Our Team

Abby is a public health evaluator that contributes to multiple projects at PDA. She enjoys working collaboratively with partners to answer meaningful questions that ensure results drive decisions and learning.

Abby has a master’s degree in applied psychology, with concentrations in program evaluation and health psychology, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology, both from the University of Wisconsin – Stout.

Amy designs, implements, and leads multiple public health evaluation projects. She oversees staff evaluators and manages the broader direction and activities of the evaluation division.

Amy has her doctorate in social psychology with fellowship training in evaluation from Loyola University Chicago.

Andy contributes to the design and implementation of PDA’s software projects through technical leadership, architecture planning, and software craftsmanship. Andy is a full stack developer with primary strengths in .NET MVC applications.

Andy's main responsibilities are to ensure PDA's development projects work as intended and meet the end user's needs.

Andy has a bachelor of arts in computer information systems.

Angie’s main role is managing the evaluation of a community grants initiative in Hawai‘i that provides in-person tobacco cessation counseling to priority populations. She also leads our data visualization efforts by inspiring, training, and creating tools for her colleagues.

Angie holds a master’s in public health (community health education) from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s in psychology from Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Belle contributes to the design and implementation of multiple statewide evaluation initiatives in tobacco and chronic disease. With a background in public health research and practice, she is passionate about finding ways to make evaluation data and findings usable for stakeholders.

Belle holds a doctorate from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with an emphasis in psychiatric and substance use epidemiology and a bachelor's degree in psychology and English literature from Swarthmore College.

Calvin works with our clients and users and communicates their needs with our development team through open lines of dialogue and technical requirement writing.

Calvin graduated from St. Olaf college with a bachelor of arts while double majoring in economics and dance w/ a minor in statistics.

Cat assists with the evaluation of statewide tobacco prevention and cessation projects. She is passionate about using evaluation to identify and address health inequities.

Cat holds a master of public health degree with a concentration in biostatistics from Indiana University. She also holds a bachelor of science degree in psychology with a certificate in clinical psychological science and a minor in criminal justice.

Cece takes care of the physical space and helps with various tasks to keep the office running smoothly.

Cece has a bachelor’s degree in social work with a minor in gerontology and a certificate in child welfare from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire.

Charity contributes statistical knowledge to several of the statewide public health initiatives being worked on at PDA. She is responsible for using a variety of statistical programs to run data analysis for various client projects. Charity enjoys using data viz to explore datasets and discover patterns within data.

Charity has a master of science in biostatistics from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor of science in statistics and psychology from Carnegie Mellon University.

Emily supports statewide evaluation projects in chronic disease such as cancer and asthma. She is excited about incorporating equity principles into every aspect of her work, as well as communicating complex data through effective visualizations and summary reports.

Emily holds a master of public health in epidemiology with a minor in biostatistics from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor of science degree in biology of global health with a minor is science, medicine, and society from the University of St. Thomas.

Joining PDA in 2007, Emily leads multiple large-scale evaluation projects. She adeptly manages projects and is a master at conveying complex information in a clear and friendly way. With a passion for accessibility and use, Emily rolls out innovative strategies for data collection, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination of findings.

Emily has a master’s degree in organizational leadership, policy and development (evaluation studies) with a minor in quantitative methods in education, and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology with a management minor, both from the University of Minnesota.

At PDA, Gabriel contributes to evaluation and strategic planning initiatives for public health and wellness-based programs. He strives to align activities with purposefulness and utility and to foster a culture of learning and reflection with clients and partners.

Gabriel holds advanced degrees from the University of Iowa (M.F.A), University of Minnesota (M.P.H) and his certification to teach yoga.

Harlan leads and contributes to many projects in evaluation and software development. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep his clients and staff happy and prides himself on making the impossible possible.

Harlan received his master’s degree in evaluation studies with a focus on quantitative methods from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor's degree in educational policy and educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin.

Since joining PDA in 2015, Heather has led multiple evaluations of statewide and community-level programs in tobacco control, chronic disease, and behavioral health. She has a special interest in programs that promote equity.

Heather has a master of arts degree in evaluation studies from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology with a Spanish minor from Taylor University.

Jake supports, monitors, and manages all aspects of PDA’s IT infrastructure.

Jake has an associate degree from Minnesota State University and numerous IT certificates.

Jen evaluates state and local health promotion initiatives with a focus on active transportation, healthy food access, and chronic disease prevention. She helps clients clarify their goals and ask the right questions to better understand their impact.

Jen holds a doctorate in social and behavioral epidemiology and a master of public health in community health promotion, both from the University of Minnesota.

Kakul contributes to multiple statewide public health initiatives that promote chronic disease prevention and management, healthy food access, and tobacco control. She enjoys developing research designs to answer complex questions and visualizing data to provide meaningful insights to improve health promotion efforts.

Kakul holds a doctorate in epidemiology and biostatistics with a focus on food access and nutrition security and received a master of public health degree in health promotion and disease prevention, both from the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Kate contributes to multiple statewide public health initiatives at PDA. She strives to build evaluation capacity within organizations by working with stakeholders to create meaningful questions and help them use evaluation processes and findings. She enjoys developing research designs to effectively address stakeholders’ questions.

Kate holds doctorate in applied developmental psychology with an emphasis in program evaluation from Claremont Graduate University.

Kelly leads the administrative team, contributes to human resources functions, and works to ensure that each individual has the tools and resources they need to be successful at PDA.

Kelly holds a master’s in business administration and a bachelor of science in business with a major in human resources and industrial relations, both from the University of Minnesota.

Laura contributes to the evaluation of public health initiatives related to tobacco control. She is focused on using data to help programs identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Laura has a master of public health degree from Columbia University and a bachelor of arts degree in English from Wesleyan University.

Leigh Ann contributes to several state and local health initiatives that promote tobacco control and prevention, active living, and chronic disease prevention. She enjoys using and visualizing data to provide meaningful and impactful insights to improve health promotion efforts.

Leigh Ann holds a doctorate in health promotion and behavioral science from UTHealth School of Public Health in Austin, with a focus on social and environmental influences on health and received a master of public health degree in community health from Baylor University.

Lily assists with data cleaning, processing, and analysis for evaluation and statistics projects at PDA.

Lily holds a bachelor of science in psychology and a bachelor of arts in computer science from the University of Minnesota.

Maggie supports multiple statewide evaluation initiatives in chronic disease prevention and tobacco cessation.

Maggie holds a master’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor of arts degree in environmental studies from Carleton College.

Marissa leads capacity building at PDA to ensure staff and projects are optimized for success. She drives strategy, vision alignment, cross-functional team integration, and big picture planning for sustainable growth.

Marissa holds a master’s in public health with a focus on chronic disease epidemiology and regulatory affairs from Yale University and a bachelor’s in sociology and psychology from St. Norbert College.

Joining PDA in 2011, Melissa contributes to the leadership of the evaluation division by managing projects and teams and supporting our business development efforts. Melissa is responsible for planning and implementing several large scale, multi-component projects.

Melissa holds a doctorate in psychological and quantitative foundations with an emphasis in evaluation from the University of Iowa.

Mengting assists with data cleaning and quantitative analysis for statistical projects at PDA.

Mengting earns a master of science in biostatistics from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. She also holds dual bachelor of science degrees in actuarial science and statistics from the University of Minnesota.

Mindy evaluates public health communication campaigns and researches strategies for reaching audiences across a complex media landscape.

Mindy earned her master of arts in radio and television at San Francisco State University, a doctorate in communication at the University of Utah (with an emphasis in health communication and quantitative research), and a master of public health at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Mitch helps design and write software that supports our clients’ goals. He is a full stack developer with expertise in Microsoft technologies.

Mitch has a bachelor of science degree in computer science from North Dakota State University

Patrick contributes to the research, analysis, and design for PDA’s development projects. He works with stakeholders to translate their business needs into software requirements and specifications.

Patrick holds a bachelor of arts in physics and french from Grinnell College.

Responsible for full-cycle accounting duties, including maintenance of the general ledger, financial planning and reporting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll.

Rachel has a bachelor’s degree in public accounting from Gustavus Adolphus College and holds a certified public accountant license.

Ronan supports various evaluation projects related to tobacco cessation and substance abuse prevention. He is a strong believer in the power of evaluation to create positive change.

Ronan holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology, with a concentration in race and ethnic studies, from St. Olaf College.

Stephanie contributes to the evaluation of several statewide initiatives related to chronic disease prevention and treatment, tobacco control, and other health behaviors.

Stephanie holds a doctorate in kinesiology with a focus on physical activity and health promotion from the University of Minnesota.

Steve is involved in all aspects of software architecture and development. He’s skilled in effective automated testing, continuous integration, and continuous delivery.

Steve holds a bachelor of arts in information systems/computer science from Calvin College.

Traci has been involved in leading, designing, and implementing evaluations of single, multisite, and statewide health promotion and disease prevention initiatives for over 15 years.

Traci holds a bachelor's in psychology and a master's in public health from the University of Minnesota.

Vince works with stakeholders to understand their business needs and writes clear specifications for new features. He guides the software development team in planning and building software updates following his and team-members’ specifications.

Vince holds a bachelor of business administration in management information systems from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Walker uses multiple programming languages to turn complex data into meaningful public health and research insights.

Walker studied the neuroscience of emotion while completing his doctorate in psychology at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.