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

Resume		Stella SiWan Zimmerman, M.A. President and Chief Executive Officer 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.
Resume		Kirsten L. Rewey, Ph.D. 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.
Resume		Heather L. Wolfgram, MSW. Research and Evaluation Associate Heather has several years of field experience conducting interviews and in facilitating focus group discussions in non-profit settings throughout Minnesota and in Wisconsin. Prior to joining ACET, Heather conducted and disseminated research projects on issues related to domestic violence and designed an evaluation to measure the community’s response to sexual assault cases for the Family Support Center in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Heather also authored the 2007 Watch report on the Impact of Minnesota’s Felony Strangulation law.
Resume		Walter Novillo, M.A. Research Specialist Walter has worked in the development and delivery of many educational programs targeted to increase college participation of underrepresented students. His current research interests include postsecondary transitions, organization development, and multicultural communication. Walter brings a strong background in strategic development, data acquisition, and analysis to ACET, as well as knowledge of Hispanic culture and Spanish-language fluency. Walter has advised local, state, and federal agencies on the development and implementation of several multicultural initiatives.
Resume		Joseph Curiel Evaluation Specialist Joseph specializes in the evaluation of education programs aimed to improve student outcomes. While pursuing his M.A. in Sociology he served as a principal evaluator for two large scale 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.
		Angelica Easterling Administrative Assistant Angelica received her Administrative Office Professional certificate from Crown College and has worked in office administration and customer relations for over five years. She is currently pursuing her Associate in Human Resources at Saint Paul College.

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.

Mary Ellen Murphy, M.A.  Mary Ellen has worked with over 60 metropolitan and rural Minnesota organizations linking evaluation to program and organization planning.  She began her independent consulting practice in 1990 after working as the Director of Planning and Policy at Women Venture and as a Senior Researcher at the Earl Craig Company.  Her approach to evaluation enhances the use of evaluation findings and builds organizational capacity.  In addition to evaluation, Ms. Murphy trains in evaluation, facilitates planning processes and coaches executive directors in organizational change.  She has also developed and completed organizational assessments for local and national organizations. 

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. 

Nancy Weiss, M.Ed.  For over 15 years, Nancy has provided tailored solutions to training, educational, organizational development, and communication needs to a wide variety of clients within the non profit, government, small business, and corporate sectors.  Her varied skills encompass analysis, design, and development of plans and tools, and program evaluation.  Some highlights of her career include the development of numerous train-the-trainer courses and the creation of change management, knowledge management tools, and human resource materials.  She is also an expert in the analysis of work processes and structures and the development and delivery of traditional and technology-based training and educational programs.  Most recently, she has worked as an executive coach and mentor helping clients improve their skills as instructional designers and as managers. 

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-Ramset Community College and Bethel College as a business major.