Grindstone Consulting draws on a nationwide network of experts to build teams that are tailored to meet each client's unique needs. Indeed, a separate team is constructed for each client. Thus, unlike some other firms, we cater to your needs rather than having you fit within our current capabilities.
Although our teams vary from client to client, key players on the Grindstone team include:
Stephen Donches II is the founder and CEO of Grindstone Consulting. He manages the daily operations of the company and works closely with each client. Donches has extensive knowledge of the federal appropriations process as well as environmental and energy matters, particularly issues involving renewable energy and climate change.
Prior to starting Grindstone Consulting, Donches was the Director of Operations for American Business Development Group (ABDG), a Washington D.C. business development firm specializing primarily in the fields of defense, appropriations, and homeland security. In this role, Donches managed ABDG's legal affairs as well as the day-to-day operations of the company, including its representation of clients before Congress and various federal agencies.
In the two years before joining ABDG, Donches served as Counsel and Appropriations Director for U.S. Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas. Donches was Senator Brownback's liaison to the Appropriations Committee. In addition, he was tasked with managing the appropriations process within the Senator's personal staff. Donches began his Senate career as a Legislative Assistant for U.S. Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico. He was responsible for judiciary, transportation, and campaign finance issues. He also supported Senator Domenici's work on the Governmental Affairs Committee.
Before starting his career on Capitol Hill, Donches was the Executive Editor of Criminal Justice Weekly, an American Lawyer Media publication.
Donches holds a B.A. in Politics from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He also received his law degree from Catholic University Law School in 1994. He is a member of the Arizona Bar.
Edward Edens , principal in Edens Advisory, LLC, is a regular teaming partner with Grindstone Consulting on defense, appropriations and homeland security issues. Prior to his career in consulting, Edens served as a staff member on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee from 1999 through 2003. He held the position as lead Republican staffer for the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. In this role, Edens was integrally involved in preparing the annual defense authorization bill.
Before joining the Senate Armed Services Committee staff, Edens was the Deputy Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration from 1995 through 1998. Prior to his tenure on the Rules Committee, he served as U.S. Senator John Warner’s Legislative Assistant for defense and foreign policy issues.
Edens earned a B.A. in Government from St. Lawrence University in 1986.
Paul Doerrer, principal in Stonebridge Strategies, is a regular teaming partner with Grindstone Consulting. Doerrer is an expert on transportation, federal budget, appropriations, and defense issues. Prior to forming Stonebridge, Doerrer spent two years in a general practice government relations firm representing Fortune 500 companies, public agencies and research universities before Congress and the federal agencies.
In prior public service, Doerrer served for seven years on the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, included his tenure as staff director of the Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. In this role, Doerrer had direct policy and funding responsibility for the Department of Transportation as well as the U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration. Doerrer's committee portfolio later included 18 independent agencies, including the General Services Administration.
Prior to joining the Appropriations Committee, Doerrer served as military legislative assistant for Senator Richard Shelby and associate staff to the defense appropriations subcommittee. He began his career as a legislative assistant to then-Congressman Jim Talent. Doerrer received a B.A. from St. Louis University in 1992.
Paul Minor currently serves as a senior consultant for Grindstone Consulting on environmental and energy issues.
Minor served as the CEO of CENTEC Corporation in Reston, Virginia. CENTEC combined process engineering with computer applications for industry. The company performed numerous studies for the Department of Energy and the EPA. From 1979 through 1983, CENTEC performed feasibility studies and was the process design engineer for several ethanol projects in Northern Virginia.
Minor then co-founded INCODE, which developed the POMS manufacturing execution system—the leading such system for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Their clients included Genentech, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Abbott Labs. Honeywell purchased INCODE in 1999. From 2000-2001, Minor was the founder and executive Vice President of the POMS Division of Honeywell, Inc. where he assisted the CEO of Honeywell in the transition process.
Minor received his MS in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon
Denise D. Fort , a part-time Grindstone consultant, is a Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where she teaches environmental law and related subjects. Fort has extensive experience in environmental and natural resources law and policy. She chaired the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission, a Presidential commission that prepared a seminal report on western water policy concerns.
Prior to her appointment at the Law School, Fort served as Director of the State of New Mexico's Environmental Improvement Division, as the Governor's representative to the National Governors Association, as an environmental attorney with New Mexico PIRG and Southwest Research and Information Center, as Executive Director of Citizens for a Better Environment (CA), and in other capacities concerned with environmental and natural resource matters. She writes extensively about water policy and recently co-authored "Prospects for Managed Underground Storage of Recoverable Water." In addition, Fort served as a member of the National Research Council’s Water, Science, and Technology Board.
Stephen G. Donches, a part-time Grindstone consultant, is the President and CEO of the National Museum of Industrial History, the first Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. Founded to record, preserve and promote the achievements of industrial America in the growth of our nation, NMIH will be located on an authentic industrial site that was the home plant of Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
Donches retired as Vice President of Public Affairs after a 35-year career at Bethlehem Steel Corporation. He was the corporate officer responsible for developing and managing public and government affairs strategy and was President of the Bethlehem Steel Foundation and Chairman of its Political Action Committee. At Bethlehem, Donches was also responsible for the planning and development of the largest, private Brownfield in the country described by U.S. EPA and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as “a national model for Brownfield redevelopment.”
He was a ten-year member of the Board of Trustees of Moravian College and was Chairman of its Property & Campus Planning Committee and served as Chairman of the PR Image Committee of the International Iron and Steel Institute.
A graduate of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA, he also attended the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
