MARGARET FLYNN-KHAN
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Margaret Flynn-Khan has worked as a senior manager and consultant with a focus on supporting planning for the financing and sustainability of child welfare, education, and prevention initiatives. She has helped leaders of collaborative initiatives across the country to agree on a shared vision for their work and then identify and activate the range of resources needed to achieve that vision. To support this work, Margaret has conducted research and produced a number of publications exploring funding sources and financing strategies to support education and child welfare initiatives. Margaret led Mainspring’s work to develop the web-based Fund Mapping Tool, which helps government and nonprofit leaders to make sense of the complicated landscape of public and private funding sources supporting services for children and families. She has designed and implemented fiscal analysis projects to help state and local child welfare agencies to understand the costs of extending foster care as well as Family First prevention services. Margaret is a former Practice Group Leader for Vulnerable Children and Youth at The Finance Project, a national policy research and technical assistance organization. Prior to The Finance Project, she worked for the Center for the Study of Social Policy, collecting and analyzing data for the independent court monitoring of child welfare systems. She started her career as a Case Manager with homeless families at Serving People in Need in Lynn, Massachusetts. Margaret holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Connecticut.
BARBARA HANSON LANGFORD
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Barbara Hanson Langford has served in program, policy, and executive positions and led efforts to develop and deliver an array of technical assistance and training services on financing and sustaining initiatives serving children, families and communities. Langford is a seasoned facilitator with experience designing and supporting effective planning processes focused on organizational development, strategic financing, and sustainability. She has managed over 25 national technical assistance projects in the fields of child welfare, expanded learning opportunities, community schools, early care and education, youth development, and community development. Langford serves as the Director of the Youth Transition Funders Group, a national network of foundations working to improve outcomes for vulnerable youth and young adults. She is also a longstanding technical assistance partner of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, designing and facilitating sustainability planning processes, designing and analyzing the net fiscal impact of extended foster care programs, and supporting network wide learning events and convenings. Langford is the former Vice President for Tools, Technical Assistance and Training at The Finance Project, and has held positions at Families USA, the Massachusetts State Women’s Commission, and the US Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. Langford holds a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
VICTORIA WEGENER
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Victoria Wegener has extensive expertise in system and coalition building, collective impact, capacity building, and partnership cultivation and development. She is a master trainer and facilitator, known as being a national expert in the field of afterschool and youth development. Wegener supports the design and strategic implementation of the technical assistance infrastructure for the 50 State Afterschool Network funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation. Her recent work supports the design and implementation of the Million Girls Moonshot funded by STEM Next, Intel Foundation and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Wegener was named one of the [Most Influential Leaders in STEM in 2015][1] by the National AfterSchool Association. She has completed NCBI’s Leadership for Diversity Institute. Previously, Wegener was a Senior Associate for the strategic communications firm of Fowler Hoffman, LLC working in the areas of partnership development, strategic communications and coalition building. Wegener is a former Senior Consultant and Senior Associate for The Finance Project, serving as manager for national technical assistance and training projects. Wegener holds a master's degree in Social Work from the National Catholic School of Social Service at The Catholic University of America.
ERIN BLAIR
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Erin Blair is an accountant with more than 30 years of nonprofit management experience. Prior to her consulting work, Erin acted as Chief Operating Officer for Jewish Vocational Services of Boston, one of the largest workforce development nonprofits in New England. Blair has extensive knowledge of federal funding sources and has been an important contributor to the development of funding information resources as well as the fund mapping tool.
KATE GAUGHEN
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Kate Gaughen has helped leaders across the country agree on a shared vision for their work, identify the resources needed to achieve that vision, and use implementation science to help realize sustainable practice change. She has designed and implemented fiscal analysis projects in multiple communities including analyzing child welfare and juvenile justice investments in the states of Oklahoma, Hawaii, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Connecticut, Nebraska and Indiana. Kate has served as an Implementation Manager for the Atlantic Coast Child Welfare Implementation Center, a Practice Group Leader for Vulnerable Children and Youth at The Finance Project, a Program Manager at the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency, and the Data Management Team Leader at the North Carolina Division of Social Services. Kate holds a Masters degree in Social Work and a Masters degree in Public Policy from the University of Michigan.
EDDYE VANDERKWAAK
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Eddye Vanderkwaak is an experienced leader in child welfare systems, a skilled consultant, and a strategic communications professional. She has expertise in platform management, digital systems oversight, project management, partnership development, and communications strategy across child welfare and adjacent systems. Eddye works to advance inclusion and opportunity for youth and families, ensuring their voices are central in program design, policy development, and systems reform.
Eddye leads initiatives from concept through execution—aligning stakeholders, managing complex projects, and tracking measurable outcomes. She supports national and state policy and advocacy efforts, strengthens digital platforms, and develops engagement strategies that increase visibility and impact.
Previously, Eddye served as Media and Marketing Coordinator for the W. Haywood Burns Institute, Lead Organizer for Foster Youth in Action, and as a Child Protective Worker and Restorative Justice Specialist for the state of Iowa. She has built and sustained cross-sector partnerships, facilitated trainings and capacity-building sessions, and created spaces for shared learning and collaboration—all to advance meaningful change for youth, families and the communities they live in.
LYNN TIEDE
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Lynn Tiede has an extensive track record guiding successful collaborative efforts, impacting federal and state policy, organizing coalition-based initiatives, and managing multi-state program and evaluation projects. Lynn has helped philanthropic, nonprofit, government and community leaders improve the implementation, sustainability, and measurement of systems change initiatives. Lynn’s background includes experience in child welfare and early childhood policy, education research, community development, and international democracy development.
DIANNA WALTERS-HARTLEY
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Dianna is a recognized expert in shaping national and state policy, an experienced author and a skilled educator. Dianna has extensive expertise in child welfare policy, positive youth development, trauma recovery, adolescent brain development, adolescent health, youth in transition and foster care and adoption. She has successfully managed major policy and research projects and served as a national, state and local spokesperson. Dianna has a strong track record of engaging young people in program design and implementation; policy and practice reform efforts; and in advocacy for improvements in their own lives as well as in the lives of their peers. As a founding member of Maine’s Youth Leadership Advisory Team, Dianna spent a decade advancing state and local policy and practice improvement on behalf of youth in foster care; developed reform agendas; testified before the legislature; organized advocacy efforts; and represented Maine’s youth in foster care at national and regional events and trainings.