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The HARP Team

The HARP team has experience advancing major policy and practice reforms at the national, state, and local levels. Collectively, our team members bring to the HARP effort insights from working in government, nonprofit, advocacy, and clinical health care settings to improve the lives of people and communities.

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Vikki Wachino

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Melissa Ough

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David Ryan

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Kati Habert

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Tonya Moore

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Margot Cronin-Furman

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James Pagano

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Naba Husain

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Abigail Strait

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audra goldsmith

Audra Goldsmith

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chelsea thomson

Chelsea Thomson

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kariem morssy

Kariem Morssy

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Marissa Dunne

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Silicia Lomax

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John Sawyer

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Board of Directors

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Christine Cole

Senior Advisor, 21CP Solutions

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Julius Green, CPA, JD, MBA

Retired Tax Partner, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP

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Jennifer Specht Ozanne

Partner, Skyline Advisory

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Susan Steinmetz

Retired, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Vikki Wachino

Vikki Wachino founded the Health and Reentry Project and is its Executive Director. She has dedicated her career to leading and inspiring organizations that advance policy change to improve the lives of people in need. 

Prior to founding HARP, Vikki served as Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. There, she oversaw the implementation of major Affordable Care Act coverage expansions and groundbreaking new policies related to mental health, managed care, delivery system reform, and substance use disorder. Her early career included stints at the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 

Vikki holds an MPP from Harvard University and a BA from Mount Holyoke College.

Melissa Ough

Melissa Ough is HARP’s Chief Operating Officer. She has over a decade of experience strengthening mission-driven organizations and helping them maximize their impact. 

Melissa previously led operations at Community Catalyst, a national organization working to make care accessible, affordable, and accountable to the people it serves. She was also a Senior Policy Analyst for the organization’s Substance Use Disorders & Justice-Involved Populations project, where she partnered with community-based advocates to strengthen systems of care. 

Melissa holds an MSW from Boston University and a BA from Gettysburg College.

David Ryan

David Ryan is HARP’s Senior Director of Criminal Justice Initiatives. He has over 15 years of experience working on policy issues at the intersection of health and justice. 

Prior to joining HARP, David spent over a decade at the Middlesex (MA) Sheriff’s Office, leading policy priorities to advance changes to the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy. He also spent five years working for U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, promoting the Senator’s legislative agenda through coordinated outreach to federal, state, and local agencies and organizations. 

David holds a JD from Suffolk University Law School and a BA from Colby College.

Kati Habert

Kati Habert is HARP’s Director of Technical Assistance. She has more than 15 years of experience advancing systems change and policy reform at the intersection of behavioral health and the justice system. 

Kati previously worked at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she managed technical assistance for the mental health and justice partnerships project. She also worked at the Council of State Governments Justice Center, where she led the Stepping Up Initiative, which focused on improving outcomes for people with behavioral health needs in local justice systems. She has also worked with the National Association of Counties. 

Kati holds an MA and BA from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Tonya Moore

Tonya Moore is HARP’s Senior Director of Health Policy. She is a nationally recognized policy expert on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, with more than 30 years of experience in federal and state health policy. 

Before joining HARP, Tonya served as Associate Principal at Health Management Associates, advising states, health plans, and partners carrying out Medicaid initiatives. Previously, she spent the majority of her career at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, where she played a leadership role in CMS’ work developing Medicaid reentry waivers and other demonstration waivers. 

Tonya holds a JD from the University of Maryland School of Law and a BA from the University of Miami.

Margot Cronin-Furman

Margot Cronin-Furman is HARP’s Director of Strategic Initiatives. Before joining HARP, she spent a decade as a clinical social worker working with complex care populations in hospitals in Boston and New York. 

Margot’s areas of focus include strengthening systems of care for people with behavioral health and other complex health and social needs, advancing health policy and practice that are informed by lived expertise, and ensuring that social drivers of health are addressed so that everyone can flourish.

Margot holds an MPA from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, an MSW from Boston University, and a BA from Emerson College.

James Pagano

James Pagano is HARP’s Deputy Director of Criminal Justice Initiatives. Prior to joining HARP, he served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, where he helped to create a Reentry Office and formalize a Justice Portfolio. 

James also spent four years as Policy Advisor for Reform Initiatives at the Illinois Department of Corrections. In that role, he helped to develop an agency-wide strategic plan, design a performance monitoring process, and lead a variety of key prison reform initiatives. 

James holds an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a BA from Dickinson College.

Naba Husain

Naba Husain is HARP’s Deputy Director of Health Policy. She spent the past decade gaining experience in various aspects of health policy, with a specialty in behavioral health. 

Prior to joining HARP, she spent time advancing the national mental health strategy at the White House Domestic Policy Council, advising on behavioral health and Medicaid issues at the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Office, and developing strategies to protect consumers enrolled in the federally facilitated Marketplace at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Additionally, she has several years of experience in nonprofit advocacy, programs, and development. 

Naba holds an MPH from Boston University and a BS from the University of Kansas.

Abigail Strait

Abigail Strait is a Technical Assistance Associate at HARP. She has ten years of experience helping corrections agencies implement new policies and evidence-based practices. 

Prior to joining HARP, Abigail served as the Justice Reinvestment Initiative Implementation Manager at the Crime and Justice Institute. In that role, she managed and provided direct technical assistance to corrections agencies, focusing on developing implementation tools and frameworks and increasing cross-sector collaboration. 

Abigail holds an MPP from Brandeis University and a BA from Hamline University.

Audra Goldsmith

Audra Goldsmith is a Senior Technical Assistance Associate at HARP. She has more than a decade of experience at the intersection of behavioral health and the justice system, with expertise in technical assistance, implementation planning, systems change, and cross-systems collaboration. 

Prior to joining HARP, Audra served as a Project Manager at the Council of State Governments Justice Center, where she oversaw projects associated with Stepping Up’s technical assistance centers and managed the Kansas center. Previously, she served as a jail behavioral health supervisor for Horizons Mental Health Center and the Reno County (KS) Correctional Facility. 

Audra holds an MS from Emporia State University and a BA from Wichita State University.

Chelsea Thomson

Chelsea Thomson is a Senior Technical Assistance Associate at HARP. She has ten years of experience helping jurisdictions identify and implement practices and programs to enhance safety, health, and wellbeing. 

Prior to joining HARP, Chelsea was the Senior Associate for Health and Justice Policy at ForHealth Consulting, where she worked with correctional agencies and state Medicaid agencies to connect individuals to Medicaid prior to release. She also held roles as a Senior Program Manager for Behavioral Health and Justice at the National Association of Counties and Director of Operations and Justice Policy Analyst at the Urban Institute. 

Chelsea holds an MPP from American University and a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Kariem Morssy

Kariem Morssy is a Technical Assistance Associate at HARP. He has seven years of experience supporting local government in developing and implementing diversion and reentry initiatives. 

Prior to joining HARP, Kariem served as a Policy Analyst with the Council of State Governments Justice Center, where he provided technical assistance to criminal justice agencies implementing grant-funded initiatives under the federal Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Project. He previously worked with the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, implementing public health approaches to violence reduction. He has also worked to coordinate diversion initiatives with the Dauphin County (PA) District Attorney. 

Kariem holds an MA, BS, and BA from the Pennsylvania State University.

Marissa Dunne

Marissa Dunne is a Technical Assistance Analyst at HARP. She has seven years of experience working with people leaving incarceration. 

Prior to HARP, Marissa served as a sworn Parole and Probation Officer in Oregon, specializing in caseloads serving behavioral health populations. In this role, she worked with criminal justice stakeholders to reduce recidivism, uphold community safety, and improve access to care for her clients. She also worked in local county jails in Arizona and Oregon, serving on specialty court diversion programs, implementing a local Justice Reinvestment Initiative grant program, and training new officers. 

Marissa holds a BS from the University of Arizona.

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Silicia Lomax

Silicia Lomax is a Director of Health Policy at Waxman Strategies, where she works with organizations on health equity-based policies. She is also Executive Director of United Against Inequities in Disease, a nonprofit organization that develops sustainable community projects to reduce health disparities. In addition, she is a board member of the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice and the Human Rights Forum of the American Public Health Association. 

In her roles, Silicia works on projects to increase access to mental health services and improve reproductive health in the U.S., as well as on policies to make health care more affordable. 

Silicia has an MPH and BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

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John Sawyer

John Sawyer is a Senior Advisor at Waxman Strategies. He has more than 20 years of policy experience at both the federal and local levels, having served in a variety of government positions and as a leader in the nonprofit sector. 

Most recently, John spent ten years as Director of Federal Affairs at the National Association of Community Health Centers. Previously, he led the policy efforts of the Allegheny County (PA) Department of Human Services through ongoing service integration initiatives and the block-granting of state funding. He also served on the staffs of Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT). 

John holds a BA from the University of Michigan and a certification in Professional Coaching.