He has more than 30 years of experience in the human service field. He is a former Child Welfare League of America Freddy Mac Scholarship Award winner. Mr. Patrick has served on multiple State and National advisory boards and committees. His management by outcomes expertise is nationally recognized, as well as his extensive knowledge in child welfare privatization efforts and practices.
Michael Patrick has a bachelor’s degree in Corrections and Criminal Justice from Washburn University and a Master’s degree in Social Work with an administrative concentration from the University of Kansas.
Shirley Dwyer has over 30 years of experience working for a variety of child welfare organizations, including the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, the State of Kansas Department of Children and Families, The Family Initiative (TFI) Inc., and other non-profit service agencies. For over a decade, Dwyer served the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) as a federal grants panel Chairman and reviewer of many federal panels. Ms. Dwyer is also experienced in research and co-authored the journal article "Prevention of Sexual Abuse for Preschoolers: Evaluation of a Pilot Program," a ground-breaking study published in Psychological Reports, 1988, Volume 62, pp. 387-396.
Shirley earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Kansas and has continued her education in the areas of public policy, management, and executive processes.
Brenden Long has more than 40 years of experience as an attorney, providing compliance and organizational representation to nonprofit and governmental organizations. He has more than ten years of experience in child welfare with TFI, serving as legal counsel along with leading compliance and performance improvement, data analysis teams and various support departments.
Brenden Long has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Washburn University and a Juris Doctorate Degree from Washburn University School of Law and is licensed to practice law in the State of Kansas.
Melissa is very active in her community and is involved in many leadership and board positions. She is a Board Director for TDC Learning Center in Topeka, Kansas, a non-profit childcare and education center. She is also the Vice President of Post-Secondary for the Kansas School Counseling Association (KSCA), and she has chaired and participated on committees for the Kansas Counseling Association (KCA), the Association for Creativity in Counseling (ACC), and the NADTA. She also sits on the local District Council for Topeka 501 (DCAC) school and multiple Parent Teacher Organizations (PTO).
Melissa earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Pittsburg State University, her Master’s Degree in Community Counseling from Pittsburg State University, a Doctorate in Counseling Education from Pittsburg State University, and a PhD in Counseling and Supervision from Kansas State University. She is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Kansas and a Licensed Professional Counselor in Missouri and Texas. She is also a registered and board-certified Drama Therapist (RDT-BC) and a Registered Play Therapy Supervisor (RPT-S).
Carol Dold-Harris
Rachelle has more than 30 years of experience in child and family well-being services in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Nebraska. Rachelle started as a social worker at the Kansas Department of Children and Families, working with youth with juvenile offenses and later with children who were abused and neglected. She was a child protective services worker for several years as well. Rachelle has worked at TFI for 20 years in community-based and foster care services. She has been an Aftercare Specialist, Supervisor, Director, Vice President, and Senior Vice President prior to moving into her current role in 2023. Rachelle is passionate about helping children and families heal from the trauma of separation. She believes that the key to solving child abuse and neglect is strengthening the family unit through connection and support for those families.
Rachelle holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Wichita State University and is a Licensed Social Worker in Kansas.
Brandy has over 20 years of programmatic and administrative experience in child welfare and education. She is an accreditation implementation and oversight expert, leading multiple agencies to achieve over five different accreditations over her tenure. Brandy earned her Bachelor’s in Sociology from Kansas State University in Sociology, and a Master of Liberal Arts from Baker University.
Pam’s extensive experience spans various positions within TFI, from foster care worker to supervisor, director, vice president and now senior vice president. Richardson is deeply committed to enhancing programs and services for children in need, having served on internal and external community committees. Her expertise in regulatory and licensing matters in the states TFI serves has been instrumental in ensuring compliance and quality standards.
She has more than 24 years developing and implementing strategies that drive efficiencies and improve outcomes within the programs she has overseen. Her leadership extends beyond TFI and has presented at national conferences on behalf of TFI. Richardson has actively served in various leadership roles within her community and within the organization. Her background in residential services and educational liaison work in public schools has equipped Richardson with a unique perspective and skill to her current leadership role at TFI.
Pam Richardson has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Pittsburg State University and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Kansas.
Before her current role, Taylor served as the Director of Marketing for TFI. Taylor joined the TFI Family of Companies in 2019 after having served as Director of Communications for the First Presbyterian Church of Topeka. Before that role, she served in the Communications Department for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, with her final role being the Director of Communications for the agency. She is passionate about helping organizations share their brand and story in an effective way and creating positive communication channels.
Taylor has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Southwestern College. She is also pursuing a Master’s Degree in Digital and Integrated Marketing Communications. She holds Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) certificates in Media Relations and Crisis Communications.
Michael has been in Technology for over 20 years and has overseen multiple digital transformations in TFI. His passion for continuous innovation to give the organization he works for an edge with technology efficiency has been the key emphasis of his career. Michael has specialized in cloud technologies and was present to see TFI go from Novell Networks to a cloud native stance in the Microsoft Cloud. Michael has also steered TFI through the tough cyber security landscape and oversees the integrity of the systems and networks that TFI relies on and works with other key industry stakeholders to keep TFI ahead of the curve.
Michael holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Southwestern College.
He has approximately 18 years of experience in the human services field, starting his career with TFI as Kansas Director of Foster Care. Mr. Hemby was also a foster parent of teenage boys for 16 years, having fostered more than 21 young men during that time. He moved on from TFI and worked 11 years in the transportation industry, four years as Corporate Director of Human Resources, and an additional seven years as Vice President of Operations. Curtiss Hemby also served 10 years as a Combat Engineer in the Kansas Army National Guard. He has a solid passion for empowering others to become the best version of themselves.
Curtiss Hemby has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from Pittsburg State University, a Master’s degree in Human Resource Development from Pittsburg State University, and a Master’s of Social Work with an Administrative Concentration from the University of Kansas.
Heather has more than 30 years of experience in human resources in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Her passion for this work can be summed up with the following: orking in HR can sometimes be hard but also immensely rewarding because we are doing our best to support our company’s biggest asset, our staff.
Heather has a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Kansas and a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management and Administration from Ottawa University.
Patrica has 39 years of experience in child welfare, including the past five years with TFI. Patricia has vast experience at the local, state, and national levels and is passionate about child welfare. She has served on numerous state and national committees. Patricia’s career and primary focus and expertise are in foster care, adoption, and independent living.
Patricia has a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Welfare from the University of Kansas. Patricia is currently pursuing a certificate with the Center for Implementation in applying theory, science implementation, and evidence-based change methods to improve outcomes for children and families.
Ryan has almost 20 years of experience working with children from hard places. He has worked in multiple residential programs in Texas, including long-care and psychiatric. Ryan has also gained experience in education, where he served as a special education teacher and behavior specialist. Other positions that Ryan has held during his time with at-risk youth include Rodeo Coach and Equine Therapist for youth at a boys ranch in Texas.
Ryan has a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX, and a master's in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, UT.
He oversaw the original development of TFI’s home-grown software applications that helped them grow into the nationally recognized, multi-state company they are today. More recently, his focus has been on compiling and analyzing data to help TFI continue to grow and thrive.
Before her current role, Angela was the TFI Senior Administrator, responsible for the Texas foster care program, kinship care program, and the startup of the PFS Blue Skies residential facility in Wichita Falls, Texas. Angela joined the TFI Family of Companies in 2020 after having led a leading Child Placing Agency in the State of Texas for several years. In addition, she spent fifteen years working for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), primarily in the Residential Child Care Licensing Division.
Angela has a Masters's Degree in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Public Budgeting and Financial Management from the University of Texas at Arlington. Additionally, she received a Bachelors Degree in Social Science, a Bachelors Degree in History, and an Associates Degree in Applied Business from Shawnee State University. Since 2014, she has been a Licensed Child Placing Agency Administrator in the State of Texas.
Servando is a highly experienced financial executive with over 10 years of expertise in public sector finance and regulatory oversight. He has served as the Chief Financial Officer for a Texas regulatory agency from 2017 to 2022, overseeing the financial operations of an agency supervising over 690 entities and 30,800 certified personnel. He led the agency’s financial reporting, spearheaded cost-saving measures, and successfully transitioned the agency’s accounting system to CAPPS (Oracle PeopleSoft). He also played a critical role in the legislative budget cycle and developed new financial policies to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations.
Before that, Servando served as a Financial Manager in Iowa from 2016 to 2017, managing the financial operations of a state regulatory agency with an appropriation exceeding $10 million. His earlier roles include financial examination and regulatory compliance positions with the Texas Department of Insurance and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where he assessed financial institutions with net deposits up to $1 billion.
Servando holds both an M.S. and B.S. in Accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating with high honors, and is a Certified Public Accountant. His decade of experience across multiple regulatory bodies has solidified his expertise in financial management and operational excellence.
Jennifer has more than 27 years in child welfare in various roles. For 22 of those years, Jennifer has been with TFI, serving as a Care Manager, a Care Manager Supervisor, a Care Management Director, and now as a Vice President. In addition to her work at TFI, Jennifer has also served as Program Director at a Child Placing Agency, a case manager in a juvenile program, and an educational coordinator for youth in shelters. Jennifer played an active role in the development of TFI’s evidence-based matching system and has given presentations around the country about the success of the system. Jennifer is passionate about ensuring youth always have safe, stable placements where they have an opportunity to heal from past trauma and become productive, successful adults.
Jennifer holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education from the University of Dayton (Ohio) and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Washburn University (Kansas).
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