Directors

Dan Albaum

Marketing Director

When Dan Albaum was thinking about the next step of his career, he reflected on all the areas where he’d used his marketing expertise: consumer packaged goods, technology, fitness equipment. What he’d never done was work for a cause-based organization.

“I wanted to have the opportunity to apply my skills and knowledge around creating a multigenerational impact,” says the father of five. “I would love to help Committee for Children leave a positive legacy.”

That decision brought Dan to Committee for Children, where he leads a team that’s responsible for emarketing, social media, event management, encouraging potential clients, and planning the launch of new products.

With ample experience in everything from product management and product marketing to field marketing and channel marketing, Dan jumped eagerly into his role in the midst of the biggest set of product launches at one time that Committee for Children has ever had. One of his top goals moving forward is implementing marketing automation, a system that will help make email marketing campaigns more targeted and efficient.

Dan says his social-emotional learning (SEL) superpower is relationship-building, something he takes seriously in his role as a manager. “I have a real passion for developing people and enabling them to have more impact inside the organization,” he says. “I hope to inspire and help the team prioritize the most impactful work.” He puts an emphasis on collaborating with other teams at Committee for Children—such as sales, product management, and IT—so that everyone can benefit.

Dan has an MBA from the University of Texas and a BA in communication from the University of Washington, and colleagues know he’s an ardent college football fan, cheering on the Huskies every weekend.

He brings that same passion to his work here. “I’m excited and energized around the mission of Committee for Children,” he says. “The future’s incredibly bright, and I can’t think of a better time to come in and be part of it.”

Loretta Corwin

Director of Finance

As the director of finance since May 2019, Loretta Corwin oversees three important areas for Committee for Children: accounting, financial planning and analytics, and sales processing. Her role involves everything from closing the financial books each month and filing taxes to creating an annual budget, crafting a 10-year plan, and managing sales orders.

In joining CFC, Loretta was attracted by the chance to make a real difference. “Where there’s growth, there’s the opportunity to influence change, and that sparked my attention,” she says. “I feel like it was just meant to be. All of my experiences—all of what I felt has gone right and all of what I would’ve done differently—prepared me to be in this role.” Previously, she worked in finance positions in a variety of companies, including General Motors, Starbucks, and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Westminster College, plus a master’s in international management from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Loretta believes her social-emotional learning (SEL) superpower is reflecting. On her bus ride to work each day, she reflects on how she wants the day to go and what she hopes to accomplish. On the way home, she reflects on what went well and what she would have changed. “It puts my mind in a meditative ease,” she says.

Always with the bigger picture in mind, Loretta enjoys working with other departments to achieve goals. “I don’t want people to see the finance department as policemen of dollars—what I strive to do is have them think of us as truly a partner,” she says. “At CFC, I feel really valued as a team player when it comes to the budget and building relationships.”

Åsa Douglas

Creative Director, Brand & Product

Recognized by her colleagues for her rare ability to balance both the creative and operational aspects of her role, Åsa Douglas is the only Committee for Children employee who works on both the marketing and product sides of the organization. “I may be a designer by training, but I’m also very much a spreadsheet/numbers person,” she says.

As the creative director, Åsa oversees both the Marketing team that executes the creative vision, and a team that supports product development. After joining Committee for Children in 2015, she refreshed the brands for both Committee for Children and its social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, Second Step—and to make sure each has its own distinct identity.

After starting her career as a graphic designer, then most recently working as senior creative services manager at Brooks Sports and creative studio supervisor at Zulily, Åsa decided to shift gears and pursue a master’s degree in art therapy. While taking classes in psychology in 2015, the job opening at Committee for Children popped up in her inbox. The description was a perfect melding of the work experience she had and the topics she was learning about in her classes. Although she wasn’t looking for a job at the time, she knew she had to apply. “Things just really clicked,” she says. “It was the perfect fit for me.”

Åsa has a BA in advertising arts from the Art Institute of California–San Diego. Her SEL superpower, organizational skills, comes in handy both with managing two teams at Committee for Children and balancing her family’s schedule. On the weekends, she participates in cyclocross, a type of bike racing that involves obstacles and unpredictable terrain.

Taking up the intimidating hobby is, in many ways, a metaphor for the way Swedish-born Åsa lives her life. “If I’m a little bit scared and nervous about something, I get even more determined that I want to do it,” she says. There is something so real about that nervous feeling and the fact that you don’t back down from it.”

Katy Klinkenberg

Client Success Director

At Committee for Children, we work hard to get our social-emotional learning (SEL) programs to schools throughout the United States and across the world. But just selling the programs isn’t enough—Katy Klinkenberg makes sure the schools have all the support they need to effectively implement them.

“We’re not just interested in getting our curriculum in schools,” she says. “We really want to engage with our customers and help them.”

Katy first started working with CFC as a consultant in 2001. She stayed in that role for more than a decade before departing for a job with a software company, where she learned the ropes of what it’s like to have customers on subscription. When she heard that CFC was about to release our first digital program, she knew she could be of service. She came back as a consultant in 2017 and was hired as the client success director the following year.

As the first person to hold this position, Katy oversees two teams. She leads the client support group, which handles incoming customer inquiries, and the new client success group, which focuses on post-sale implementation success at the school level. This team makes sure principals have what they need to train teachers, and that everyone understands the curriculum and is excited to teach it.

Katy believes her SEL superpower is solving problems. “I’m just that kind of person who likes to take in a lot of information, analyze it, organize it, and create order out of chaos,” she says. “I like solving puzzles—there’s a human side to it and an organizational side to it.” She brings that skill set to her work at CFC, always with the goal of making a real impact on the lives of children.

Katy graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in geography and environmental studies. She loves playing sports of all kinds, gardening, and being on the water. “I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of other things, but I’ve always been drawn back to this place because of the important nature of what we do,” she says. “I really feel like it’s something that will change the world if we do it right.”

Jessica Martin

Director of Human Resources

Every day, Jessica Martin is motivated by Committee for Children’s new goal: to positively transform the social-emotional well-being of 100 million children annually by 2028.

“I don’t feel like you can turn away from a mission that is fostering the well-being of children,” she says. “The combination of the mission and where we are as a company—we’re in a very exciting phase—drew me in.”

Jessica’s role as director of Human Resources, which she started in March 2019, is to attract and retain top talent for Committee for Children. But it doesn’t end there. Her team helps people through the entire employee life cycle and creates meaningful ways to motivate and elevate performance. “I feel strongly about training and development for our entire employee base, for both managers and staff,” Jessica says. “One of our goals is to create more development opportunities for our employees.”

Jessica has a BA in psychology from the University of Washington and has spent more than 15 years in HR. In that time, she’s worked for companies in which HR was mostly tactical and operations-based, as well as companies in which the HR department was viewed as a strategic business partner. This variety of experience has given her a well-rounded view of what her team can do.

“In order for organizations to be successful, we do need to align with leadership on bigger strategy—that’s hugely important at Committee for Children, given the incredible mission that we have and the 2028 goal that we’re steering toward,” she says.

Fittingly for someone in a people-oriented job, Jessica calls relationship-building her social-emotional learning (SEL) superpower. She uses it both at work and at home, where she spends time answering her young daughter’s “million and one questions.”

“I got into HR for a variety of reasons,” she says, “but definitely because you can make a difference within an organization and give employees at all levels a good experience at work, and I think that’s important.”

Shauna McBride

PR & Communications Director

Shauna McBride is a seasoned journalist and communications professional with more than 15 years of public relations and media experience. She has managed all aspects—from development to implementation—of strategy, public and media relations, community outreach, branding, and events.

As Committee for Children’s public relations and communications director, Shauna is responsible for developing and overseeing the strategic direction and tactical execution of our public relations and communications efforts. She focuses on pursuing media coverage, working closely with CFC’s marketing team and external agencies and partners to build brand awareness and positive perception, developing internal communications processes and systems, and owning all crisis communication planning and implementation.

Before joining CFC, Shauna was director of communications for Seattle Reign FC, where she developed internal and external communication strategies to drive awareness and affinity for the National Women’s Soccer League startup. Before that, she served as primary spokesperson for Allstate Insurance’s Northwest region, with whom she earned a reputation as a steadfast, well-informed, articulate, and trusted source to key media, both locally and nationally. It was Shauna’s calm, take-charge style that leadership relied on during crisis situations, where she guided highly visible executives to deliver on-point messaging. Shauna’s ability to cultivate strong media relationships and execute successful creative campaigns has enabled her to secure coverage with top-tier media outlets, including Parents Magazine, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, BBC Sport, ESPN The Magazine, and USA Today, as well as local publications, such as The Seattle Times and Seattle Metropolitan Magazine. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Washington and is a long-time member of the Public Relations Society of America (Puget Sound Chapter) and The Association for Women in Communications (Seattle Chapter).

Shauna sees her SEL superpower as her ability to make others feel seen and heard, both in her personal life and her professional life. “One of the most rewarding parts of my job is helping people across the organization not only tell their story, but own their voice. As a mother, I’ve tried to lead by example—to be a woman who is a force in her own life—to instill that same sense of empowerment in my daughter.”

Kelly Merkling

Director of Education Partnerships

Several years ago Kelly Merkling discovered just how important social-emotional learning (SEL) really is while working as a director of industry strategy focused on workforce development.

“Through that process, I realized people need those skills early on, from a young age, to be successful,” she says. “Social-emotional skills really tie in throughout your journey as an individual.”

That realization made Committee for Children a natural fit. Here, as the director of Education Partnerships, Kelly provides strategic leadership and development to her staff, who work with school districts to find the right Committee for Children programs for their needs. And although they set ambitious sales goals, the underlying motivation is to change lives.

“The team is really dedicated to ensuring that we’re always doing the right thing,” Kelly says. “We’re not here to just make a sale; we’re here to help decision makers find the program that’s going to work for them and the kids in their district.”

When Kelly started at Committee for Children in May 2017, there was a team of five salespeople. Today, there are 18—and her team is only growing. She considers it a top priority to be properly staffed so the team can provide a high-touch, consultative relationship with all their clients.

Evaluating is Kelly’s SEL superpower, because she has a strong ability to analyze each step of a process. “There were many times in this journey that I could have gone for the quick solution—there were easy solutions along the way, but they were not the right solutions,” she says. “I work to be thoughtful in evaluating and understanding the ramifications; I’m always looking to play the long game in my decision-making process.”

Kelly graduated from the University of Maryland with a dual degree in business management and human resources management. She has always enjoyed camping, hiking, and gardening in her free time.

She loves the strong culture of Committee for Children and the role her team plays in spreading those all-important social-emotional skills. “It’s wonderful when you hear from teachers and principals about how our programs are affecting their students in a positive way and creating better communities,” she says. “It truly feels amazing when you walk away at the end of the day to know you’re making a difference in the work you do.”

Jordan Posamentier

Director of Policy and Advocacy

With a background as a New York City public school teacher, legislative counsel to the California Judges Association, director of legislative analysis at StudentsFirst, and deputy policy director at the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education, Jordan Posamentier was ideally suited to be our first director of Policy and Advocacy at Committee for Children.

In his position, Jordan works on the state and federal level to advance policy for social-emotional learning (SEL), collaborating with many partners along the way. “Social-emotional learning is a fundamental aspect of a young person’s life experience and has been historically undertreated in policy,” he says. “I tend to be drawn to policy areas that are complex and impactful and evolving. SEL fits all those and then some.”

Jordan considers his SEL superpower to be perspective-taking, which is important in the work he does to help others see the value of social-emotional learning—and a skill he puts to good use at home with his young daughter as well.

“The folks who are in charge of jurisdictions around the country are quite different from one another, so when advancing policy it helps to remove ourselves from the Seattle bubble and look at what’s important to them, how SEL shows up in their lives,” Jordan says. “There’s an art to trying to figure out what will excite a policymaker,” just as there’s an art to talking to his five-year-old.

Jordan, who earned his JD from the University of Houston, his MS in education from Queens College (CCNY), and his BA in human ecology from College of the Atlantic, is proud of the work Committee for Children has done to usher forward the adoption of SEL standards in Washington state. These standards provide practitioners with a common language and a set of guides to help them develop SEL in their own communities. With his team, he’s actively working to expand the organization’s deep advocacy footprint across several more states.

“At Committee for Children, we really try to solve the problems our mission asks us to solve in a comprehensive way, through public programs, campaigns, and convening folks who are interested in other problems to solve,” Jordan says. “We’re kind of ‘soup to nuts’ when it comes to tackling our challenges.”

Amy Walker

Director of Strategic Partnerships

A national expert on implementing systemic social-emotional learning in large school districts, Amy Walker has spoken at dozens of conferences in the United States and abroad about SEL, violence prevention, bullying prevention, and child protection. At Committee for Children, she works to develop and maintain partnerships with businesses, organizations, and individuals to help expand our reach and impact.

Prior to joining Committee for Children in 2001, Amy taught at an elementary school and an Argentinean university, in addition to having a successful career in corporate sales. She joined Committee for Children to use her sales skills for greater good, and earlier in her tenure here, she helped bring Second Step, our SEL curriculum, to Australia and the UK.

A fan of practicing mindfulness, Amy—who has a bachelor’s degree in international cultural studies from Western Washington University—believes her own SEL superpower is relationship-building. “I see the good in others,” she says, “and I try to use my relationship skills to lift others up so we can all shine brighter together.”

Sherri Widen

Director of Research

For a long time, Sherri Widen was quite satisfied doing basic research, especially with a focus on looking at how children’s understanding of emotion develops and changes with age. She received a BA in psychology and an MA in developmental psychology from the University of British Columbia, and a doctorate in developmental psychology from Boston College.

Then, she moved into the more applied field of educational psychology, working on a social-emotional learning (SEL) program. “It helped open up my eyes to all the possibilities there are to supporting children to develop and flourish,” she says.

With that combined background in research plus intervention, Sherri joined Committee for Children in 2018. As the director of research, she manages research scientists and assistants as they help develop SEL products that are both research informed and evidence based. “We want to make sure any claims we’re making, or particular things we’re trying to teach kids, are supported by the research out there,” she says. “We also collect our own data so we can inform people about changes in our curricula.”

Sherri is particularly excited to be working with a team at Committee for Children that’s focusing on children from birth to four years old. This team is currently looking into creating a mom-to-mom mentoring program, with the goal of supporting the development of social-emotional skills in kids from day one.

As for her own SEL superpower, she believes it’s perspective-taking, which she employs in all her interpersonal interactions. “I use it when things aren’t going the way I expect,” Sherri says. “I think about the other person’s perspective so I’m not just focusing on what’s happening to me.”

A fan of hikes, bike rides (when the weather’s nice!), farmers markets, and word games, Sherri is grateful that she has the opportunity to use science to improve lives.

“I really love our mission of helping children thrive in a peaceful world, and just the opportunity to contribute to that work and maybe even improve it—it’s really exciting,” she says. “Committee for Children has enormous reach in America and internationally. This is an exciting time to work toward the goal of reaching 100 million children per year by 2028.”