ACET employs five staff: four evaluators who are members of either the American Evaluation Association or the American Educational Research Association and an administrative assistant. We also collaborate with partnering consultants to provide evaluation support to our clients. 

		Stella SiWan Zimmerman, M.A. President Stella has consulted with a variety of organizations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.  The New York Times and several other major U.S. newspapers and local radio and television programs have cited her research and commentaries.  She has presented and facilitated sessions on evaluation for the American Evaluation Association, the U.S. Department of Education, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Stella was announced an Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Leader for being a distinguished graduate, and was named a Princeton University Woodrow Wilson Fellow in 1996.  Visit Stella's LinkedIn page
		Kirsten L. Rewey, Ph.D. Senior Research and Evaluation Associate Kirsten spent many years as an Assistant and Associate Professor for Saint Vincent College and Saint Mary's University.  She brings expertise, through her studies in Experimental Psychology, in designing and applying evidence-based research methodologies to various projects.  The majority of her work is focused on assessing the efficacy of instructional changes and teaching techniques on student learning.  Her commitment in the field of research and evaluation includes the improvement of technology use to enhance student learning and the examination of alternative formats and learning strategies on human information processing. Visit Kirsten's LinkedIn page
		Joseph Curiel, M.A. Evaluation Specialist Joseph specializes in the evaluation of education programs aimed to improve student outcomes. Prior to joining ACET, he served as a principal evaluator for two large scaled research projects sponsored by the University of Houston that evaluated a reading program implemented in a large school district. Joseph’s background includes serving as a teaching assistant and tutor in research methods, social statistics, and social theory. His research interests include education, health, and public policy. Visit Joseph's LinkedIn page
		Dan Regnier, M.S. Evaluation Specialist Dan assists the ACET team in multiple evaluation duties, including: the creation of evaluation plans/instruments, Quantitative/Qualitative data analysis, and report writing. Dan holds a Master of Science in Applied Psychology degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. His degree specialties include Program Evaluation and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Prior to joining ACET, Dan’s previous work involved projects with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, substance abuse treatment programs, and a low-income assistance program. Visit Dan's LinkedIn page

Partnering Consultants

Michael C. Rodriguez, Ph.D.   Michael is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Rodriguez specializes in measurement and assessment, investigating issues related to construct equivalence of test items in various formats, classroom assessment practices, and assessment of achievement for students with moderate to severe impairments.   He has worked extensively with schools and school districts to develop methods for improving their use of large-scale test information for planning and evaluation.  He is currently conducting validity studies of several youth development program evaluation instruments. Dr. Rodriguez also serves as the Chair of the Educational Testing Services Technical Advisory Committee for the Graduate Record Examination.

Marcel Montañez, Ph.D.  Marcel specializes in applied research and evaluation, and has extensive experience in quantitative methodology and has a vested interest in Latino research.  He has served as a consultant on a number of projects relevant to Latino families and children in Minnesota, and has recently served as team leader and methodologist for the National Evaluation of Early Head Start (NEEHS) risk and resiliency work group through University Outreach at Michigan State University.  Dr. Montañez has been recognized internationally for his research in risk and resilience and was invited to present his work at the 2002 World Association of Infant Mental Health scientific meeting in Amsterdam, as well as the 2003 Research Society on Alcoholism's annual scientific meeting in Florida.  He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Science at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Karen DeYoung, M.Ed.  Karen is the CEO of DeYoung Consulting Services, LLC, a management consulting company that works to provide quality learning experiences for a variety of organizations, including government agencies, corporations, non-profit entities, and schools. Ms. DeYoung has worked as an instructional design and performance improvement consultant since 1996. She works to analyze organizational performance needs and to design and develop solutions (training manuals, workshops, self-study guides, job performance aides, etc.) that effectively address those needs. She specializes in customized, rather than out of the box, solutions and provides clients with a particularly comprehensive performance analysis process that identifies and offers recommendations for both training and non-training related challenges.  

Nancy Smith, B.A., is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate (Dakota Nation). Her background is in education and nonprofit management. She has thirty+  years of experience in program, project and staff administration and supervision; program and project design, development, implementation and evaluation; communications and development; group facilitation and teambuilding; advocacy and lobbying; and grant making.  She has worked with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Nation, Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, St. Paul American Indian Center, Urban Coalition, Center for School Change, and the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota.  A big part of her career has been working in education as an administrator, advocate and lobbyist.  While working with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, she was responsible for the development of a cultural-based pre-school, Dakota Language Immersion Program, reading program for students with developmental disabilities, the Tiospa Zina Tribal School, and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribal Community College. Nancy is currently the Communications and Development Director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Jason Strate is a Microsoft Certified Professional who consults on database platforms from Microsoft Access to Structured Query Language (SQL) Server, and has worked on systems ranging from single-user desktop solutions to enterprise clustered server environments.  Currently, he is the SQL Server Database Administrator for Performark, Inc., a business-to- business lead management firm.  He oversees the design and management of the agency’s database infrastructure.  Past development projects have included fraud risk systems that reviewed more than five million transactions daily for corporate fraud, an enterprise level corporate approval platform, and building a fraud database of all registered transactions for a local major retailer.  At the time of completion, the fraud database was ranked in the top 10 databases in the world for size on the Microsoft SQL Server database architecture.  Mr. Strate attended Anoka-Ramsey Community College and Bethel College as a business major.