Our Team

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.

Julie oversees PDA’s evaluation division and takes a lead role on tobacco cessation evaluations. She is also PDA’s HIPAA compliance officer and leads data privacy efforts.

Julie holds a bachelor of arts with majors in sociology and philosophy from Saint Mary’s University in Minnesota.

Becky leads analyses for evaluation and research clients, providing expertise in quantitative analysis and survey methodology. She manages PDA’s team of analysts and has been on our team since 2008.

Becky has a master of public health degree in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in physics from Carleton 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.

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.

Kelly keeps the business humming, using her skills in human resources, operations, and a variety of special projects.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sara uses her advanced statistical programming skills in SAS to support a wide variety of evaluation and health care research projects through data cleaning, statistical analysis, and manuscript writing.

Sara earned her master’s degree in statistics from the University of Minnesota and her bachelor’s in mathematics and economics from St. Olaf College.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anne manages and supports multiple evaluation and strategic planning projects for state and national public health initiatives. She strives to balance inclusivity and consensus with efficiency and action through thoughtful stakeholder engagement and intentional use of data to move projects forward.

Anne holds a master degree in program evaluation from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor degree in English and German literature from the University of Richmond. Anne is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

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.

Since joining PDA in 2015, Heather has supported multiple evaluations of statewide public health programs. She has experience in tobacco cessation, chronic disease prevention and management, systems change, behavioral health, and social services, with 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.

Alyce manages PDA’s survey instruments and protocol across a variety of projects, as well as contributing to other aspects of several evaluations. She is focused on getting the details exactly right so that overarching themes and evaluation findings can emerge.

Alyce holds a master’s degree in human rights, focused on research and evaluation methods, from the University of Minnesota, as well as a bachelor’s degree in political science and mathematics/statistics from Grinnell College.

Ellen is involved in evaluating several statewide public health initiatives at PDA. She is especially interested in mixed methods and in leveraging principles of utilization-focused evaluation to provide actionable insights to clients.

Ellen earned her master of public health, specializing in health metrics and evaluation, from The University of Washington and her bachelor of arts in biology and environmental studies from St. Olaf College.

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.

Shanna does all things accounting: Accounts payable, Accounts Receivable, Billing, Payroll, and Financial Reporting.

Shanna has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of St. Thomas.

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

Audrey supports multiple evaluation projects at PDA. She enjoys the variety of different projects and helping clients answer their evaluation questions through thoughtful data collection and interpreting findings together in meaningful ways.

Audrey has a master of public health in maternal and child health and a minor in program evaluation from the University of Minnesota. She also holds a bachelor of arts in international studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a minor in global health.

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.

Ariana supports evaluation initiatives for tobacco cessation, active transportation, and nutrition assistance programs around the country. She is passionate about pursuing just and equitable outcomes for immigrants, BIPOC communities, and other historically marginalized populations.

Ariana holds a master of public health in epidemiology with a minor in biostatistics from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor of science in community health from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Gabriel supports statewide evaluation efforts with current roles in tobacco control/cessation-related work.

Gabriel holds a master's degree in public health from the University of Minnesota, as well as a master of fine arts from the University of Iowa.

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.

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.

Alex supports evaluation initiatives in tobacco control. She is passionate about using data to communicate findings and improve public health programs.

Alex holds a master of public health in community health promotion with a minor in epidemiology and global health from the University of Minnesota. She also holds a bachelor of science degree in biology and community & environmental sociology with a minor in global health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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.

Chris works as a full stack developer helping to create software that fulfills PDA’s clients’ requirements. Chris has a background in automated testing and a focus on delivering quality.

Chris has a bachelor of science in management information systems from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

With prior experience in the medical device industry, Alison is involved in the translation of client needs into software development changes. She is skilled in the art of turning complex information into well-formatted and easily understandable documentation.

Alison holds a bachelor of science in professional communication and emerging media from the University of Wisconsin - Stout with an emphasis in technical communication.

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

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

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.

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

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

Polly has the gift of gab and excels at getting survey respondents to open up to her. She managed the day-to-day survey responsibilities for our Florida and Oklahoma projects for nearly a decade and now focuses her talents primarily on making survey calls (and caring for her sweet grandbabies!).

Chloe provides stress relief to anyone who wants to pet her. She is known for her extra soft fur and calm demeanor. She is happiest when she's sleeping near her mom's feet.

Rig joined PDA as a puppy in 2016. She provides tail wags, licks, and emotional support to the evaluation team.

Rig is a puppy training school dropout (the instructor made mom cry!), but she is self-taught in sit, stay, down, and shake.