As the founder of The Arc of Change, Abel R. Cano is a leadership expert and trainer on a mission to ignite transformational breakthroughs that empower leaders at all levels to drive social change. With over 15 years of experience organizing and building people power, he masterfully trains leaders in the craft of public narrative, a storytelling-based leadership practice, mindful leadership, and community organizing to catalyze change on a global scale.

A proud Dominican-American and Dorchester native, Abel served as regional organizer on the Obama campaign for Greater Boston and as field director on meaningful political campaigns for BIPOC candidates. He holds a master’s in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has worked closely with Professor Marshall Ganz at the Harvard Kennedy School, strengthening the public narrative and community organizing frameworks, developing a vast network of leadership coaches, and leading global projects.

Abel’s leadership work spans nonprofits, foundations, universities, governments, and grassroots campaigns, training over 10,000 leaders and leading hundreds of workshops. His work has enabled change across sectors and continents, including training formerly incarcerated leaders to win campaigns on criminal justice reform in the U.S., coaching mayors nationwide to address urgent city-wide challenges, launching a national climate initiative with the Nigerian government and community leaders, supporting union leaders in the UK, empowering women-led schools in Mexico, and building capacity with First Nations peoples in Canada and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia — among many others.

Abel believes that leadership is love in action. His relational approach to leadership centers on empowering others, guiding leaders toward their inner wisdom on the path to mastery, cultivating community, and pursuing collective liberation. At his core, Abel is guided by the values of family and faith, driven by a deep passion for creating a more just and equitable world.