NSDTA Leadership

Chair

LaTrece Thompson, MSW
Deputy Director
IN Department of Child’s Services

LaTrece Thompson has twenty-two years of child welfare experience. She has served in various roles within the Indiana Department of Child Services, such as frontline caseworker, supervisor and training manager. LaTrece currently serves as the Deputy Director of Staff Development for the past six and a half years. She has provided oversight and management of the DCS/IU training partnership and serves as a member of the National Staff Development and Training Association, an affinity group of APHSA.

Vice-Chair

Mike Byers, MSW
Director
University of Pittsburgh

Mike Byers is the Director of The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center (CWRC), a program of the University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work. The Resource Center provides a continuum of services designed to facilitate and sustain positive change in the child welfare system. Services include training, transfer of learning, technical assistance, research and evaluation, project management, and organizational development. Mike brings a wealth of child welfare policy and practice experience through his twenty-year experience in the public child welfare system. He has worked as a public child welfare social worker, supervisor, and manager in both Pennsylvania and California, as well as the CFSR Project Lead and Manager of Statewide Projects for CWRC.

Vice-Chair

Tracy Davis
Director
CT Department of Children and Families

Tracy Davis has over twenty-five years of experience working in Child Protection. She has served in various roles ranging from social worker, supervisor, trainer, and manager. Tracy is currently the Director of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families- Academy for Workforce Development. The later part of her career has focused on curriculum development with a child welfare lens, training design, implementation, and delivery. She has leadership experience in workforce development, coordination of large-scale agency training initiatives, and current knowledge of best practices regarding child welfare services. In July 2019, Tracy was elected to serve on the Executive Advisory Board of NSDTA.

Secretary

Lisa Amador, MSW
Administrator
HI Department of Human Services

Lisa Amador MSW is the Administrator for the Adult Protective and Community Services Branch of the Department of Human Services, in the State of Hawaii. She oversees five sections across the State to ensure the safety and protection of vulnerable adults, as well as three programs that prevent premature institutionalization and promote the well-being of elders. She has more than twenty-three years of experience in protective services, including training, supervision, and direct-service casework. Ms. Amador is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, with a BA in sociology (1997) and a Masters Degree in Social Work (2003).

Member at Large

Chad McDonald, LCSW, Ph.D Candidate
Research Assistant Professor
The University of Utah

Chad McDonald, Ph.D. Candidate, LCSW, is a Research Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator of the Child Welfare Training/Education Grants at the University of Utah, focusing his research on workforce development in child welfare, particularly around skills development, using enhanced teaching/learning methods, and competency assessment. Chad chairs the Child Welfare Concentration and is a member of the steering committee for the National Human Services Training Evaluation Symposium. Chad has sixteen years of experience in child welfare, including his time as a trainer and administrator for the Division of Child & Family Services (DCFS) in Utah.

Charmaine Brittain, MSW, Ph.D.
Director
Butler Institute for Families, University of Denver

Charmaine Brittain, MSW, Ph.D., Director, Practice Innovation, has worked extensively over the past three decades throughout the United States to improve training, organizational effectiveness, and implementation and to strengthen professional development for human service professionals. At the Butler Institute for Families, she serves as the lead on multiple projects, including consulting with child welfare agencies on organizational and workforce development, managing training projects on a range of topics and approaches, overseeing practice improvement projects, and developing professional educational materials. Dr. Brittain serves as Vice Chair for NSDTA and leads the engagement committee. She’s been participating in NSDTA for over twenty-five years.

Leslie B. Calloway
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Workforce Development
Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services

Leslie oversees the agency’s statewide child welfare recruitment, retention, workforce development, and performance improvement practices to promote optimal child and family outcomes. Ms. Calloway has managed Louisiana’s partnership with the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD), a nationally recognized Child Welfare Workforce Development initiative sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, which focuses on improving child welfare practice, employee retention, and family outcomes. Ms. Calloway has over 23 years in state government, serving various roles in the Child Welfare Division. Ms. Calloway believes her greatest personal assets are her compassion for others, appreciation for their diversity in all capacities, and being an active part of the change we all want to see.

Laurie Jicha, MSW
Oahu Section Administrator, Adult Protective and Community Services
HI Department of Human Services

Laurie Jicha, MSW, is the Oahu Section Administrator for the Adult Protective and Community Services (APCS) Branch of the Department of Human Services in the State of Hawaii. As the Oahu Section Administrator, she oversees 2 Oahu investigation units that ensure the safety and protection of vulnerable adults and the Hawaii statewide Adult Intake Unit that receives reports of vulnerable abuse and neglect for all Hawaii Islands. She has more than twenty-eight years of experience in protective services, including training, supervision, and direct-service casework. Ms. Jicha is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a bachelor's and master's degree in Social Work.

Dawn Konrady-Fanslau
Director
Child Welfare Education Institute, Stockton University

Dawn Konrady-Fanslau, EdD, LSW, MBA, MA, manages three statewide Title IV-E programs--the Baccalaureate Child Welfare Education Program (BCWEP), Masters Child Welfare Education Program (MCWEP), and New Jersey Child Welfare Training Partnership-Southern Region (NJCWTP-SR), and serves as the lead for or consults with the NJ Department of Children and Families to organize several other statewide initiatives. Dawn is a member of the NJ Child Placement Review Board and sits on the university Committee for the Protection of Minors. She served in leadership roles on several boards and is an adjunct instructor of management, social work, and leadership courses. Her research interests are child welfare, organizational development, and child welfare workforce development.

Edwin Lebron, M.B.A.
Training-of-Trainers (TOT) / Virtual Learning Specialist,
Ohio's University Consortium for Child and Adult Services (OUCCAS)

Edwin Lebron is the Training-of-Trainers (TOT)/Virtual Learning Specialist for Ohio's University Consortium for Child and Adult Services (OUCCAS). OUCCAS is the state training coordinator for the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program (OCWTP) and the Ohio Human Services Training System (OHSTS). OUCCAS is a team of professionals from three Ohio public universities whose goal is to provide Ohio’s child and adult protective workers and resource families an array of innovative learning opportunities to achieve the knowledge and skill needed to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of vulnerable children and adults. Edwin has worked in various capacities for Ohio’s state training vendor and the North Central Ohio Regional Training Center for over 23 years.

Lawrence Mirabal
Staff Manager, Income Support Division
New Mexico Human Services Department

Lawrence Mirabal represents the New Mexico Human Services Department serving as a Staff Manager specializing in Leadership Development. Lawrence brings over 30 years of experience in organizational leadership, development, and training in the public and private sectors. He credits his success to his holistic leadership approach to inspire and motivate high-performing teams to realize personal and professional fulfillment.

Laurence Nelson
Director of Training and Professional Development
Georgia Division of Family and Children Services

Laurence is responsible for improving the knowledge, skills, attitudes and practice of new and veteran staff through the implementation and delivery of competency-based training, coaching and supervisory mentoring. Laurence attended Florida A&M University for his undergraduate studies and holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Georgia. Laurence is no stranger to Child Welfare and supervision. Having spent the past 18 years with the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, Laurence has served in the capacity of case manager, supervisor, administrator, training coordinator, data manager and county director. Laurence’s greatest accomplishment was organizing the Every Day is Father’s Day festival while at Clayton County DFCS and assisting with implementing simulation in the DFCS Child Welfare Training Academy. Laurence is passionate about being a father and social worker and enjoys sports, jazz, woodworking and cooking. Laurence is a member and past-President of the Georgia Professional Human Services Association, a graduate of Leadership Clayton and recently received his professional coaching certification through the University of Denver, Butler Institute.

Cynthia “Cindy” Parry, Ph.D.
Evaluation Consultant
C.F. Parry Associates

Cynthia Parry, Ph.D., has thirty years of experience evaluating human services at state and national levels. Dr. Parry is currently an evaluator for the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD), specializing in testing and measurement. She has led training evaluation efforts in multiple states. She serves on the Executive Advisory Council for the National Staff Development and Training Association and the steering committee for the National Human Services Training Evaluation Symposium.

Marlo A. Perry, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
University of Pittsburgh

Marlo A. Perry, Ph.D., is an Assistant Research Professor in the Child Welfare Education and Research Programs at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work. Marlo leads evaluations of multiple statewide projects with Pennsylvania’s child welfare system. To date, this has included enhancing the rigor of the evaluation of Pennsylvania’s core caseworker and new supervisor curricula, evaluating processes and outcomes of a Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project, and assessing mechanisms of transfer of learning to the field. Her research interests also include family engagement in child welfare and emotional intelligence and well-being in child welfare caseworkers.

Lonetta Richardson Bryan, M.A.
Staff Development Manager
County of Riverside, Department of Public Social Services (DPSS)

Lonetta has been in training and development for over 20 years. She started her career with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. She currently is a Staff Development Manager at the Riverside County (CA) Department of Public Social Services. Lonetta is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and enjoys providing executive-level coaching. Lonetta received her BA from Spelman College and her MA from Clark Atlanta University (Educational Psychology), Azusa Pacific University (Clinical Psychology), and Golden Gate Theological Seminary (Theological Studies), respectively. Lonetta enjoys spending time with her family and enjoying the great outdoors.

Terrance Stroud
Deputy Commissioner
NYC Department of Social Services

Terrance Stroud is the Deputy Commissioner for New York City’s Department of Social Services, overseeing the Office of Training & Workforce Development. Terrance has been honored for his work and contributions to the community with distinctions such as Home Reporter News’ “Star of Brooklyn," City & State's “Top 40 Under 40,” and a Black Enterprise Modern Man. Terrance serves on the alumni and advisory boards of Brooklyn Technical High School, Brooklyn College & Indiana Maurer School of Law and is an Adjunct Professor of Law overseeing Maurer’s NY Externship Program. Terrance was appointed to the NY State Staff Development Advisory Committee in 2019 and joined NSDTA in 2019.

Alexander Figueroa
Assistant Director of Learning and Development
American Public Human Services Association

Alex brings over thirteen years of experience in training facilitation in child support, leadership, and professional development to the APHSA OE team. He’s experienced in delivering comprehensive training and specialized workshops at various state, regional, and national conferences. Before joining APHSA, Alex was the Manager of Human Services Initiatives at the Institute for Families (IFF), Rutgers School of Social Work. In that capacity, he managed the staff at the New Jersey Child Support Institute (NJCSI).

Maurine Jones
Senior Meeting Manager
American Public Human Services Association

Maurine Jones serves as the Conference Meeting Planner for the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). With 15 years of experience creating and executing successful event experiences, Maurine provides meeting management support with our Membership & Events Team. Good at wearing multiple hats, Maurine is adept at responding quickly to changing circumstances, always maintaining an upbeat, can-do attitude.