Aimee Chung has over 20 years of experience in social work and education. In addition to being an independent consultant, she is currently an instructor at the University of Hawai`i, Myron B. Thompson School or Social Work. In her career she has worked as a practitioner and director primarily in programs supporting those who are survivors of family violence, child abuse, and power-based personal violence. Her experience also includes work supporting and advocating for individuals and families with disabilities and economic disadvantage. She has experience in both non-profit agencies and state departments. Although most of her work has been in Hawai`i, she has also lived and worked in California and Colorado. Aimee’s consultant, leadership, and management experience includes: program evaluation; program quality assurance and improvement; development and revision of policies and procedures; public and private grant and RFP writing; report writing for funders; multi-disciplinary community collaboration; curriculum development and training; staff, intern, and volunteer supervision; supervisor training and coaching; social media development and content management; and project liaison for database development and improvement.Dr. Billie-Jo Grant, Ph.D., specializes in the design, administration and analyses of
randomized controlled trials, mixed-methods research, and qualitative studies of science, reading, and math curricula, sexual violence and abuse research and has more than 10 years of experience serving governmental agencies, educational institutions, and not-for-profit organizations through consulting and technical assistance. She has substantial experience in conducting focus groups and interviews, program and policy evaluation, instrument construction, and large dataset management; and she has taught classes on survey design, measurement theory and data visualization. Dr. Grant has been the lead investigator or a partner on more than 30 evaluation studies, including evaluation studies of STEM related products for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Holt McDougal Biology Program, Pearson Education’s Waterford Early Learning program, and National Geographic’s Science K-5 program. Dr. Grant is a faculty member in the Statistics and Education Departments at Cal Poly State University where she teaches quantitative methods and elementary and advanced statistics. Billie-Jo holds a Ph.D. in Educational Research Statistics and Evaluation from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia and has completed numerous trainings in quantitative and qualitative research methods. Dr. Grant is an active member of the American Evaluation Association and has been the lead of the Crime and Justice Topical Interest Group since 2011.
randomized controlled trials, mixed-methods research, and qualitative studies of science, reading, and math curricula, sexual violence and abuse research and has more than 10 years of experience serving governmental agencies, educational institutions, and not-for-profit organizations through consulting and technical assistance. She has substantial experience in conducting focus groups and interviews, program and policy evaluation, instrument construction, and large dataset management; and she has taught classes on survey design, measurement theory and data visualization. Dr. Grant has been the lead investigator or a partner on more than 30 evaluation studies, including evaluation studies of STEM related products for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Holt McDougal Biology Program, Pearson Education’s Waterford Early Learning program, and National Geographic’s Science K-5 program. Dr. Grant is a faculty member in the Statistics and Education Departments at Cal Poly State University where she teaches quantitative methods and elementary and advanced statistics. Billie-Jo holds a Ph.D. in Educational Research Statistics and Evaluation from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia and has completed numerous trainings in quantitative and qualitative research methods. Dr. Grant is an active member of the American Evaluation Association and has been the lead of the Crime and Justice Topical Interest Group since 2011.
Heather Pierucki is a natural born connector who helps to create positive impacts within the realms of Hawaii’s mental health, substance abuse, and homeless services sector. She is responsible for spearheading the housing first model approach in Hawaii and embodying a harm reduction approach to tackling some of our community’s most challenging social inequities. She is an experienced therapist, and previously served as the Director of Behavioral Health with Helping Hands Hawaii, overseeing programs focused on health, well-being, and supportive care for some of Hawaii’s most challenged populations. Heather’s experience lends to helping the community understand trauma, its impact on the body, mind, and environment, and how to seek and find support for healing. She now consults full time for her own company, ChangeWorks, LLC and emphasizes creating impactful change in our local community. Mary Tam has over 17 years of experience in the pursuit of social justice, having worked for various organizations in
fundraising, programmatic, and grantmaking capacities. Previous employers include Amnesty International USA, Net Impact, and the State Bar of California. Through Nā Hopena Consulting, Mary now works with organizations to achieve outcomes as they relate to goals, impact, and connection. With a focus on stakeholder engagement, she helps clients arrive at fully-informed decisions, ensuring those decisions also translate into action. Her work has assisted clients in shaping program design, strategic planning, and operations. Born and raised on O’ahu, Mary was taught to leave beach houses (and places in general) in better condition than when she arrived, and has kept that lesson with her through life. Mary developed her professional career in California, and has an MBA degree from San Francisco State University. In the simplest terms, Mary is dedicated to the reduction of suffering, inequity, and exploitation. She values integrity, open communication, community, cultural context, and authenticity, and integrates these values into her approach with nonprofit partners.
fundraising, programmatic, and grantmaking capacities. Previous employers include Amnesty International USA, Net Impact, and the State Bar of California. Through Nā Hopena Consulting, Mary now works with organizations to achieve outcomes as they relate to goals, impact, and connection. With a focus on stakeholder engagement, she helps clients arrive at fully-informed decisions, ensuring those decisions also translate into action. Her work has assisted clients in shaping program design, strategic planning, and operations. Born and raised on O’ahu, Mary was taught to leave beach houses (and places in general) in better condition than when she arrived, and has kept that lesson with her through life. Mary developed her professional career in California, and has an MBA degree from San Francisco State University. In the simplest terms, Mary is dedicated to the reduction of suffering, inequity, and exploitation. She values integrity, open communication, community, cultural context, and authenticity, and integrates these values into her approach with nonprofit partners.
Past Partners and Collaborators
Jeff Schwartz is an experienced nonprofit organizational effectiveness executive coach and consultant. In addition to his regular coaching practice, he has served as head coach for the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington (DC)’s Beyond the Walls Leadership Fellowship and for the Jessie Ball duPont Fund’s Board Chair-Executive Director Leadership Institute. He has also served as a coach for the Omidyar Fellows Program in Hawaii and for the project leader of the Kanu Hawaii Fellows Program. He has been approved as an executive coach for the national Alliance for Strong Families and Communities (ASFC) and presented a seminar on coaching at the ASFCF’s national convention and at its Executive Leadership Institute. Jeff also provided peer coaching training and tools for the Future Executive Directors cohort of the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington. He currently serves as coach for the leaders of four organizations in the NeighborWorks America’s Sustainable Home Ownership Program initiative. Prior to starting Kela Associates in 2005, Jeff successfully co-founded and led a national child health advocacy nonprofit organization that has resulted in payments to families of over $2.3 billion. He also co-founded and helped grow to $10 million/year a for-profit multi-disciplinary consulting business – which went from startup to sale to a publicly traded company. For three years Jeff served as Director of Nonprofit Organizational Effectiveness for a large national foundation. He has also worked as Environmental Counsel to the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee and served in the Office of General Counsel of two federal government agencies.