Team
Consulting is about finding the right people to work with you to tackle a problem. Your success on a project depends on the people you get when you hire a consultant and their fit with you. Read about our team below, we are proud of them and know they will contribute to your success.
Holly Bingeman
Holly joined Public Knowledge shortly after completing her Masters degree from Walden University where she studied Business Administration and Project Management. She has a background consisting of business operations, marketing and communications, and financial disciplines. With this experience she has participated in contract management, budget development, and procedure and policy development.
Rhonda Brinkoeter
Rhonda has over fifteen years of project management experience in both the private and public sectors. Her experience includes managing large teams of people, managing large and complex software development and implementation projects, budget development and management, project schedule development and management, risk management, configuration management, and management of data conversion efforts. She has experience managing information technology projects for state and local government clients. She is also skilled in Quality Assurance, Independent Verification and Validation, and Business Process Redesign efforts. She has extensive knowledge in the areas of corrections information management systems, electronic medical records systems, Medicaid eligibility, MITA, MMIS, and WIC. Rhonda earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Texas Lutheran University. Rhonda is a certified Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP).
Lisa Bullock
Lisa has over 18 years of experience in the information technology arena, with an emphasis in systems analysis and development in the states of Montana, Delaware, Virginia, and Maine for the health and human service and justice agencies. Her range of experience includes managing, leading, designing, and developing solutions; project management, planning, tracking, reporting and estimating; systems analysis, design, development, implementation, and testing; Joint Application Development (JAD) facilitation, technical documentation development, and work flow analysis. Lisa earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from Carroll College, Montana and her Master of Arts degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Southern California (USC). Additionally, Lisa has a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute.
Melissa Davis
Melissa has over 10 years experience consulting to public and nonprofit organizations in the fields of health and human services, transportation, public safety, and employment. Melissa brings a focus on organizational development to her engagements. Her consulting and project management work has included a diverse range of subject areas, including quality assurance for large and small IT systems, strategic planning and performance measurement, business transition and change management, organizational and program evaluation, policy analysis, and facilitation and management training. Melissa is a certified facilitator and strategic planner by the Institute of Cultural Affairs. She is also certified by the Hogan Leadership Assessment System for leadership assessment and coaching. Prior to consulting, Melissa worked in the field of health and human services in the public and nonprofit sectors doing direct service, policy research, and program management. Melissa holds a BA in English and Political Science from the University of Oregon, and a Masters of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.
Ken Disbrow
Ken has over twenty years of experience consulting with public sector clients in the fields of health, human services, public safety, transportation, and employment. After studying Psychology in undergraduate and graduate school he worked in both technical and management positions, including five years at one of the “big name” management consulting firms. Mr. Disbrow left this firm to co-found Public Knowledge, LLC. His experience includes: organizational design, assessment, and change management; and the justification, specification, procurement, development, and implementation of information systems. Most of his current work focuses on Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) and quality assurance.
Greg Gamette
Greg has twelve years of consulting experience with public and private sector organizations. He has worked with numerous state agencies and large companies, helping them improve their use of information in decision-making processes. He has performed quality assurance and other project management for numerous state agencies in Idaho, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wyoming. He has also helped create and integrate decision support tools for various public and private sector employers. Additionally, he developed training materials and conducted training sessions for staff in various organizations, teaching them how proper analysis of information leads to better decisions and outcomes. Greg has a Bachelors degree from Brigham Young University in Economics with minors in Logic and German and a Masters degree from University of Michigan School of Information.
Sibyl Govan
Sibyl has thirteen years of experience managing systems deployment projects for state government and healthcare organizations. Her broad IT background includes telecommunications, database administration, geographic information systems, underwriting and claims processing. Sibyl’s program management experience includes directing the Montana Natural Resource Information System as well as coordinating a series of major upgrades and enhancements to the claims system at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana.
Melissa Erikson
Melissa has extensive experience in both public and private healthcare, with a focus on improving efficiencies in service delivery and coordination of care through health information technology (HIT). Most recently, Melissa worked for the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO), Colorado’s State Designated Entity, to establish health information exchange throughout the state. Her background includes leading several HIT projects in states, including IV&V of Wyoming’s Total Health Record project and development of Wyoming Medicaid’s EHR Incentive Program Implementation Advanced Planning Document (IAPD). In addition to her HIT work, Melissa has also lead Medicaid projects in the states of Colorado and Wyoming, including the Colorado Eligibility Modernization procurement project, and has also worked in the private healthcare sector, managing several implementations of integrated electronic health records for Epic Systems Corporation. Melissa is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute and certified in Facilitation from the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA).
Kassie Gram
Kassie has over 10 years of project management experience. She has performed software development and implementation project management, as well as, regulatory compliance management for the private sector. The Project Management Institute (PMI) certifies Ms. Gram as a Project Management Professional (PMP). She has extensive requirements definition, quality planning, and program implementation experience. Kassie recently served as the project manager for implementation of HRIS support software for Fortune 500 companies. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the University of Colorado and obtained her ISO9001 Lead Auditor Certification.
Jerilyn Grow
Jerilyn‘s professional focus is on Quality Assurance (QA) and Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) projects. She has five years experience managing projects and programs in the public and non-profit sector, as well as experience in organizational development and policy formulation. Ms. Grow holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Boise State University.
John Koreski
John joined Public Knowledge after a 32 year career with Oregon state government. During his time with the State of Oregon John helped shape the delivery of information technology in health and human services, youth and adult corrections, and statewide computing infrastructure support. He has managed large IT operations and overseen multiple large system implementations. His main focus over the years has been to seek ways to better align the business needs of his customers to the potential of information technology through maturing governance, effective strategic planning, continuous process improvement, and maintaining a well trained work force. As past chair of Oregon’s Chief Information Officer Council John helped set the direction of information technology at the state enterprise level. John holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Oregon University and received his Masters of Public Administration from Lewis and Clark College.
Jennifer Kraft
Jennifer has over 11 years of project management, quality assurance, acceptance testing, and business process reengineering experience for various health and human service agencies in the states of Colorado, California, Washington and Wyoming. She has past experience working on information technology projects for state and local government clients as a senior consultant with KPMG Consulting, Inc. Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resource Development with a specialization in Training and Development from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Additionally Jennifer has a Project Management Professional certification (PMP) from the Project Management Institute.
Ramona Kramer
Ramona has thirteen years of experience providing professional consulting to government health and human services agencies, private, and not-for-profit organizations. She specializes primarily in health information management related projects for state Medicaid agencies including but not limited to Medicaid claims processing systems and electronic health record technology. Ramona has deep experience in providing contract monitoring, project management, quality assurance services on large-scale system implementation projects and procurement management for Medicaid systems and program services. Ramona worked as a senior consultant for a “Big 5″ professional consulting services firm where she specialized in Medicaid Management Information System consulting. She is currently leading the development of Idaho’s State Medicaid Health Information Technology Plan and Implementation Advance Planning document. More recently she assisted the state of Wyoming in applying for the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, a new CMS-led, multi-payer initiative fostering collaboration between public and private health care payers to strengthen primary care for all Americans. Ramona holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Information Management from Boise State University.
Amy Mazeski
Amy has over 11 years of experience with a diverse background in Project Management, Software Design and Development, Consulting and Business Systems Analysis. She has extensive experience addressing business challenges with technical solutions including workflow designs, process re-engineering, requirements analysis, quality assurance, software deployment, system implementations, user training and documentation. Her experience includes various Project Management methodologies to manage scope, change requests, risk and overall implementation strategy. Amy has worked in a consulting role as both a Software Developer and a Project Manager, and has industry experience in healthcare, telecommunications, in-room entertainment and airline. Amy earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Iowa State University. In addition, Amy earned a Graduate Programming Certification from the University of Denver.
Nicole McNeal
Nicole has over seven years of management consulting experience. She has performed quality assurance services for a wide range of projects within health and human services agencies. She also has extensive project management, business process improvement, business process redesign, and risk management experience for system development projects. Nicole worked for a ?Big Five? consulting firm for three years prior to joining Public Knowledge performing operational and systems risk assessment for clients in various industries including the public sector, manufacturing, and telecommunications. Nicole has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Information Systems from the University of Michigan and is currently obtaining her Masters in Information Systems at the University of Colorado Denver.
Tracy Oulman
Tracy has over 12 years of experience working in state and local government, university systems, and the non-profit sector. Her experience includes project management, stakeholder involvement and facilitation, policy analysis and design, and program development. She has worked with organizations in diverse areas including business processes assessment, communication strategies, documentation, and developing performance measures and metrics. Tracy holds a bachelor degree from the University of New Mexico with an emphasis on English and Biology.
Jim Plane
Jim has more than 20 years of experience in the evaluation, development, and implementation of large-scale health and welfare systems. He specializes in Medicaid Management Information Systems and Medicaid Decision Support Systems. During the past 14 years, he has provided technical and management assistance to private industry and to the states of Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Leanne Potratz
Leanne joined Public Knowledge after completing her Juris Doctorate at William Mitchell College of Law. She has a background in legal case management, legal research, and policy research and development. With this background, she has experience in administrative law and legislative processes. Leanne also holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kirsten Smith
Kirsten has over eight years experience in project management, quality assurance, policy research, and program evaluation and at state, federal, and international levels. She has conducted projects in Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, CHIP, Child Care, WIC, Immunization, growth management, human rights, and international development policy. Ms. Smith has extensive experience analyzing large, complex systems through business process redesign efforts and requirements definition. She is trained as a facilitator and strategic planner using methods developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs. Ms. Smith is also a certified Project Management Professional from the Project Management Institute. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Georgia, and a Masters in Public Affairs and a Master of Arts in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from the University of Texas at Austin
Naomi Snodgrass
Naomi has twenty years of experience working with and for public sector health and human services agencies. She has knowledge of health insurance industry practices and various state, federal, and private health and managed care programs. Her experience includes involvement with system procurement and evaluation; business/operations assessments; IT and business strategy development; user requirements definition; organizational preparedness and operational readiness; workflow analysis; communication strategies and outreach; and policy development and documentation projects. Naomi has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Illinois.
Kristin Sparks
Kristin has thirteen years of experience in consulting to public-sector clients involved with health care programs, health care payment systems and financial payment and reporting systems. She specializes in independent verification and validation (IV&V), quality assurance, process improvement and project management coaching on system and policy implementation projects. She has prior experience with Medicaid and Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS), Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), State Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (SACWIS) and other State and Federal programs and initiatives. Kristin holds a Masters and Bachelors of Business Administration from and is a Project Management Professional (PMP).
Jennifer Vachon
Jennifer has been providing program development, project management, and organizational development services to public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private companies for over 10 years. Her experience includes policy and budget development, contract management, implementation of innovative business processes and systems, facilitation of internal improvement efforts, strategic planning, and performance reporting. Jennifer has additional experience providing executive/leadership coaching, organizing public conferences and events, building high performance staff and consultant teams, and working with various community groups, committees, and boards. Jennifer holds a masters degree in applied behavioral science from Bastyr University and a B.A. from Whitman College.
Louise Volpe
Louise has over 7 seven years experience as an Event Planner and Director, together with over 5 years of experience as an Executive Assistant. With a background in both corporate and non-profit associations, she has worked with several types of industry professionals and executives, from retail to trade to health care. Louise earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from the University of Hull, UK.
Partners Emeriti
Gerry Brodsky
Gerry has over 20 years management and consulting experience with public sector organizations, including notable experience in performance measurement, strategic planning, and work process assessment and redesign. His prior experience includes service as the Chief of Program Analysis for the Oregon Mental Health Division, as a consultant in program evaluation to federal agencies, and as president of a public company engaged in research and development. Mr. Brodsky is trained as a facilitator using methods developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs. He holds a masters degree from the University of Oregon and a B.A. from Indiana University.
Barry Otterholt
Barry was one of the founders of the predecessor of Public Knowledge in 1988 and was instrumental in the merger that created the company as it exists today. He retired in 2005, citing “a desire to be with family and spend more time on missional ventures.” While with Public Knowledge his business and project management experience helped a variety of public and private sector clients focus and streamline their organizations. He also helped recover many troubled projects in the public sector. He has been a director with Microsoft, a senior consultant with Deloitte & Touche, and a COO of a multi-million dollar consumer electronics manufacturer and retailer. He currently teaches at Northwest University and is on the Board of Advisors to the School of Business and Management. He still consults on a part time basis, primarily to private sector and missional ventures. In is spare time he muses about project management. His essays have been printed in various Project Management Institute newsletters.
Jay Smith
Jay has over 27 years of management consulting experience with public sector organizations. He is Public Knolwedge’s “of counsel” consultant. He specializes in performance measurement, performance audits, process improvements, strategic planning, and financial analysis. Mr. Smith also has a special expertise in municipal regulation of cable television. Prior to founding Oregon-based Public Knowledge Inc in 1991 he was a partner in the management consulting division of a “Big Four” public accounting firm (14 years; five years as partner), a management specialist with a state association of county governments, and an elected county board member. Mr. Smith holds a bachelor’s degree and two masters degrees from the University of Illinois and is a member of the American Society for Public Administration.
In Memory Of
Rod Bailey (1950 – 2011)
Rod specialized in project performance management. He had 20 years of management consulting experience and over 8 years experience in industrial engineering, systems analysis and project management. He managed numerous Quality Assurance and Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V) projects. His prior experience included serving as a management consultant for Deloitte & Touche, a senior systems analyst for Boeing Computer Services, and a senior industrial engineer for Boeing Aerospace. Rod was a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and he held a bachelors degree and an MBA in Information Systems from the University of Washington. Rod loved reading, composing music (he was an accomplished guitarist), and a good joke. Rod passed away in September of 2011. He left behind a wife and grown son. We will miss the thoughtful contribution and upbeat attitude Rod brought to us.