Leadership

Co-Chair

Julie Poncelet, PhD.

Independent Evaluation Consultant
Action Evaluation Collaborative & Lecturer
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
julie.poncelet@gmail.com

Julie designs and implements evaluations both within the U.S. and internationally with an emphasis on participatory action learning approaches and focuses on the areas of social justice, youth activism, and gender equity. 

Co-Chair

Samantha “Sammy” Holquist, PhD (she/her/hers)
Senior Research Scientist at Child Trends
sholquist@childtrends.org

Samantha “Sammy” Holquist, PhD, is a senior research scientist at Child Trends. Samantha specializes in using collaborative research methodologies to partner with youth, communities, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to reform systems in service of supporting youth development and well-being, particularly youth most impacted by injustice. Her work intersects with topics of education, community safety, positive youth development, and child welfare. She has worked as a youth activist, youth advocate, school district administrator, and non-profit leader.

Program Co-Chair

Noemi Avalos (she/her/ella)
Senior Evaluation Officer at Sierra Health Foundation/The Center 
navalos@sierrahealth.org

Noemi is a Senior Evaluation Officer at Sierra Health Foundation/The Center. She manages external evaluations and supports with internal evaluation of diverse programs, including programs focused on healthy youth development. Previously, she served four years as an Evaluation Fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her areas of interest include evaluation capacity building, qualitative methods, youth-focused evaluation and culturally responsive evaluation. She has a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior from UC Davis, and a Master of Public Health from Loma Linda University.

Program Co-Chair

Natalie De Sole (she/her/hers)
Founder of Rooted-Growth
natalie@rooted-growth.org

Natalie De Sole (she/her) founded Rooted-Growth to collaborate with mission-driven organizations focused on using data and lived experiences to reach their goals. Her recent work centers on youth and community through out-of-school, education, and prevention science programming, primarily in Colorado and Detroit. Like many fellow evaluators, she fell into her evaluative career in 2009 at an internship with Save the Children UK in Phuthaditjhaba, South Africa, and has continued this journey ever since. She is white, half-Coloradoan and half-Calabrese (Southern Italian), and was raised in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Zimbabwe. Natalie holds a B.A. from Grinnell College, an evaluation-focused MSW from the University of Michigan, and an adult teaching certificate from the Association of College and University Educators. She is also pursuing a PhD in Transformative Education at Colorado State University.  

Communications Co-Chair

Breanna Mattis (she/her/hers)
Evaluation Associate at Sierra Health Foundation & The Center
bmattis@sierrahealth.org

Breanna Mattis provides support to external evaluations through the Evaluation and Learning Department at Sierra Health Foundation and The Center. She received her Master of Public Health in Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and is interested in culturally responsive and equitable evaluation, youth participatory methods, and the social determinants of health.

Communications Co-Chair

Hannah Howard (she/her/hers)
Data Manager at Alliance for a Healthier Generation
hannah.howard@healthiergeneration.org

Hannah has over six years of experience in youth services at a national non-profit, specializing in data and research. She holds a degree in Mathematics with a concentration in Statistics. Recently, Hannah led data collection and analysis to examine the impact of gender-inclusive practices on the experiences of youth at camp. She is deeply passionate about using data-driven insights to shape equitable strategies that help young people lead healthy lives.

Olivia Melvin (she/her/hers)

Evaluation Associate at the Center for Research Evaluation
Chair of EvalYouth North America
Mississippi State Liaison for the Gulf Coast Eval Network
onmelvin@olemiss.edu

Olivia Melvin is an Evaluation Associate at the Center for Research Evaluation, Chair of EvalYouth North America, and the Mississippi State Liaison for the Gulf Coast Eval Network. Olivia views evaluation as a mechanism to meet communities where they are in their data-literacy journey, building capacity and prioritizing empowerment evaluation strategies. In her VOPE roles, she aims to highlight disparate networks of young and emerging evaluators and Gulf-based evaluators while providing access to professional development and community for all folks interested in entering and building careers in the field.

Monica Ruiz Casares, PhD.

Assistant Professor
Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry
McGill University & Scientific Advisor/Investigator at SHERPA
monica.ruizcasares@mcgill.ca

Monica conducts policy-relevant research and evaluation related to child wellbeing and protection, child participation, and ethics and methods in doing so with young people in Canada and in the Majority World.

Bijan Kimiagar, PhD.

Founder & Principal at AEQUA Strategies
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
bijan@aequastrategies.com

Bijan is a human rights advocate and mixed methods researcher who helps mission-driven organizations design and implement community-based and family-centered research, assessment, and evaluation strategies to build a more equitable world. Through partnerships with organizations large and small, he has led and supported initiatives in the United States, as well as in countries throughout Europe, Latin America, West and North Africa, and South Asia.

Jimmy Frickey
PhD. Student
j.e.frickey@gmail.com

Jimmy is currently a PhD student with over 20 years of experience working with youth in the US and Canada. Evaluation and youth both remind him to keep learning. Being relatively new to Canada, he is currently learning to play hockey.

Nick Petten, MA
Evaluator & Researcher
Petten Consulting, Toronto, Ontario
nick@pettenconsulting.com

Nick is a researcher, consultant, and evaluator with over 10 years of experience working with culturally diverse populations. He is primarily concerned with how to meaningfully and ethically involve children and youth in research and program design.

Ross VeLure Roholt, PhD.
Associate Professor
School of Social Work, University of Minnesota
rossvr@umn.edu

Ross' work focuses on the meaning and experiences of youth engagement, especially around youth involvement in community, social, political, economic development both within the U.S. and internationally. His interest includes both understanding experiences of engagement as well as the policies, programs, opportunities, and practices that support youth engagement on public issues young people personally care about. 

Pia Saunders Campbell

Director of Assets, Strategy & Knowledge
International Youth Foundation
p.campbell@iyfnet.org

Pia is a non-profit strategic leader with 20 years’ experience in the nonprofit and private sectors. She has worked in the youth economic opportunity and emergency response fields in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the USA. Ms. Campbell holds a BA from The Johns Hopkins University and a MPA from the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.

Christina Olenik, PhD.
Vice President Youth Development
Making Cents International
christy@makingcents.com

Christy has designed, implemented, and evaluated holistic youth programs for multiple donors, local governments, and private foundations in the US and internationally.

Dr. Chelsea Pallantino
Senior Specialist, Research, Evaluation, and Learning
chelsea@makingcents.com

Chelsea brings more than a decade of research and project management experience in the U.S. and abroad related to gender and development. Her primary areas of expertise include gender equity, women’s empowerment, reproductive health, and gender-based violence. Prior to joining Making Cents, Chelsea worked with the United Nations Development Programme on their Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative and served as a Commissioner on the City of Pittsburgh’s Gender Equity Commission under the Office of the Mayor. At Making Cents, she is responsible for guiding qualitative and quantitative research activities and program design, implementation, analysis, evaluation, and dissemination that integrates strengths-based approaches. In her free time, Chelsea enjoys running and hiking.