Meet Our Team

The Forum for Youth Investment was founded in 1998 by Karen Pittman and Merita Irby, two of the country’s top leaders on youth issues and youth policy. The Forum’s diverse staff includes researchers, educators, policy analysts, youth work practitioners, advocates and communications specialists.

CEO and Administrative Staff

Kris Minor
Chief Operating Officer, Acting President and CEO

Kris oversees the Forum’s external affairs and internal operations: from communications and outreach to human resources, IT and facilities.

Ashley Brooks
Administrative Assistant

Ashley provides the backbone of support to the Forum’s co-founder and CEO, Karen Pittman, as well as other members of the senior staff.

Improving & Aligning Policies

Gerod Blue
Senior Policy Manager

Gerod manages the development of policy programs, agendas, & various campaigns focused on decreasing the Opportunity Gap & furthering the mission of the Forum.

Shaquana Boykin
SparkAction & Opportunity Youth United Digital Engagement Fellow

A passionate youth organizer, Shaquana works with SparkAction to coordinate digital communications for our partner, the youth-led Opportunity Youth United.

Thaddeus Ferber
Executive Vice President and Co-Founder, SparkAction

Thaddeus works to promote evidence-based policies that help communities achieve equity for all youth and that incorporate youth voice.

Caitlin Johnson
Co-Founder and Creative Director, SparkAction

A writer and journalist passionate about digital movement building & youth leadership, Caitlin runs the Forum’s SparkAction.org and LeaderStories.org networks.

Jaizyha Jones
SparkAction Youth Justice Policy Fellow

Jaizyha is a member of the Forum’s SparkAction youth-led storytelling, narrative expansion, and social media collective.

Jordan Pineda
Policy Manager, Children’s Cabinets

Jordan works to ensure that government and non-government stakeholders engage in policies that are horizontally and vertically aligned to promote equity.

Jamal Stone
Digital Engagement Associate

As SparkAction’s Digital Engagement Associate, Jamal helps strategize and execute on content-driven campaigns, with a focus on equity, opportunity and justice.

Mary Ellen Wiggins
Director of Policy & Research

Mary Ellen works with stakeholders inside and outside of government to use policy and evaluation as tools to promote equity and help youth thrive.

Delbria Walton
Policy Manager

Delbria does all things Opportunity Nation. Find out your OppIndex Score today!

Planning and Partnering for Impact

Merita Irby
Co-Founder & Executive Vice President

Merita is the Forum's co-founder and serves as managing partner of Big Picture Approach Training & Consulting and a coach to state and local partnerships.

Laura Jahromi
Senior Program Manager, Big Picture Approach Training & Consulting

Laura brings extensive on-the-ground experience coordinating & supporting community change efforts to her role managing in-house operations for the BPA team.

Priscilla Little
Senior Consultant, Big Picture Approach Training & Consulting

Priscilla Little has been working in the education arena and conducting educational research for over twenty years.

Larry Pasti
Consultant, Big Picture Approach Training & Consulting

Larry provides support to communities and states interested in bringing the Ready by 21 strategies, solutions and standards into their local work.

Karen Pittman
Co-Founder and Senior Fellow

Karen has made a career of starting organizations and initiatives that promote youth development – including the Forum for Youth Investment.

Nate Ross
Program & Communications Associate

Nate works to link and align various programmatic, communications and social media projects that promote the Ready by 21 Key Ideas.

Alicia Wilson-Ahlstrom
Consultant, Big Picture Approach Training & Consulting

Alicia’s portfolio includes writing and research projects related to out-of-school time, youth program quality and postsecondary success.

Katherine Plog Martinez
Consultant, Big Picture Approach Training & Consulting

Katherine's brings experience at the intersection of k-12 education and positive youth development to her work supporting partnerships and OST programs.

Strengthening Practices and Programs

Adrienne Bard
Senior Manager, Field Services

With an enthusiasm for details, Adrienne provides training and technical assistance to partners across the country engaged in continuous quality improvement.

Joe Bertoletti
Senior Director, Field Services and Vice President, The Forum for Youth Investment

Joe coordinates a team of field consultants and trainers to deliver training and technical assistance to support the development of quality improvement systems.

Poonam Borah
Senior Research & Program Associate

Poonam primarily works with projects focusing on instructional and management practices, measure validation, and impact studies specifically around SEL.

J. Montana Cain, Ph.D.
Senior Manager of Research and Evaluation

Montana’s responsibilities include project management, measure development, data management, and developing systems to support data collection & use.

Alandra Chuney
Senior Program Associate, TACSS

Alandra is a part of the TACSS team in Michigan. She provides technical assistance and coaching to our 21st Century grantees.

Krista Collins, Ph.D.
Director, Research and Evaluation

Krista uses research & evaluation opportunities to partner with youth development organizations to identify, understand & communicate their pathways to impact.

Kiylise Crutchfield
Training Design and Delivery Specialist

Kiylise is the Training Design and Delivery Specialist with the Design Team. She is responsible for designing and improving training opportunities and content.

Trevor Davies
Senior Manager, Technical Assistance and Coaching Support Services (TACSS)

Trevor provides coaching and consulting services to the Weikart Center’s clients, including Michigan’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CLCs).

Sarah Eicher
Project Management Assistant

Sarah supports various network projects and clients as part of the Field Services team.

Jennifer Harris
Senior Manager, Field Services

A “systems-thinker” at heart, Jennifer works closely with intermediaries on projects that focus on matters that directly impact out-of-school time programs.

Amanda Heckenkamp
Project Manager

Amanda provides training and technical assistance supports to OST networks engaged in YPQI and supports communications work at the Weikart Center.

Barbara Hillaker, Ph.D.
Product Design and Content Development Specialist

Barbara Hillaker’s work centers on developing or improving measures, assuring that they are aligned with developmental science and are valid & reliable.

LaDonna Lloyd
Project Manager

LaDonna provides technical assistance, fosters & maintains positive relationships, & supports quality improvement initiatives with clients around the country.

Alyssa Lucas
Administrative Assistant

Alyssa is the administrative assistant at the Weikart Center where she provides support to the vice president and executive team.

Dave Martineau
Director of Product Design & Innovation

Dave returns to the Weikart Center as the Director of Product Design and Innovation with more than 20 years of experience in youth development and facilitation.

Kimberly Howard Robinson, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality

Kim works to strengthen programs and practices that nurture the potential of youth with continuous improvement approaches that marry research and practice.

Amanda Ruud
Training Product & Process Design Specialist

Amanda serves as a Training Product & Process Design Specialist.

Leah Wallace
Project Manager, Field Services

Leah provides training and technical assistance to Weikart Center clients around the country.

Internal Services & Administration

Seghen Abebe
Special Projects Associate

Seghen provides direct administrative and programmatic assistance for internal operations and external affairs alongside the COO.

Laine Culbreath
Director of Finance & Administration

Laine oversees the accounting functions of the Forum, including producing financials statements, budgeting, grant reporting & making sure the bills get paid.

Tom Devaney
Vice President, Business Strategy

Tom oversees the Forum’s finance and accounting team and is responsible the organization’s contracting, legal and business strategy functions.

Ian Faigley
Director of Outreach and Engagement

Ian is the point man for partners of the Forum. He manages communications efforts, working with staffers at both the Forum and partner organizations.

Shanell Harriday
Meetings and Operations Manager

Shanell provides comprehensive meeting planning and logistics management for the Forum’s convenings, including the annual Ready by 21 National Meeting.

Galen Irby
IT and Facilities Specialist

Galen is the Forum' chief IT geek and facilities manager. He' in charge of the network, computers and telecommunications. He also handles facilities needs.

Paul LaMacchia
Manager, Business Systems

As the Manger of Business Systems at the Forum, Paul oversees our online systems and provides guidance to the users of those systems.

Max Miller
Project Assistant

Max primarily engages in the production and facilitation of video, audio, and web-oriented content for the Forum.

Kris Minor
Chief Operating Officer, Acting President and CEO

Kris oversees the Forum’s external affairs and internal operations: from communications and outreach to human resources, IT and facilities.

Rosa Pittman
Information and Facilities Associate

Rosa, an employee of the Forum since 2002, provides administrative and organizational support to the entire staff.

Nalini Ravindranath
Grants and Development Manager

Nalini Ravindranath manages the Forum’s fund development activities and relationships with funders.

Ora Shamley
Finance Specialist

Ora is a financial specialist, working on accounts payable, accounts receivable, and many other financial matters for the organization.

Pousga Yerbanga
Senior Accountant

Pousga performs account reconciliations, maintains the general ledger, assists with audit preparations, and performs other accounting duties as assigned.

Changing the odds for young people has never been more important

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