Ann Cotten is the Executive Director of the Schaefer Center for Public Policy at the University of Baltimore and an affiliated faculty member in the College of Public Affairs. She has been working with government and nonprofit organizations for the past 25 years in the areas of strategic planning, program evaluation, survey research, policy analysis, management consulting, and performance measurement.
Dr. Cotten directs the Maryland Certified Public Manager® (CPM) program. The Maryland CPM Program teaches applied public management skills to supervisors and managers in Maryland’s government and nonprofit organizations.
Prior to starting the Maryland CPM Program, Dr. Cotten directed the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Fellows Program from 2007-2011 on behalf of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The Weinberg Fellows program is a leadership development program for executive directors of nonprofit organizations that serve the financially disadvantaged in the Baltimore area.
A main focus of Dr. Cotten’s work is to help public and nonprofit organizations address strategic challenges. Dr. Cotten has led numerous research projects during her career. Recent projects include an assessment of the civil legal needs of low-income Marylanders for Maryland Legal Aid; a study about health insurance access and use among Marylanders in low-income, rural, and medically underserved areas of the state; an evaluation of Maryland’s Tobacco Control Program; a financial projection and staffing model for a large non-profit organization in Maryland; and a comprehensive review of Baltimore City Community College.
Dr. Cotten has extensive experience training public sector managers in Managing for Results, performance measurement, and strategic planning. She has facilitated the development of strategic plans for a number of Maryland agencies and the Midtown Special Benefit District.
She recently completed two terms on the executive council of the National Certified Public Manager® Consortium where she also served as treasurer. Previously she served as President of the Southern Consortium of University Public Service Organizations, Member of the American Society for Public Administration’s National Council, and President of the Maryland Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.
She has also served as a member of the finance committee of the American Society for Public Administration. She chaired the University of Baltimore’s Institutional Review Board and Council on Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity.
In 2008, Dr. Cotten was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by the Maryland Daily Record. She is a member of Leadership Maryland Class of 2012 and the GBC Leadership Class of 2015.
In 2024, Dr. Cotten received a University of Maryland Board of Regents Staff Award. Dr. Cotten was selected in the category of Extraordinary Public Service to the University or Greater Community and was honored at a special ceremony. The awards are the highest honor the board presents to exemplary staff members.
She has taught strategic management for government and nonprofit organizations and survey research in the University of Baltimore’s School of Public and International Affairs.
Dr. Cotten is a professionally trained focus group moderator and is an experienced trainer of mid and upper-level managers. She holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and a Doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Baltimore and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Magui Cardona has spent the majority of her professional career in research administration. She is currently the Assistant Provost for Sponsored Research at the University of Baltimore (UBalt). In that capacity, she coordinates fiscal and program management for all externally funded research and scholarly activities at UBalt. She also oversees the activities of the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and all internal and external reporting related to sponsored research funding.
Prior to UBalt, she worked as Senior Grants and Contracts Manager in the Office of Sponsored Projects at The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She also held two contractor positions at the National Air and Space Administration (NASA). At NASA Headquarters, she worked as a Space Grant Administrative Fellow in the Office of Education, managing 52 grants and 20 cooperative agreements for the agency. She also worked at Goddard Space Flight Center as a Louis Stokes Administrative Fellow in the Minority University Programs Office, providing technical assistance to minority-serving institutions in how to obtain NASA funding.
Before NASA, she worked at the University of Puerto Rico as a Program Coordinator for the Puerto Rico Space Grant and Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) programs. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico and two M.S. degrees in Chemistry (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) and Materials Science (University of Wisconsin-Madison). She is a Certified Research Administrator, has a Master’s Certificate in Government Contracting (The George Washington University School of Business), and is currently a doctoral candidate in Public Policy at UMBC.
Carlye Christianson is an attorney licensed in the District of Columbia and California. As a consultant and advisor through The Christianson Company, she has concentrated her activities in the nonprofit sector, focusing on governance, management, operations, financial management, strategic planning and implementation, business development and program development/management.
Formerly as Senior Counsel and Director of Special Projects for the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, she advised and provided educational opportunities to nonprofit leaders in a wide range of risk management issues. Ms. Christianson served as Interim Executive Director for Life Skills Center and as Vice President of Community Impact for the United Way of the National Capital Area and Director of Operations for the United Way of San Diego County.
Prior to moving to the National Capital Area, her experience centered on her career as a civil trial lawyer, specializing in civil litigation and dispute resolution. Now, in addition to consulting work, she is on the faculty of the University of Baltimore’s Certified Public Manager program, teaching courses including Understanding Leadership Styles, Building and Leading Effective Teams, Conflict Management and Effective Negotiation, Project Management, Administrative Law, Nonprofit Governance and Management and Effective and Appropriate Use of Social Media. She also is an instructor of data-based decision making for managers and analysts of the Social Security Administration. She also facilitates retreats for the Housing Authority of the City of Baltimore. In addition to being counsel, Ms. Christianson has served as board, officer, committee member and volunteer for a wide range of nonprofits including associations and service providers.
Kelechi Uzochukwu-Ekpagu is an associate professor at the School of Public and International Affairs, College of Public Affairs, University of Baltimore. Dr. Ekpagu earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy at Georgia Tech and Georgia State University (joint program), her M.P.A. in Management and Finance at Georgia State University, and her B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University. She is also a Fulbright Specialist.
Dr. Ekpagu has extensive experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. At the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, she worked on community and economic development strategies for assisting low- and moderate-income people and communities. As a program manager for the State of Georgia, she managed the program’s $17.1 million in federal funding to improve bicycle and pedestrian accommodations for school-aged children across the state and thereby enhance health outcomes, as well. As a management consultant for the CDC, GSA and other federal agencies, she provided technical assistance, organizational assessments, and program evaluations.
Additionally, having worked in the nonprofit world and currently running an international nonprofit, which she started with friends in 2010, Selfless4Africa, she sorely understands the administrative, financial, and political challenges that public and nonprofit organizations can experience, as well as their strategies toward progress. Her work experience enhances her real-world toolkit and allows for real-life examples and rich discussions in her classrooms. Moreover, they fortify her ability to help organizations manage their various needs. Yet and still, her work as a public servant continues, because she believes that with knowledge comes obligation.
Professor Ekpagu’s public service activities extend into her research projects, as they are related to social equity, community engagement, community development, urban planning, and employee health and satisfaction. Her overall research agenda focuses on improving local governance and enhancing the quality of life for distressed populations, both domestically and abroad, and she has presented her work at various conferences in North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
She enjoys teaching statistics, research methods, community development, and public policy and management.
Sarah Ficenec, Ph.D., is the Assistant Director for Research at the Schaefer Center for Public Policy. Her work includes serving as a contact point for clients, conducting quantitative and qualitative research, writing proposals and reports and presentations of the Schaefer Center’s research findings, and managing the research staff and Graduate Fellows.
Dr. Ficenec has over 15 years of experience in policy research, analysis, and evaluation on issues including urban policy, economic development, regional collaboration, interpersonal and interorganizational networks, workforce development, international relations, advocacy for girls’ and women’s issues, and early childhood education.
Most recently, Dr. Ficenec was the Senior Research and Policy Analyst at the Connecticut Economic Resource Center. For four years, she conducted research projects concerning economic development in Connecticut for clients including the state legislature and executive agencies, town governments, regional organizations, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Her work included economic impact reports, statistical analyses, literature reviews, survey design and analysis, and interviews of policy makers. She also presented demographic, economic, and fiscal data on Connecticut towns at municipal economic development workshops for local elected officials and other community members.
Prior to her work in Connecticut, Dr. Ficenec served as a Budget Management Analyst for the City of Baltimore, and Associate Director for Policy and Communications at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, among other positions.
Dr. Ficenec holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from the George Washington University. She also has a Master’s in Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and History from Creighton University. Dr. Ficenec has presented at several academic and professional conferences and serves as adjunct faculty in The University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs.
Since 2008, Jeff has served as the Executive Director of the Maryland World Class Consortia (MWCC), a non-profit organization that helps public and private sector organizations build cultures of continuous improvement. He delivers training on lean improvement methods, facilitates improvement activities, coaches leaders, and develops strategic improvement plans. He has served a variety of roles with the MWCC, including a term on the Consortia’s founding member Advisory Board in 1996.
In 2000, Jeff founded Neovista Consulting to focus on operational excellence, Lean Thinking, leadership development, change management, and culture change. Jeff’s passion for Lean Thinking began in 1993, as the plant manager of a small aerospace firm where lean manufacturing provided the cornerstone of a dramatic multi-year business turnaround. He has served in other industries including automotive, machining, defense, and solar power, in roles including quality manager, engineering director, and lean champion.
Jeff was deeply involved in the creation and expansion of a nationally-recognized system of Lean Certification that is today jointly supported by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, and the Shingo Institute. He holds Lean Bronze and Silver Certifications, and is working toward Lean Gold. He has served on the Lean Certification Oversight Committee and is Past Chair.
Jeff has a deep interest in Lean for the public sector. He is an instructor for the University of Baltimore’s Certified Public Manager Program. He has designed training curricula for Virginia Tech’s Lean Academy and Harrisburg University’s Agile Lean Academy. He has designed lean training and coaching programs that have together graduated over 1,500 lean leaders across a range of government agencies and private sector companies. Jeff’s current specializations include lean leadership, lean for personal and administrative processes, and lean government. Jeff’s clients have included Raytheon, GlaxoSmithKline, OrbitalATK, Halliburton, U.S. Air Force, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the City of Baltimore, and the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Jeff received his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from West Point. He is a lifelong student of team leadership, a combat veteran of the first Gulf War, and was awarded multiple Bronze Star Medals. He is an examiner for both the Shingo Institute’s Shingo Prize and the AME Excellence Award. He is the past Chairman of the Maryland Advisory Commission for Manufacturing Competitiveness and serves on the Board of Directors of Open Works, a Baltimore community maker space and small business incubator.
Al Gourrier was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and educated at Xavier University of Louisiana and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Al holds a B.A. in Finance, a Master’s in Business Administration (M.B.A.), is a graduate from ABA’s Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Georgetown University, and holds a Ph.D. in Public Affairs from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.
Al started a banking career in 1993. In November of 2005, Al began the organization of a new State-Chartered FDIC Institution (De novo), 1st Commerce Bank, which he opened in October 2006. After a successful 19-year career, Al Gourrier left banking in January of 2012 to pursue a career in academia and joined the faculty of The University of Baltimore in January of 2016.
Gourrier’s scholarship in academia focuses on community banking and finance, social equity, and community development through financial and economic representation by exploring decisions and structures impacting the economic health, development, entrepreneurship, and well-being of urban communities. Locally he serves as a board member on the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Community Advisory Council and the Upton Community Development Corporation. He is a member of the Urban Affairs Association, American Society for Public Administration, Urban Financial Services Coalitions, and in February of 2021 received designation as a Fulbright Specialist Program Scholar.
Patricia S. Hall is an attorney of 35+ years specializing in various areas of the law and has been instructing at the University of Baltimore since 2013. She provides multi-discipline instruction to classes about law, expert testimony, and legal and Constitutional issues in the fields of Criminal Law and Cyber Forensics and Investigations. She received her B.S. from UMBC and J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1988. She has attended the Roper Victim Assistance Academy, served as Vice-President of the CPA from 2022-2023, is on the Student Academic Support Committee, and is co-advisor to both Nu Omicron and the Criminal Justice and Forensic Society at the University of Baltimore.
She is a full-time resident of Baltimore County and a part-time resident of Worcester County, Maryland. She has two daughters who are also newly admitted practicing attorneys, who are both graduates of the University of Baltimore School of Law as well. When possible, she enjoys boating, traveling, and relaxing with her Malti-poo Bentley.
Scott A. Hancock is the recently retired Executive Director of the Maryland Municipal League (MML) in Annapolis, Maryland. He was appointed to the position in December of 1995. As Executive Director, Mr. Hancock served as the chief executive officer and oversaw the day-to-day operation of Maryland’s only association of cities and towns.Prior to the MML appointment, Mr. Hancock served three communities as a City/Town Manager; Centreville, Maryland, York, Maine and Narragansett, Rhode Island. Mr. Hancock is a life member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and was elected ICMA Northeast Region Vice President for the 2007-2010 term, a member of the American Society of Association Executives, a charter Trustee of the Local Government Insurance Trust in Maryland and a member of the professional management honor society of Central Michigan University. He is a member of the Class of 2003 of Maryland’s statewide leadership program, Leadership Maryland and was elected a fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration in 2013.
Aside from his professional life, he loves to SCUBA dive and is an amateur singer and actor active in several theatrical groups in Maryland and in an ensemble vocal group at the US Naval Academy prior to his retirement in November 2022.
Scott holds a Master of Management Degree from Central Michigan University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Sociology from Western Maryland College.
Quinton M. Herbert serves as the Director and Chief Human Capital Officer for the Department of Human Resources (DHR) for the City of Baltimore. In this capacity, he is responsible for creating, developing, and driving comprehensive and strategic programs and initiatives that align with organizational goals and strategies. Mr. Herbert has an extensive background in labor and employment relations and leadership development. He previously served as the Deputy Labor Commissioner for the City of Baltimore, where he functioned as the lead negotiator for the City in collective bargaining with all non-public safety unions. He also advised management and HR professionals in a wide array of employment and labor-related issues.
Mr. Herbert is an American Arbitration Association Higginbotham Fellow and is a recipient of the Maryland Daily Record Leadership in Law Award and the American Institute of Legal Counsel “10 Best” Employment and Labor Law Attorney for Maryland Award. He has been recognized as one of the National Black Lawyers Top 100 Lawyers in 2017. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Maryland Public Employer Relations Association (MdPELRA) and The Maryland Labor and Employment Relations Association (MdLERA) and is a member of several bar and professional associations.
Verna Jones-Rodwell is a former elected official, nationally known expert, and leader for the comprehensive redevelopment of communities with over 25 years of professional and volunteer experience in political advocacy, public policy development, public agency, and nonprofit program design and management. Verna has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Baltimore and Goucher College. She is very well known for her vision, courage, and capacity to lead others to positive change.
John Kaelin has diverse executive-level experience in the healthcare industry spanning government, academia, U.S.-based health insurers, and health systems in the Middle East. At Centene, he led the Washington D.C.-based federal advocacy team for commercial health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and other lines of business. Previous positions include senior vice president for health reform at UnitedHealth Group, and executive director of The Hilltop Institute; a University of Maryland-based health services research organization.
Earlier in his career, he served in senior-level positions in the NYS Division of the Budget and Department of Health. In 2014, he served as an on-site health financing advisor to Health Authority Abu Dhabi and recently has been advising other Middle East countries on health reform. John has maintained his academic affiliations with the University of Maryland as adjunct faculty and is a visiting Fellow, at the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
David Kelly, Jr. is a graduate of the Negotiations and Conflict Management master’s program at The University of Baltimore. David started as a volunteer in the Writing Center at the University of Baltimore in the fall of 2017. He discovered intersectional ties between conflict management theories and scholarship and writing center studies. Focusing on writing as a conflict in systems and institutions of higher education, David works to transform students’ relationships with writing by: advocating writer autonomy; collaboration, and; the development of rhetorical awareness, genre expectation, and audience identification.
David works as the Writing Services Coordinator and Director of the Writing Center. In these capacities respectively, David trains and supports the development of writing center staff so that they are more equipped to engage students’ autonomy, agency, and lived experiences through the performance of disciplinary writing; and oversees the writing fellows’ program to collaborate with faculty through providing embedded support in writing-intensive courses.
Inspired by his work with students, David presented original research at the Mid-Atlantic Writing Center Association (MAWCA) conference (2019), Towson Conference for Academic Libraries (TCAL) (2020), and was the keynote speaker at the MAWCA 2020 summer mini-conference on antiracist pedagogy.
David is currently attending Towson University to complete his second M.S. degree in Professional, Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing – Teaching Writing Track.
Mike Kiel is the Interim Head of Reference and Instruction at the University of Baltimore’s Robert. L. Bogomolny library. He has previously been the Head of Information Literacy Initiatives, which is the librarian in charge of teaching and assessment of student learning. He has also been the government documents librarian.
Prior to earning his Masters’ in Library Science he received a BA in Linguistics with honors from the University of Maryland, but that belies his unusually broad background which also includes significant course work in some of the STEM disciplines as well as psychology. Knowing a little bit about a lot happily turned out to be a great background for helping library users research and find information about any topic. Mike has also recently stepped down after three years as the President of the UBalt faculty senate, and in his spare time loves a good story no matter what medium it comes in.
Danny Mays, CPPO, CPPB, NIGP-CPP, CPSM, CPSD, CMPO is a seasoned public procurement professional dedicated to ensuring an efficient, transparent, and accessible process for all stakeholders, while maintaining a focus on integrity, honesty, and optimal customer service.In his current role as Director of Procurement for the Maryland Judiciary, Danny is responsible for managing all procurements across the entire judicial branch, including establishing and maintaining a portfolio of master contracts for use across the judicial branch and beyond. He also administers all grants and memoranda of understanding. In this role, Danny has demonstrable experience with policy writing, streamlining processes and procedures, developing and delivering training, establishing standard templates, implementing emerging technologies and overall organizational transformation.
During his 15 years in the public procurement profession, Danny has previously served as Director of the Maryland Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement, Associate Director of Procurement at Towson University and as a Procurement Officer at The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. In these various roles, he has attained significant experience leading efforts to procure a wide variety of goods and services, including issuing solicitations for complex professional services, information technology, construction and architectural and engineering.
Danny is currently credentialed as a Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) and Certified
Professional Procurement Officer (CPPO) by UPPCC, a Certified Procurement Professional (NIGP-CPP) by NIGP and a Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) and Certified Professional in Supplier Diversity (CPSD) by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), and a Certified Maryland Procurement Officer (CMPO) by the Maryland Procurement Academy. He also serves on the Board of Examiners, CPPO team for the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council (UPPCC), a member of the Leadership Development Committee and certified instructor for NIGP, President-elect of the Maryland Public Purchasing Association, and an instructor and content developer for the Maryland Procurement Academy.
Dr. Naylor is an associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs and the program director for the undergraduate degree in Politics, Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) program. She trains public servants to make a difference in their communities, cities, and country.
Dr. Naylor is on the U.S. Fulbright Scholar Specialist roster and is an international scholar. She has traveled to six continents and over 20 countries. She is a social equity researcher and utilizes a multi-disciplinary framework in her research and teaching. Her research focuses on ensuring democratic values equality, justice, and representation are reflected in public policy outcomes. She has written on the following subjects: affirmative action, diversity, education, health, LGBT, and pedagogy.
Dr. Naylor has distinguished herself as one of the top ten scholars in public administration pedagogy. She has over 30 publications and delivered over 65 presentations. Her work has been published in Public Integrity, Review of Public Personnel Administration, Journal of Public Affairs Education, Journal of Health and Human Services, Journal of Maternal Child Health, Clinical Therapeutics, Journal on Leadership and Development, and the Journal on Comparative Asian Development.
She earned her Ph.D. in public administration from American University, Washington, DC, Masters of Public Health degree from the University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, and Master of Public Administration from Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.
Steven Scalet is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Hoffberger Center for Ethical Engagement at the University of Baltimore (UBalt). Before UBalt, Scalet served as Director of the Program in Philosophy, Politics, and Law at Binghamton University (SUNY), where he received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Michael Shochet has worked at the University of Baltimore since 2004 where he has served as Systems/Reference Librarian, Head of Reference, and Associate Director first at the Langsdale Library and now at the Robert L. Bogomolny (RLB) Library. He is currently the Interim Dean of RLB Library.
Michael is also an affiliate faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences, having taught 3-credit classes on Information Literacy and an Interdisciplinary Studies capstone. Michael recently earned a certificate in Open Educational Practices and a certificate in Servant Leadership from the Greenleaf Academy at Seton Hall.
Anna is an emergency services professional with over a decade of experience in emergency management, emergency medical services, and 9-1-1. Before her current role as Chief Development Officer for the Maryland Department of Emergency Management (MEMA), she was the Director of Emergency Services first for Dorchester County, and later Caroline County, where she was the appointed Local Emergency Manager as well as responsible for 9-1-1 and EMS services. Prior to her work at the local level, she worked at the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS) in regional programs supporting local jurisdiction EMS operational programs, and hospitals to provide the best possible care to Marylanders. She got her start in emergency services with various federal contractors supporting domestic and international nuclear response programs.Anna has a BA in Political Science with minor in International Affairs and Security from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and an MS. in Disaster Medicine and Management from Philadelphia University (now Thomas Jefferson University).
Dr. Debra Stanley is a Professor at the School of Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore, and Director of the Roper Victim Assistance Academy of Maryland. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology & Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland at College Park, her M.S. in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University, and her B.A. in Criminal Justice and Sociology from Rhode Island College.
Dr. Stanley has dedicated more than 25 years to applied research that promotes policy and system change in the areas of crime victimization, child homicide, substance abuse prevention, and treatment, re-entry and diversion, drugs and crime, strategic management, and program development and evaluation. She works closely with both public and nonprofit agencies in the areas of program development, strategic planning, organization diagnostics, assessment, and improvement, client tracking and monitoring, client success, data reporting systems, and program evaluation. She has served as principal investigator on dozens of federal, state, and local funded research projects. Her research has been widely disseminated in several publications, seminars, trainings, and professional presentations.
Her research has been widely disseminated in a number of publications, seminars, trainings, and professional presentations. She currently serves as the President of the American Society of Victimology and advisor to the U.S. Congressional Victim’s Rights Caucus.
Jessica Sowa is a professor in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware. She previously served as the director of both the Master of Public Administration and the M.S. in Nonprofit Management and Social Entrepreneurship programs at the University of Baltimore.
Sowa received her Ph.D. in Public Administration in 2003 from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Her research focuses on public and nonprofit management with an emphasis on the management of human resources in public and nonprofit organizations, organizational effectiveness and collaboration.
Her work has been published in a number of public and nonprofit journals, including Public Administration Review, Administration and Society, Public Personnel Management, American Review of Public Administration, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly and the Review of Public Personnel Administration.
Gabriela Wasileski, Ph.D., is an associate professor and director of the BSCJ program in the School of Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology from University of Delaware and the M.A. in Social Work from Comenius University Bratislava, Slovakia.
In addition, to her academic career she worked as a social worker for over ten years working with marginalized populations. She has more than 15 years of experience as an independent research and lead evaluation researcher with expertise in survey/survey data analysis and qualitative research techniques. Her experience spans across a wide range of applied research areas to include substance abuse treatment and prevention programs, mental health programs, social work services, trafficking in persons, violence against women and migrant population, the impact of trauma and victimization, policy and practice in criminal justice organizations and the immigration system.
She is a certified trainer for the Trauma Informed Responses training program established by SAMHSA. She has been a professional trainer since 2009. Her work has been published in numerous national and internal journals, she has presented her research at conferences, workshops, and seminars.
Ken Weaver is a Policy Analyst for the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis. He works with Delegates and Senators to draft and implement legislation, audit government spending, and make recommendations for a balanced budget that is both fiscally and legally sound. He recently became Committee Counsel for the House Appropriations Committee, and was selected to staff the State Commission to Restore Trust in Policing as well as the Governor’s Salary Commission.Ken has worked on a variety of projects for government agency clients dealing with healthcare, elections, and public safety, starting with his time as a student Research Fellow at the Schaefer Center for Public Policy. He has also worked in Congress and presented at international conferences in the U.S., Brazil, Malaysia, and South Africa on healthcare, innovation in housing, and voting/election equity.
Ken also studied finance at Georgetown University and public policy at the University of Baltimore, where he was President of the MPA Student Association, sole student member on the state accreditation board, and recipient of the prestigious William D. Schaefer Fellowship, named after the former Governor of Maryland.