An effective public safety net is a right, not a luxury — and I’ve spent the last twenty years working to make that a reality. I’ve been a facilitator, a capacity builder, and, more often than not, the person connecting dots between people and organizations who didn’t realize they needed each other. I care deeply about equipping social service and civic workers with the tools they need to do their jobs well, and about designing programs that are truly accessible for those who’ve been most impacted by structural racism. Much of my work comes down to translation — turning real-time data and research into practice, surfacing evidence-based approaches that actually move the needle, and breaking down the silos that keep systems from talking to each other. I’m the person people tap to bring diverse voices together, be it cohorts, task forces, commissions, or strategic planning processes. I’ve worked with many public systems, but my specialty is workforce development: helping public systems align their services, building the capacity of frontline staff and leaders, and supporting public and private employers to build genuinely inclusive workplaces.

Creating a nationally recognized certification and educational pathway for workforce development professionals.

Intuitive, Thorough, Resourceful

Growing a Chicago-based professional development institute into a nationally-recognized training collective for the workforce development field, training over 500 frontline staff each year, incubating numerous pilot programs, and serving as a go-to resource for technical assistance and best practice research.