especially affordable housing and community reinvestment.
Jose Rivera proves that survival can become strategy, and experience can become infrastructure