Our People
C4 Innovations staff are dedicated, creative, hard-working, and bold. We are deeply committed to improving the lives of marginalized people in our country. We are subject matter experts, trainers, technical assistance specialists, clinicians, and evaluators. We prioritize lived experience, and as a result, many of our staff bring first-hand knowledge about receiving and delivering services. We are committed to social justice, reducing disparities, advancing person-centered care, and supporting recovery and stable housing.
Our office is based in Massachusetts, but because we work all over the country, so do many of our expert staff.
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Leadership Team and Directors
Ellen Bassuk
Founder
Kristen Paquette
Chief Executive Officer
Don Andrade
Chief Financial Officer
Regina Cannon
Chief Equity and Impact Officer
Livia Davis
Chief Learning Officer
Nayenday Thurman
Chief Operating Officer
Kathleen Ferreira
Director of Research
and Evaluation
Valerie Gold
Director of Training and
Technical Assistance Programs
Christina Murphy
Director of Communications
Our Experts
View staff by category—click on a category below, or scroll down to see all. Full bios available for core staff.
Behavioral Health, Recovery, Opioid Response
Ellen Bassuk
Founder and Senior Technical Advisor
Ellen Bassuk, MD, is an applied researcher, psychiatrist, and activist. Dr. Bassuk is at the forefront of research and evaluation, program design, and service delivery to homeless children, families, and other vulnerable populations. She has done extensive research in the fields of homelessness, trauma, mental health, and substance use. She has focused on co-occurring disorders, particularly mental health issues, in homeless individuals and addressed best practices in homeless services, especially for trauma-informed care in shelters.
Kristen Paquette
Chief Executive Officer
Kristen Paquette, MPH, is an accomplished leader with over a decade of experience directing C4 Innovations programs, operations, and business development. As one of the founders, she has contributed directly to the company’s success. Kristen’s primary areas of expertise include substance use prevention and recovery supports for youth and adults. She directs the development of a substance use prevention intervention for youth and leads C4 Innovations’ work to advance quality recovery housing.
Livia Davis, MSW, CSWM, has more than twenty-five years of leadership and management experience as well as 14 years of experience as a direct service provider working in homeless services, supportive housing, recovery communities, healthcare and behavioral health, and residential treatment for people experiencing co-occurring disorders. She leads work addressing behavioral health and recovery and drives C4 Innovations’ learning and organizational change strategies.
Elizabeth Black, MRC, Trainer, has a decade of experience as a behavioral health program coordinator and trainer. She provides training and technical assistance for mental health and substance use providers. She is a Licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselor and spent the last 10 years overseeing implementation of physical health and wellness interventions in behavioral health services across Oklahoma.
Cheryl Gagne, ScD, develops and delivers training interventions to meet the learning needs of diverse groups of healthcare providers and behavioral health and public health programs in the US and abroad. She directs a training program for Massachusetts addiction professionals and serves as subject matter expert, trainer, and technical assistance provider for substance use, mental health, and recovery initiatives. She also develops skill-based curricula for providers including peer workers.
Valerie Gold, MPA, has worked with and on behalf of youth, adults, and families involved with child welfare and behavioral health systems since 1995. She currently leads C4 Innovations’ technical assistance and training team and directs substance use, mental health, and recovery initiatives. Her approach to training and technical assistance is collaborative, strategic, results-focused, and grounded in her experience running programs, building coalitions, mentoring, and accelerating systems change.
Justine Hanson, PhD, is a sociocultural anthropologist with expertise in understanding the needs of diverse groups, multiple stakeholders, and vulnerable populations. She has over 20 years of experience conducting qualitative and ethnographic needs assessments, evaluations, and research projects dedicated to informing and improving programs and services for vulnerable populations. Justine oversees multiple projects to advance recovery-oriented, peer-led approaches to behavioral health care at C4 Innovations.
Kristen Harper, MEd, has spent her career creating, sustaining, and accrediting recovery high schools and helping others access recovery support services locally, nationally, and internationally. She delivers technical assistance to a wide range of community-based recovery support organizations, including secondary and postsecondary educational institutions. She founded the Center for Addiction Recovery at the College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University.
Steven Samra, MPA, has expertise in substance use and mental health recovery, harm reduction approaches, promotion of lived experience as critical experiential knowledge, developing and leading peer advisory councils, peer leadership, cultural competence, criminal justice, and effective outreach and engagement for challenging populations. He serves in leadership capacities for multiple recovery, substance use, mental health, peer involvement, and homelessness focused initiatives.
Adjunct Experts
Kate Byrne
Senior Trainer
Kate Byrne, MS, RN, has worked in the areas of homelessness, substance use, mental health, and HIV for 30 years. She provides training to people working in addiction treatment programs, and she has worked with newly housed people experiencing mental illness and substance use disorder at a clinical scattered housing site. She has also been a Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator and Clinical Coordinator with the Elders Living at Home program at Boston Medical Center.
Wayne Centrone
Senior Health Advisor
Wayne Centrone, NMD, MPH, is a physician and public health professional experienced in working with adolescents and young adults who are homeless. He helped to develop a model outreach program targeting high-risk homeless populations and was outreach medical director of a Health Care for the Homeless program. He focuses on developing resources for providers working with people experiencing homelessness and behavioral health challenges.
Holly Echo-Hawk
Tribal Behavioral Health Specialist
Holly Echo-Hawk, MS, is an expert in tribal behavioral health service development, implementation, and sustainability. She focuses on integrating practice-based evidence and evidence-based practices in Native organizations as well as system and service transformation to improve services and operations. Her skills emphasize cross-cultural knowledge, human asset building, and employee behavioral health.
Susan Foster
Clinical Specialist
Susan Foster, MS, has more than 25 years of clinical, research, and program evaluation experience. She specializes in community-based initiatives that increase access to health and social services for underserved communities, and provides technical assistance to peer-run networks. Her areas of expertise include network evaluation, qualitative research, and survey design. She has a license in clinical social work.
Colleen Manthei
Recovery Specialist
Colleen (Cody) Manthei, MPA, is a person in long-term recovery and began her career in behavioral health with advocacy for families immersed inside multiple systems. She found her passion as a system change agent and presenter. She specializes in program development and recovery support services.
Daryl McGraw
Recovery Specialist
Daryl McGraw, MA, is a certified addictions counselor, recovery support specialist, and criminal justice professional. He focuses on supporting people experiencing addiction and overcoming obstacles upon release from prison. He was Program Director for the Yale University Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Office of Recovery Community Affairs for Connecticut’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
Jenna Neasbitt
Recovery Specialist
Jenna Neasbitt, MS, was a recovery specialist for the Texas Targeted Opioid Response project, overseeing recovery programs and development of new recovery housing projects. She also has experience as a substance use counselor for youth and as a co-occurring disorder therapist for youth and adults. She delivers technical assistance focused on opioid response, recovery, and recovery residences.
Jennifer Riha
Associate, Behavioral Health
Jennifer Riha, MA, has 12 years of experience working in adult and child mental health; supported employment; youth, adult and family homelessness; addiction treatment and prevention; and recovery and permanent supportive housing. She has implemented and certified recovery housing facilities in Northwest Ohio and has overseen administration and operations of a 150-unit recovery housing complex as well as permanent supportive living complexes.
Robert Sember
Public Health Specialist
Robert Sember, ABD, MA, is a public health ethnographer and community organizer. He focuses on how changes to the U.S. health care system are affecting the lives of people with mental health and addiction challenges. He is a founding board member of the Ali Forney Center and faculty member at The New School. He taught at Columbia University and served on the Center for Evaluation and Technical Assistance and the Secretariat for the International Working Group on Sexuality and Social Policy.
Person-Centered and Trauma-Informed Care, Motivational Interviewing
Ken Kraybill, MSW, has worked in healthcare, behavioral health, homelessness, and housing for more than 35 years. He has 18 years of experience working as a behavioral health practitioner in homeless services. For the past two decades, he has been developing curricula and facilitating in-person and online training nationally on topics including motivational interviewing, trauma-informed care, outreach and engagement, case management, critical time intervention, and supervision.
Adjunct Experts
Jennifer Frey
Senior Trainer
Jennifer Frey, PhD, has more than 20 years of experience consulting on services for people who are diagnosed with serious behavioral health and medical disorders. She has provided training, coaching, and feedback in Motivational Interviewing since 1996 and has been a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers since 1998. She has served on the faculty at the Yale School of Medicine and is licensed to practice psychology in Connecticut and Washington, D.C.
Ali Hall
Senior Trainer
Ali Hall, JD, is an independent consultant and trainer providing Motivational Interviewing (MI) coding training, coding services, and skill development coaching as well as training for trainers in evidence-based practices. She also provides consultation to systems for establishing communities of practice and effective, sustainable MI implementation. She is the co-developer of the Motivational Interviewing Competency Assessment (MICA) and serves on the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) Board of Directors.
Ayala Livny
Trainer
Ayala Livny, MEd, has worked with individuals, families, children, and young adults experiencing homelessness as a leader, manager, and direct service provider for more than 20 years. She focuses on creating safe and welcoming spaces that promote harm reduction, HIV prevention, trauma-informed services, and positive youth development. She provides training to human services providers and she is co-author of the MA State Plan to End Youth Homelessness, and a founding Advisory Board member of Y2Y Harvard Square.
Katie Volk
Senior Project Director
Katie Volk, MA, is a child development specialist who has focused on poverty and related issues since 2000. She has worked with hundreds of community organizations to provide training and technical assistance in the U.S. and Australia. Katie understands the multidimensional needs of vulnerable children and families, needs of the paraprofessionals who serve them, and systems and contexts in which they live and work. She has provided consultation to dozens of organizations on trauma-informed care implementation.
Homelessness and Housing, Equity Initiatives
Ellen Bassuk
Founder and Senior Technical Advisor
Ellen Bassuk, MD, is an applied researcher, psychiatrist, and activist. Dr. Bassuk is at the forefront of research and evaluation, program design, and service delivery to homeless children, families, and other vulnerable populations. She has done extensive research in the fields of homelessness, trauma, mental health, and substance use. She has focused on co-occurring disorders, particularly mental health issues, in homeless individuals and addressed best practices in homeless services, especially for trauma-informed care in shelters.
Regina Cannon, MS, has dedicated her career to being a vocal, active leader fighting for equitable policies, systems, and institutions and addressing marginalization of people of color. She has more than 18 years of experience leading anti-poverty initiatives addressing homelessness, supportive housing, criminal justice reform, community capacity building, and youth leadership development. She leads C4 Innovations’ internal and external equity initiatives and directs the SPARC: Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities initiative.
Jon Cox, BS, has twenty-five years of experience working in homelessness, substance use, and supportive housing in the U.S. and United Kingdom. Jon focuses on housing and homelessness technical assistance and is a subject matter expert in recovery housing. He has provided technical assistance to numerous Continuums of Care, led the design and implementation of a diversion program with Ohio’s Balance of State Continuum of Care, and supports communities to increase recovery housing capacity and implement Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) protocols within recovery residences.
Laura Gillis
Senior Advisor
Laura Gillis, RN, MS, has over twenty-five years of leadership and management experience in the homeless assistance network and community-based organizations. Laura is a strategic leader who has expertise in program development, planning, and evaluation. She provides consultation on creating strategic plans, setting organizational goals, and securing funding to sustain ongoing programs and expand services. She develops theory-based curricula using adult learning principles and is an effective trainer.
Jeff Olivet
Senior Advisor
Jeff Olivet, MA, has worked in homelessness, behavioral health, and public health for more than two decades. He has been a street outreach worker, case manager, coalition builder, activist, national trainer and technical assistance provider as well as a curriculum developer, writer, and inspirational public speaker. Jeff conceived of and provides leadership for SPARC: Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities, a multi-city initiative to address racial inequity in homelessness.
Adjunct Experts
Cheri Epps
Training and Technical Assistance Specialist
Cheri Epps, MSW, provided supportive and transitional housing services to people experiencing homelessness as Director of Transitional and Community Programs at the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) for more than 22 years. She served as a racial justice educator, facilitator, and coach for BPHC’s Racial Justice and Heath Equity Initiative Professional Development Series and served on the Anti-Racism Committee. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Alcohol and Addictions Counselor.
Randi Rosenblum
Researcher
Randi Rosenblum, PhD, is a researcher who has worked to assess the impact of large-scale policy reforms, primarily in the areas of child welfare, homelessness, and public health. She works with organizations to monitor and evaluate human service programs and policies and has extensive experience in data administration, metrics development, and quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
Julia Tripp
Field Researcher
Julia Tripp, BA, was Executive Director of New Start Project where she served re-entry residents. She also worked as Constituent Coordinator/Assistant Researcher for the Center for Social Policy at University of Massachusetts Boston for 19 years where she helped develop research protocols and discussion frameworks and spearheaded the Constituent Advisory Committee. She focuses on interviewing people who have experienced homelessness and homeless service providers for the SPARC initiative.
Research and Evaluation
Kathleen Ferreira, PhD, is a former direct care provider with over 20 years of experience in development and implementation of services and supports for vulnerable individuals. She has conducted mixed methods research and evaluation as well as training and technical assistance with service systems, organizations, providers, recipients, and families. She has worked on small- and large-scale evaluation projects; served as Principal Investigator, Senior Research Methodologist, or Co-Investigator on several federally funded grants; and has extensive experience as an instructional designer.
Bethany Marcogliese, PhD, has more than a decade of experience in applied research, analysis, and technical assistance with a focus on performance data and evaluation methods for community programs serving vulnerable populations. She has designed and implemented evaluation projects in the private and nonprofit sectors; developed curricula and technical assistance on data collection, management, and utilization; and conducted research. Bethany directs and serves as technical lead on a variety of research, training, and technical assistance projects.
Catriona Wilkey, MPH, MSW, has nine years of research and evaluation experience. Caty has designed and led pilot, feasibility, and evaluation studies as well as randomized controlled trials. She has expertise in mixed methods research and evaluation and in quantitative research. Caty brings a “public health social work” perspective to her work by applying a social/racial justice lens and translating findings to community practice.
Adjunct Experts
Laura Winn
Deputy Director
Laura Winn, MA, is an applied social scientist interested in substance use prevention, early intervention, recovery, and service innovations that connect these continuums. She brings expertise in substance use disorder prevention and recovery services, product development and evaluation for healthcare and human service settings, and innovative service solutions. She directs work on a substance use prevention intervention for youth and is a subject matter expert in recovery housing.
Svetlana Yampolskaya
Statistical Consultant
Svetlana Yampolskaya, PhD, is a sociologist with expertise in analyses of large administrative data sets and applying advanced statistical techniques in intervention research. She has published numerous articles in which she has applied advanced statistical methodologies to address both theory-driven and practical questions. Her research focuses on prevention of violence against children and improving outcomes for youth involved with the child welfare system.
Design for Learning
Michael Torocsik, BS, manages the strategy, design, and development of C4 Innovations’ digital learning products. With extensive experience in user-centered, e-learning design and development, Michael leads a skilled team of technologists, developers, and designers.
Sarah Nichols, BFA, has more than 18 years of experience as a graphic designer, the last 12 of which have been in senior-level positions. She leads graphic design at C4 Innovations—designing a wide range of products. Sarah creates UI/UX design for products; has expert knowledge of typography, color theory, layout, photography, illustration, composition, and standards for print and web graphics; and is experienced in creating all visual elements of branding.
Erika Simon, MA, leads multimedia production at C4 Innovations. She has 15 years of experience as a documentary video editor and producer. Her expertise includes all phases of the production process, including video, audio, photo/text narratives, scripts and content, directing and casting talent, media management. She has produced award-winning online learning products.
Staff Directory
Ellen Bassuk, Founder and Senior Technical Advisor
ebassuk@c4innovates.com
Jennifer Battis, Training & Technical Assistance Coordinator
jbattis@c4innovates.com
Elizabeth Black, Trainer
eblack@c4innovates.com
Jamie Bushell, Program Coordinator
jbushell@c4innovates.com
Regina Cannon, Chief Equity and Impact Officer
rcannon@c4innovates.com
Jon Cox, Senior Project Director
jcox@c4innovates.com
Livia Davis, Chief Learning Officer
ldavis@c4innovates.com
Rosie Donegan, Research Coordinator
rdonegan@c4innovates.com
Effy Donovan, Program Coordinator
edonovan@c4innovates.com
Rachel Ehly, Project Director; Manager, Partner Development
rehly@c4innovates.com
Kathleen Ferreira, Director of Research and Evaluation
kferreira@c4innovates.com
Cheryl Gagne, Senior Associate
cgagne@c4innovates.com
Genesis Garcia, Program Coordinator
ggarcia@c4innovates.com
Valerie Gold, Director of Training and Technical Assistance Programs
vgold@c4innovates.com
Justine Hanson, Senior Associate
jhanson@c4innovates.com
Kristen Harper, Recovery Specialist
kharper@c4innovates.com
Ken Kraybill, Lead Trainer
kkraybill@c4innovates.com
Marsha Kubyshko, Program Coordinator
mkubyshko@c4innovates.com
Emily Labreche, Operations Coordinator
elabreche@c4innovates.com
Lee Locke-Hardy, Operations Assistant
llockehardy@c4innovates.com
Bethany Marcogliese, Deputy Director
bmarcogliese@c4innovates.com
Nastacia' Moore, Technical Assistance Coordinator
nmoore@c4innovates.com
Christina Murphy, Director of Communications
cmurphy@c4innovates.com
Sarah Nichols, Senior Graphic Designer
snichols@c4innovates.com
Kim Noerager, Lead Project Manager
knoerager@c4innovates.com
Matthew Oliver, Revenue Manager
moliver@c4innovates.com
Kristen Paquette, Chief Executive Officer
kpaquette@c4innovates.com
Binah Saint-Loth, Project Assistant
bsaintloth@c4innovates.com
Steven Samra, Associate
ssamra@c4innovates.com
Derrick Shallcross, Project Manager
dshallcross@c4innovates.com
Alex Shulman, Dissemination and Implementation Assistant
ashulman@c4innovates.com
Erika Simon, Senior Multimedia Producer
esimon@c4innovates.com
Sharon Stratis, Accounts Payable Accountant
sstratis@c4innovates.com
Nayenday Thurman, Chief Operating Officer
nthurman@c4innovates.com
Michael Torocsik, Manager
mtorocsik@c4innovates.com
Frank Vasquez, Accounting Manager
fvasquez@c4innovates.com
Catriona Wilkey, Deputy Director
cwilkey@c4innovates.com
Courtney Williams, Program Coordinator
cwilliams@c4innovates.com
Melissa Witham, Technical Assistance Manager
mwitham@c4innovates.com
Vanessa Wronski, Project Coordinator
vwronski@c4innovates.com