Our Staff
Thomas I. Miller, Ph.D. received a Ph.D. in research and evaluation methods from the Laboratory of Educational Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has worked in state and local government and as a consultant to human service agencies for more than twenty years. With Michelle Kobayashi, he wrote, Citizen Surveys: How to do them, how to use them, what they mean, published in 2000 by the International City and County Management Association(ICMA), Washington, D.C. and Citizen Surveys for Local Government: A comprehensive guide to making them matter, published in 2009 by ICMA. Dr. Miller founded National Research Center, Inc. in 1994. He has designed, overseen and written results of hundreds of research and evaluation projects and presented his findings to a wide variety of audiences, both academic and lay. Not only has he written about survey research in journals and books devoted to public management, including Public Administration Review, Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Planning Commissioners Journal, Management Science and Policy Analysis, Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation, Handbook of Social Intervention, and Governing, he was co-founder of Evaluation Systems International, a health care outcome research and software company. Consequently, he has published in journals and books devoted to health outcomes including: Risk Analysis, Measuring Outcomes in Speech-Language Pathology, ASHA, Behavioral Health Management, Inside Case Management, Health Span and Journal of Personnel Psychology. Dr. Miller was co-author of Benefits of Psychotherapy, a book published by Johns Hopkins University Press. He also has been a journalist and acting director of communication for local government and is a research affiliate in the College of Architecture and Planning, Children, Youth and Environments, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Michelle Miller Kobayashi, MSPH, (unrelated to Tom), vice president of NRC, has more than 15 years experience managing projects, supervising research teams and serving as liaison between client and researchers. She has developed study designs for surveys, key informant interviews, needs assessments, focus groups and other evaluation work and designed instruments for in-person, mail, phone and web surveys as well as scripts for focus group and key informant interviews. Michelle has conceived and conducted pilot-testing and psychometric analysis of research and evaluation tools and collected survey data and interview responses in-person and over the phone. She has performed quantitative data analysis including a variety of parametric and non-parametric tests including multiple and logistic regression, ANOVA, chi-square, Wilcoxin rank sum and signed rank, and more. Used market research methods such as key driver analysis, factor analysis, market segmentation and conjoint analysis to develop and assess the effectiveness of programs and policies. Conducted numerous meta-analyses to statistically synthesize the results of secondary data and used qualitative analysis techniques such as content analysis, coding of emergent and non-emergent themes, and generation of composite statements and thematic synthesis to summarize data.
Erin Caldwell, MSPH, senior research associate, earned a master’s degree in public health with an emphasis in research methods and statistics. She has over 15 years experience as a senior researcher and project manager and has designed and conducted scores of surveys, needs assessments, policy studies and program evaluations for public sector clients. Erin has a wealth of analytic experience and can help you choose what is most appropriate for your project; whether simple (such as descriptive statistics and cross tabulations) or more complex (such as hierarchical linear modeling, reliability and validity testing or factor analysis). She also knows how to make the complex simple and has created a handbook for non-profit and human service agencies on using Excel for data analysis and conducted trainings for program staff based on it.
Shannon Hayden,
M.A., senior research associate, earned a master’s degree in
Educational Psychology, with an emphasis on research and evaluation
methods. Shannon has been involved in more than 100 survey, evaluation
and research projects at NRC both in the role of project manager and by
providing oversight and guidance to other project managers. She guides
projects from initial conversations about the purpose, through study
design, execution, analysis and report writing. She is well-versed in
the art and mechanics of research and has a unique talent for
presenting results to audiences whether novice or expert in evaluation
techniques. Shannon helped to develop The National Citizen Survey™, a
templatized survey now used in more than 200 jurisdictions in 41 states
to elicit regular feedback from residents in a simple and cost
efficient manor. Drawing from her expertise in public opinion research,
she recently co-authored the book, Citizen Surveys: A
Comprehensive Guide to Making Them Matter, published in 2009 by
the International City/County Management Association, Washington, D.C.
Prior to her tenure at NRC, Shannon spent a number of years in
marketing and brings that perspective on how to communicate
comprehensively and succinctly to all the work she does at NRC.
Damema Mann, B.A.,
The National Citizen Survey™ Director, earned her
bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Vermont.
Her experience and skills include marketing, management and customer
service Damema manages all of the NCS™ surveys; including working
closely with interested jurisdictions and those who participate. She
oversees the survey process through questionnaire customization, data
collection and report writing, as well as post-report consultation on
interpretation of results and next steps. She also maintains the
normative database for NRC.
Chelsey Stackhouse, B.S., project associate,
has a degree in Business Administration with a focus in Management from
Leeds Business School at the University of Colorado. Prior to joining
the NRC team, Chelsey gained experience as an event management and
marketing professional. She has developed skills in drafting press
releases and marketing materials, as well as conducting market research
for intellectual property generated from the research enterprise at the
University of Colorado. Chelsey has worked in event coordination and
design, allowing her to put her creative mind and detail-oriented
manner to good work. At NRC, Chelsey applies her experience to
designing and formatting report templates and data representations
along with assisting in proofreading, editing and putting the final
touches in place.
Lee Tyson, B.A., research associate and senior manager, has a bachelor of arts in Anthropology and English from the University of Connecticut. While in possession of a strong artistic streak, Lee also has an uncanny ability to manipulate software packages to her advantage. As a result, Lee is the creator and keeper of almost all of NRC’s reporting templates and enjoys transforming the results of her analyses into in easy-to-understand, aesthetically-pleasing graphics. Lee has utilized her artistically technical skills to create reporting templates for The National Citizen Survey™ (The NCS) and the Community Assessment Survey for Older Adults™ (CASOA) and is often called upon to create templates for many of NRC’s projects. While making things look pretty gives Lee much job satisfaction, she also thrives at data analysis. Lee can be found assisting other NRC project managers in a number of ways including programming SPSS data definitions, running analyses, formatting a survey, balancing a budget, writing a report, proof-reading a proposal.
Laurie Urban, B.A., research associate, has a degree in Speech Communications with a focus in Public Relations from Miami University. Since graduating in 2002, Laurie has worked at NRC gaining experience, receiving training and building her skills as a social science researcher. As a project manager, Laurie’s excellent communication skills are used daily in interactions with clients and have served NRC well in fostering positive customer satisfaction. In her tenure with NRC, Laurie has conducted numerous research projects, managing all aspects of the projects including client consultation, instrument design and pre-testing, sampling, data collection, data analysis, report writing, editing and formatting. Laurie has managed scores of citizen surveys, many with repeat clients.
Noelle Vaillancourt, B.A., is The National Citizen Survey™ Project Coordinator. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Regis University. Noelle joined The NCS™ team in September 2008, but has worked for NRC for three years. During that time she contributed to a wide variety of research projects at NRC, including: citizen surveys, needs assessments, employee surveys and the Community Assessment Survey of Older Adults (CASOA). Prior to joining NRC, she worked in local government, and higher education. Her areas of skills and expertise include customer service and graphic design. She facilitates all aspects of the survey process, including: questionnaire customization, data collection, report writing, and presentations.
Sonya Wytinck, M.S., earned a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Alberta and is a SAS Certified Professional. She has an extensive amount of survey design, sampling, testing, implementation and analysis experience. Her professional background spans the gamut, including work with rural student transportation issues, tribal and non-tribal fisheries in the Great Lakes, recreational damages on the Kalamazoo River, water distribution in the Mae Taeng Irrigation Project (Thailand), health care issues at end-of-life, and the benefits and costs of preventative heath care. Sonya crossed the US-Canadian to join NRC after serving as an economist for Alberta Health and Wellness. Since joining NRC Sonya has managed a variety of projects from the survey design phase through to data analysis and report writing. Sonya just completed a multi year project evaluating the effectiveness of the Child Welfare Mediation program used in family court in 15 New Jersey Counties. She is currently managing a study of residents and businesses in transit-oriented development (TOD) areas around rail-transit stations in Denver and a multi-year survey of multiple cities in Afghanistan that are rebuilding their infrastructure and governance capacity with assistance from the International City-County Management Association (ICMA).
Non-resident Senior Fellows
Sue Bozinovski, Ph.D., non-resident senior fellow, has worked in the Colorado Aging Network since 1982. During the last decade, she was the Director of the DRCOG Area Agency on Aging. In this capacity she oversaw a $10 million annual budget for senior programs, including federal, state, local, and private grant funding. Program experience includes senior nutrition, transportation, volunteer programming, as well as other senior services. In this role, she facilitated many community and public meetings, culled through the input, and developed a number of strategic plans. She also has experience with the development and carrying out of inter-governmental agreements.
Steven B. Fisher, Ph.D., non resident senior fellow, is a financial consultant for state and local government. Steven has a Ph.D. in economics and extensive experience working in, and consulting with, state and local government. He was director of budget for local government for nine years. He specializes in analyzing governmental revenues, expenditures, assets and liabilities, developing operating and capital budgets, researching historical cost and revenue records, analyzing comprehensive annual financial reports, conducting efficiency improvement studies, compiling and analyzing regional economic and demographic data, developing and monitoring performance measures, allocating administrative and overhead costs, conducting rate studies and directing comprehensive cost accounting of government services.
Marcelee Gralapp, M.L.S., non-resident senior fellow, earned her master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Denver. She has more than 50 years experience working in public libraries and was the Director of the Boulder, Colorado Public Library (BPL) for nearly 40 years. During her tenure at Boulder, Colorado Public Library, a new main library and several branch libraries were renovated, expanded or newly constructed under her direction. She was key in implementing an Arts Program for the City of Boulder in 1980 and continued to manage the budding program of grants to arts organizations over time, including advisement of many nonprofit arts organizations about how to be successful in Boulder. She also implemented an intensive program of Arts and Culture as part of the Library programming, including an extensive diversity program to encourage Boulder’s diverse population to utilize its libraries’ many resources. Marcelee also has extensive experience with city and library surveys primarily used for Master Plans and building programs. Many of NRC principals have worked with Marcelee over the years and appreciate the depth of library experience she brings to the team.
Stephanie W.
Greenberg, Ph.D., non-resident senior fellow. For more than 30
years, Stephanie has conducted research projects for the public,
non-profit, and corporate sectors. She specializes in research and
evaluation for human service agencies and other public and non-profit
organizations. Prior to becoming an independent consultant in 1992, she
was a researcher with several large organizations. Stephanie has
conducted community need and resource assessments for a variety of
services for low-income children and families, including early care and
education, housing, and others. In addition, she has produced reports
analyzing trends in the well-being of children, youth, and families in
Boulder County, the Denver metro area, Colorado, and elsewhere. She has
also conducted surveys on a wide variety of topics relevant to policy
and decision-making. She has designed and implemented numerous studies
that measure outcomes and evaluate the effectiveness of a wide variety
of human service programs, including youth development, teen pregnancy
prevention, early care and education, educational programs, and many
others. In addition, Stephanie has worked with agencies to help them
define measurable outcomes and develop the capacity to conduct their
own outcome evaluations.
Gregg G. Van Ryzin,
Ph.D., non-resident senior fellow, is an Associate Professor in
the School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University. He
is a widely published authority on citizen surveys and citizen
satisfaction with government and works with NRC on New York City's
customer satisfaction survey, methodological studies involving NRC
data, and other projects. He was formerly on the faculty of Baruch
College/The City University of New York, where he served for eight
years as director of its survey research unit. Gregg's expertise is in
survey research methods, program evaluation and performance
measurement, and innovative approaches to the analysis of citizen
survey data. Gregg co-authored with Dahlia K. Remler Research
Methods in Practice (SAGE Publications, Inc., 2010).
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