Clare Anderson is a Senior Policy Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. There she guides states using research evidence in large scale system change.  She has 30 years of experience at the federal, state, and local levels to support children and families.

Khush Cooper, MSW, PhD. is an Adjunct Professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs as well as the CEO of Implematix, a consulting firm serving public and private organizations in the areas of foster care reform, LGBTQ youth in systems, implementation science, and leadership development. Additionally, as a social entrepreneur and specialist in the study of implementation science, Dr. Cooper has cultivated long-standing relationships with policymakers, leading practitioners, and consumers to shield and guide California’s child welfare organizations, both public and private, through reform initiatives. She has deployed performance management systems for large multi-site child welfare and mental health provision organizations and designed implementation support and readiness initiatives for state and federal legislative mandates.  She is an adjunct member of the Implementation Collaborative within Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago as well as CQI and implementation subject matter expert utilized widely by Casey Family Programs.  She received her MSW (2000) and PhD (2010) in Social Work from Luskin.

Seleta has worked for Ventura County Public Health since 2004. She has worked as a home visitor for high-risk families, nursing supervisor, Children’s Medical Services Administrator, and now the Infectious Disease Prevention Administrator. She has been the board president of the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Ventura County since 2018 and is a strong advocate for children and families, focusing on family strengthening.

Dr. Dan Edwards is a licensed clinical psychologist, an implementation scientist, and former president of Evidence-Based Associates (EBA). Prior to his role at EBA, Dr. Edwards was Clinical Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina and Vice-President at MST Services. Dr. Edwards is a member of the Global Implementation Society (GIS) and an Associate Editor for the GIS scientific publication, Global Implementation Research and Applications (GIRA). He also manages a small private practice working with children, youth, and families.

Yolanda Green-Rogers works with public and private child welfare agencies across the country on the implementation of continuous quality improvement (CQI) practices that support performance monitoring and decision-making. Green-Rogers conducts assessments of CQI processes, makes recommendations to leaders on using CQI to achieve priority outcomes, and delivers training and coaching to increase staff capacity to operationalize CQI principles. Green-Rogers is a leader in Chapin Hall’s efforts to enhance the capacity of child welfare leaders and CQI practitioners to monitor and manage their efforts to deliver services that are high quality, high impact, culturally responsive, and community led.

Jackie became a single mother at a very young age. After struggling with postpartum depression, Jackie reached out for help. She took Child Development courses through Ventura College and became an intern to gain work experience through the welfare-to-work program. As an intern, Jackie was placed with the Partnership/ Child Abuse Prevention Council in Ventura County. She was soon hired as the Community Outreach Specialist, learning about valuable tools and resources for families. Jackie has been employed with the Partnership for 14 years and coordinates the Partnership CAPC’s Parents Voices Program. Jackie is the proud mother of four beautiful children.

Cheryl Fox, LCSW is an accomplished behavioral health professional with 30 years’ experience implementing behavioral health programs in public mental health settings on behalf of youth and their families. Cheryl has had the honor to work for the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department within the Youth and Family Division for 25 years. Her recent focus has been ensuring underserved and unserved community members have access to programs and contributions have included collaborations with primary care settings, services for youth at risk of dependency, full service partnerships development, Wellness Centers collaboration, and expansion of outpatient clinics, school-based services, and Juvenile Justice mental health services.

Kathryn Icenhower, PhD, LCSW is the Chief Executive Officer of SHIELDS for Families, a private non-profit organization that offers 30 programs for families who reside in South Los Angeles. Since Dr. Icenhower co-founded SHIELDS in 1991, the organization has grown to employ over 300 staff with a $30 million-dollar annual budget to provide comprehensive services to more than10,000 families annually. Kathryn received her BSSW from Ohio State University and her MSW and PhD from the University of Southern California. Dr. Icenhower sits on numerous local, state, and federal coalitions and advisory boards, including a federal appointment to the Advisory Committee for Women’s Services (ACWS) for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); President Emeritus of Treatment Communities of America; and the California State Child Welfare Council where she serves as Co-Chair of the Prevention and Early Intervention Committee and Co-Chair of the State’s Family First Prevention Services Act Advisory Committee.

Richard Knecht, MS, has delivered program operations, leadership, strategic planning and training services to public and private healthcare and human service systems for more than thirty years. He is recognized in California for his work in designing, adapting and implementing integrated and trauma-informed Systems of Care for public human service agencies Richard is the Integrated Services Advisor to the California Department of Social Services.

A Marriage and Family Therapist by training, Richard is the former Chief Operating Officer of a large behavioral health hospital, and the former Sr. Vice President of Program Operations at the River Oak Center for Children. He directed Placer County’s highly regarded children’s system from 2006 through 2016. He is a past President of the Board of Directors at Ifoster.org, the country’s online resource portal for Foster and Kinship care youth and their providers. He was most recently appointed to Placer County’s First Five Commission.

Jennifer O’Brien is a Policy Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. O’Brien provides implementation and capacity building assistance to multiple public and private child welfare agencies across the country. Her work focuses on conducting readiness assessments and developing initial implementation plans for the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA); supporting Title IV-E waiver jurisdictions; designing and implementing practice models; developing governance structures, data dashboards, implementation plans, data management systems, and strategic plans; collaborating across systems; selecting evidence-based interventions; and training agency staff and stakeholders. 

Jennifer Rolls Reutz, MPH, is the Director of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC) and the California Training Institute (CalTrin), which support the needs of child abuse prevention and intervention organizations through evidence-based resources, professional education, and technical assistance. Jennifer was previously a research coordinator at the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center (CASRC), where she managed several NIMH-funded grants, including Caring for Children in Child Welfare (CCCW) and the Implementation Methods Research Group (IMRG) Advanced Center.  Throughout her career, Jennifer’s work has focused on children receiving services through public sectors of care, including the child welfare and mental health systems, with an emphasis on how to implement evidence-based practices more effectively in real-world settings.

Michael J. Stiehl is a Senior Policy Analyst at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. With more than twenty years of experience in public policy, including child welfare, community development, education, and human services, Michael provides agency leadership across the county with policy analysis and research to support their strategic planning and implementation initiatives. 

Prior to joining Chapin Hall, Michael held staff and faculty positions at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Loyola University, and the University of Illinois, where he was often embedded in the executive teams of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, and the Chief of Staff’s Office at Chicago Public Schools.

David Swanson Hollinger is a senior program manager with the Ventura County Human Services Agency, Department of Children’s Services. Possessing master’s degrees in social welfare and public health, he has worked for more than 30 years in the health and human services fields in direct practice, administration, and leadership.  His diverse work history has included public child welfare, public mental health, non-profit social and health services serving children and families, and Medi-Cal managed care. Throughout his career, he has been committed to cross-system, integrated approaches to a full services continuum that support and empower those served and that promote a system of child and family wellness.

Cheryl Treadwell has over 22 years of career experience working at the Department of Social Services in the Children and Family Services Division, on several programs and initiatives that impact providers, resource families, foster youth and tribes. In April of 2021, she was appointed the Chief of the Safety, Prevention and Early Intervention Branch which is organized to focus the State efforts on the front end of the child welfare system’s continuum built on prevention framework. Her education spans both the social work and legal field along with her extensive experience working in the community and in the human services for more than 30 years.

Cheryl has worked closely on several initiatives over the years such as wraparound, systems integration, advancing the developmental screening of all young children, working with tribes and implemented California’s first federal child welfare waiver demonstration project. She is the proud mother of three wonderful adult children, fraternal twins Zeric and Genesis, age 38 and Elijah, age 27 who are the impetus behind her work in the human services field and her commitment to serve the underserved and less fortunate. She has experience as a foster and adoptive parent and continues to be strong advocate for persons with intellectual disabilities, volunteers in her community and church, and loves to hike.

Jack F. Trope is Senior Director of Indian Child Welfare Programs at Casey Family Programs, where he works on national and local initiatives aimed at promoting compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act, increasing tribal access to the Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance Program, and improving child welfare outcomes for children and families in state and tribal systems through training and systems improvement. Previously, Jack served as the Executive Director of the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA) for more than 13 years (and as Staff Attorney earlier in his career) where he worked on a variety of legal and policy matters, with a heavy emphasis on issues related to youth, federal recognition, and the protection and preservation of Native American Indian tribal cultures, particularly the protection of sacred places and repatriation of human remains and cultural items to Indian tribes. He has also served as Director of the Western Area Office for the Save the Children Federation, and held a number of legal positions including being a partner with the law firm of Sant’Angelo & Trope. Mr. Trope has worked on Indian child welfare matters since 1985 and is a co-author of the 3rd Edition of the Indian Child Welfare Act Handbook published by the American Bar Association.

Wendy Wiegmann is Project Director for the California Child Welfare Indicators Project. Wendy has at least 20 years of experience analyzing linked and unlinked data to examine child welfare practice. Wendy draws on her experience as a former foster youth, relative caregiver, and child welfare worker to inform her work. 

Don Winstead is a consultant with over 10 years of experience working with states, counties, and tribes on child welfare financing issues.  He is a Former Deputy Secretary, Florida Department of Children and Families and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy at U.S Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Kelly Winston is Chief of the CDSS Family Centered Safety and Support Bureau. Kelly has worked in the Child and Family Services Division of CDSS since 2009, overseeing policy implementation to address the needs of trafficked youth and families at risk of entering the foster care system. Kelly has 20 years of experience as a child welfare worker and clinician, contributing to her passion for supporting programs that aim to preserve and support families.