Senior Consultants

Staff Bios

Angie Herrick Bordeaux, Research Analyst • • 207-780-5822
Angie Bordeaux is a Research Analyst at the Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy. She is responsible for assisting NRCOI staff and consultants with their research needs. Additionally, Angie conducts a weekly search of national child welfare related news to compile for the NRCOI website. Before working with NRCOI, she worked on the Child Care and Children with Special Needs project examining the child care and work issues of low income families of children with special needs. Angie also worked on the Improving Coordination between Child Welfare Caseworkers and the Education System project which was funded by Colorado Department of Human Services to research, develop, deliver, and disseminate a curriculum for Colorado child welfare caseworkers which will enable them to address the educational needs of their clients.

Tom Gray, Computer & Database Specialist • • 207-780-5848
As computer and Database Specialist, Tom is responsible for administering, maintaining and making changes to the TATIS system for the NRCOI. He is currently also working on Maine Roads to Quality, the Early Care and Education Career Development Center at  the Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy. Tom has been providing database development for the Muskie School for more than five years.

Susan N. Kanak, Research Associate • • 207-780-5840
Susan Kanak is currently serving as a Policy Associate with the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement. Her areas of expertise include curriculum design and delivery, training system reviews, adult education and implementing change in the public sector. She recently developed, published and trained agency trainers to implement two curricula: Bringing Together the Child Welfare Team, and Using Information Management to Support the Goals of Safety, Permanency and Well Being. Ms. Kanak has provided training and technical assistance to public child welfare agencies in several States, including Alaska, Iowa, Rhode Island, Colorado, Kentucky, Wisconsin, California and Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Amy Khoury, Secretary • • 207-780-5810
Amy joined the Muskie School in August of 2001. She currently supports the Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy by performing receptionist and clerical duties. Amy also supports the NRCOI's clearinghouse of books, audiotapes and videotapes.

Sameer Mahimkar, Data Manager and Research Analyst • • 207-228-8340
Sameer Mahimkar is a Data Manager and Research Analyst at the Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy. With the NRCOI he works on the development of TATIS and the project's website. He also works on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative, a national project that is assisting the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in identifying uniform outcomes and data collection instruments. He has developed databases which are used nationally to report program effectiveness. He has also designed a website for this project and assists in data analysis and writing reports. Mr. Mahimkar’s technical, quantitative data collection and analysis skills have been utilized in a variety of other State and national projects.

Mary O'Brien, Consultant • • 207-721-8907
Mary O'Brien's consulting work with the Resource Center focuses on gathering and disseminating information on innovative organizational improvement strategies through publications, newsletters, and teleconferences. She played a key role in producing practice-oriented publications on interagency financing, quality assurance and strategic planning. She has edited the Resource Center's biannual newsletter on a wide range of organizational improvement strategies since 1997, and organizes teleconference training programs. Prior to her work as a consultant, she was employed as a program analyst with the federal Health Care Financing Administration.

Steven Preister, Associate Director • • 202-723-0320 (v), 202-723-0320 (fax, call first)
As an Associate Director, Steve provides T/TA to States and Tribes in the following areas: strategic planning, planning for the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) in all its stages, stakeholder involvement, community partnerships, interagency collaboration, systems of care, the service array in child welfare, supervision, training systems and workforce development. Previously, he served for five years as the director of training and technical assistance for the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice. Former positions include serving as the executive director of the National Association for Family-based Services, the deputy executive director of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, teaching graduate social work at The Catholic University of America, and directing a family service agency, a university family research center, and a family policy and education foundation.

Melody Roe, Associate Director • • 303-424-4954 (w) 303-456-5079 (f)
As an Associate Director, Melody will take the lead on providing T/TA to States and Tribes in the area of strategic planning. This work will include helping States to integrate and/or coordinate their various plans (i.e., PIPs, CFSP, APSRs, etc.) and state-wide initiatives in order to support the agency’s vision and to achieve their desired service goals for children and families. Prior to joining the NRC, Melody served for five years as the director of training and technical assistance for The Collaboration to AdoptUsKids and focused her efforts on helping States and Tribes to improve the recruitment and retention of adoptive and foster families as well as their interjurisdictional placement policies and practices for foster children. In addition, she has served as the Vice President of the Education Center at The Adoption Exchange, a private non-profit; the Program Director of Adoption Options, a private child placing agency; and the Director of Family Life Enrichment for the NS&A Training Institute.

Kris Sahonchik, Director of Strategy and Coordination • • 207-780-5856
As the Director of Strategy and Coordination for the Resource Center, Kris Sahonchik is responsible for developing a national training and technical assistance strategy and coordinating the national training and technical assistance network. This work involves evaluating systems and programs, developing strategies for system improvements and assisting with implementation and further evaluation.

In her former role as NRCOI Director, Kris facilitated the development and implementation of plans for children's services in over a dozen states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. She has worked with States and Tribes on developing integrated service systems. She has also worked with court systems in over a dozen jurisdictions and in collaboration with the American Bar Association to develop assessment and planning tools for state court improvement projects.

Kris is also the Director of the Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Muskie School. The Institute enjoys a national reputation for policy research, program evaluation, technical assistance and training in the areas of child welfare, domestic violence and early care and education.

Anita St. Onge, Research Associate • • 207-780-5851
Anita St. Onge provides training and technical assistance on issues of interagency collaboration, domestic violence and child welfare. Ms. St. Onge also directs Domestic Violence Initiatives at the Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Muskie School, which includes the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative, a national project to report on the effectiveness of programs funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. As advisor to a number of Court Improvement projects, she has conducted strategic planning sessions with courts handling child protective cases. She has also worked to improve the relationship between child protective caseworkers and domestic violence advocates and to improve the criminal and civil justice response to domestic violence and child protection.

Peter Watson, Director • • 207-228-8330
Peter Watson is the Director of the NRCOI. He has provided training and technical assistance to numerous States, Tribes and agencies focused on developing and implementing quality improvement systems and improving outcomes for children and families. Peter believes the Resource Center’s best information comes from the States themselves, and he always includes examples from other States in his presentations and technical assistance. Before working at the NRCOI, Peter served as the Director of Quality Assurance at the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS). He managed DSS’s research, training, policy and foster care review units, and served as the project manager for DSS’s SACWIS development and implementation.

Laura Woods, Research Assistant • • 207-228-8343
Laura Woods is a Research Assistant at the Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. She is a recent graduate of the University of Southern Maine with a degree in Communication. In addition to working with the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement, Laura also works on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative, a project funded by the Office on Violence Against Women.

Senior Consultant Bios

Since 2003 Kathy has been an independent consultant, working with several national child welfare resource centers, community organizations and tribes. Kathy is a founding board member of Indian Child and Family Resource Center based in Helena, Montana, a training and technical assistance center for Tribal social service programs, private providers and state agencies. Through the NRCOI, Kathy has provided technical assistance to states and tribes, including strategic planning, child welfare program reviews, development of a statewide Tribal child welfare association, and development of administrative standards for Tribal IVE programs.

Anna Stone , Senior Consultant • • 816-942-7543
Anna Stone, MSW, LCSW has over 35 years of experience working in child welfare. She served in a variety of capacities in Missouri’s public child welfare agency, spending the first 20 years of her career in various county offices as a caseworker, supervisor and program manager. As an administrator for the state she was involved in the development of the state’s child welfare policy and practices, including Missouri’s alternative response system, family preservation and quality assurance programs. Ms. Stone was also active in development of legislation and public/private partnerships. During four years as President/CEO of a not-for-profit agency Ms. Stone continued working with children and their families involved with child welfare program through both campus based and community-based services.

Ms Stone received a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Missouri. In 2005 she was honored as Missouri’s Child Advocate of the Year and she continues to work with various community groups for positive results for children and families in her hometown of Kansas City.

Ms. Webster is most familiar with evaluating systems and looking for opportunities to enhance systems. She believes all systems have positives to offer and seeks to build upon those positives. She works with NRCOI on system reviews, CFSR-related work, and disaster planning.