Staff Biographies

We are housed in the Regional Research Institute for Human Services of the School of Social Work at Portland State University, in Portland, OR.

Susan Richardson
National Executive Director
Phone: (503) 725-8911

Susan Richardson is national executive director for Reclaiming Futures. Formerly, she was a senior program officer in the health care division of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she led a three-year effort involving the state's juvenile justice and treatment leaders to adopt the Reclaiming Futures model by juvenile courts in six North Carolina counties. Prior to that, Susan was executive director of the Annie Penn Community Trust and, concurrently, Director of Community Development for Annie Penn Hospital; and she worked in management, marketing, and public relations for health care and non-profit organizations. She served on the North Carolina Governor’s Task Force for Healthy Carolinians, and is a former member of Grantmakers in Health, Southeastern Council of Foundations, the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She received her B.S. in Public Health, Health Policy and Administration, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. A recent column by Susan appears on the blog of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

 

Jim Carlton
Deputy Director
Phone: (503) 725-8954

A long-time employee of Portland State University, Jim Carlton began with Reclaiming Futures when the project was still in its planning phase. He has served as deputy director since 2004. His responsibilities include assisting the director with overall management of the Reclaiming Futures initiative and the national program office (NPO), developing and monitoring the national program office budget, and management and coordination of grantee requirements. Before Reclaiming Futures, he provided administrative support to the director's office at the Regional Research Institute, the research branch of the School of Social Work. Jim earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Oregon.

 

Laura Burney Nissen, Ph.D., M.S.W.
Special Advisor
Phone: (503) 913-9530

Laura Burney Nissen specializes in innovative and dynamic community/cross-agency partnerships. From 2000 to 2011, she led the Reclaiming Futures initiative through conceptualization, demonstration and dissemination. As national program director, Laura wrote extensively about the lessons of the initiative, and was a regular speaker at national meetings on juvenile justice reform and excellence in youth programming. Laura has worked with state and federal agencies to encourage system-wide recognition and use of strength-based methods for youth. She is an associate professor at Portland State University's School of Social Work. Her research focuses on qualitative research methods, system reform issues, and communication tools for social change. She received both her M.S.W. and Ph.D. from the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work.

 

Dan Merrigan, Ed.D., M.P.H.
Leadership Consultant
Phone: (617) 638-5159

Dan Merrigan is an associate professor at the Boston University School of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, where he also served as associate dean. Dan has been the principal investigator for the New England Alliance for the Public Health Workforce Development and the director for the Massachusetts Regional Public Health Leadership Forum. He has been engaged in numerous national substance abuse and treatment research, education, training and leadership facilitation initiatives for over three decades. Dan served as director of Join Together National Leadership Fellows program sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dan holds degrees from the Jesuit Weston School of Theology, Boston University, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Villanova University. He was also a Jesuit priest for 20 years.

 

Cora Crary
Learning Collaborative Manager
Phone: (503) 725-8920

Cora Crary manages the creation, development and implementation of tools and resources for the Reclaiming Futures learning collaborative. In this role, Cora assists sites with their use of the website, online resources, webinars and related tools. Prior to working with Reclaiming Futures, Cora spent six years managing and developing website projects. Cora received her bachelor's degree at The Evergreen State College.

 

Laura "LJ" Hernandez
Program Specialist
Phone: (503) 725-8924

LJ Hernandez serves as the logistical coordinator for meeting and events. She also assists Reclaiming Futures deputy director Jim Carlton. Prior to this, she worked for the offices of the president and university development at Portland State University. Before coming to Portland, she worked in the admissions office at Southern Oregon University and received her bachelor's degree there as well.

 

 

Cheryl Reed, M.S.
Administrative Manager
Phone: (503) 725-8911

Cheryl Reed has always worked in education and the arts. She taught in public school and served as education director for a regional arts council in Oregon. She advanced marketing and public information at Portland State University before coming to Reclaiming Futures. Her graduate degree is from the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts.

 

Communications Team

Mac Prichard, M.P.A.
President, Prichard Communications
Phone: (503) 517-2772

Mac Prichard owns and operates Prichard Communications, a full-service public relations agency that works with philanthropies, non-profits and public agencies across the country. He previously served as the national communications director for Reclaiming Futures. Prior to that, Mac was a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Human Services, a speechwriter and deputy legislative director for former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, and a Portland City Hall spokesman for Earl Blumenauer, now a Member of Congress. Prior, he was legislative and media relations director for the Massachusetts State Office for Refugees and Immigrants, the first public information officer for Boston's "Big Dig," and a researcher in former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy's first Congressional campaign. He also served on the staff of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Mac has a master's from Harvard University and a bachelor's from the University of Iowa.

 

Lori Howell
Senior Associate
Phone: (503) 517-2773

Lori Howell is a Senior Associate at Prichard Communications. She is a seasoned public affairs practitioner with a background in public policy, fundraising, and education. Lori helps clients with online editorial services, media relations, and publications. Before joining Prichard Communications, she served as chief of staff for Greg Macpherson, a former Oregon state legislator, an account executive for the Northwest Evaluation Association, a nonprofit educational testing consortium, and once taught English in Choshi, Japan.

 

Liz Wu
Editor, Reclaiming Futures Every Day
Phone: (503) 517-2773

Liz Wu is a Digital Accounts Manager at Prichard Communications, where she oversees digital outreach for Reclaiming Futures and edits Reclaiming Futures Every Day. Before joining the Prichard team, Liz established the West Coast communications presence for the New America Foundation, where she managed all media relations, event planning and social media outreach for their 6 domestic policy programs. Liz received a B.A. in both Peace and Conflict Studies and German from the University of California at Berkeley. She tweets from @LizSF.