Our Team

LEADERSHIP TEAM

Curt Huston
Managing Partner


Huston is a founding principal of Evidence-Based Associates and joined the organization with more than 35 years of business management and strategic planning experience. In addition to his involvement with Evidence-Based Associates, Huston is the founder of Huston Consulting Group Inc., a business development consulting firm, and president of Valley Forge Watershed Association. Huston's commitment to helping at-risk youth is apparent in his work and dedication to the juvenile justice industry. Huston and his wife reside in Norristown, Pennsylvania.



Keller Strother
Managing Partner


Strother has more than 20 years of experience in organizational development and consulting. He is a founding member of both Evidence-Based Associates and MST Services and has been involved with the development of evidence-based programs in more than 30 states and numerous sites internationally. Strother places a high value on research and the role it plays in shaping service systems and funding structures. The focus of his work with Evidence-Based Associates is helping communities to bridge the gap between their service networks and effective research-based treatment models. Strother resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, with his wife and son.



Dan Edwards, PhD
President


Edwards is currently the president of Evidence-Based Associates, and formerly served as EBA's chief operating officer. Before joining Evidence-Based Associates, Edwards worked for MST Services, an affiliate of the Medical University of South Carolina and the Family Services Research Center. As vice president at MST Services, Edwards coordinated several large-scale implementation projects in the United States, as well as in northern Europe. Since joining EBA in 2007, he has co-authored several publications on evidence-based programs and has been instrumental in the growth and success of EBA's Redirection project. Dan resides in Summerville, South Carolina, and enjoys giving back to the community and spending time with his three amazing children.



Robert "Bob" Rhen
EBA Consultant


Rhen brings more than 25 years of management and consulting experience to his post. He oversees the growth of the company and has been instrumental in the oversight of Evidence-Based Associates' Florida Redirection project. He previously held a series of marketing and management positions at Westinghouse; and formed and operates his own management consulting practice dba KRBS Ventures, Ltd. Rhen enjoys golf and living on the Carolina coast in Wilmington, NC, with his wife.



Clay Yeager
EBA Consultant


Yeager has served the interests of at-risk children for 34 years in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Yeager was the first recipient of the 'Visionary of Pennsylvania Award' for his role as one of the principal architects of the Commonwealth's far-reaching and coordinated evidence-based prevention strategies - recognized as one of the most comprehensive in the nation. Yeager has spoken to groups and organizations across the country on the importance of utilizing prevention programs that work on behalf of children. He currently manages his own consulting firm, promoting the healthy development of children by establishing partnerships between the public, private and nonprofit systems. He is a Pennsylvania-based consultant to Evidence-Based Associates and resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.



Suzanne Johnson
Director of Business Development


Johnson graduated from West Chester University with a bachelor's degree in education and from Penn State University with a master's degree in administration. She comes to EBA with experience in education and business. Johnson taught in a gifted program for junior high school students for five years and became an assistant junior high principal in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1982. In 1986, Johnson joined Honeywell International and was assigned to their office in Manhattan as an account representative. She has held numerous management and sales positions across the country with Honeywell over the last 24 years. Johnson has 22 years of performance contracting experience in health care, education and with the federal government and recently retired and manages her own consulting firm.



Yvonne Doerre
"Put Families First" Project Manager, Washington, D.C.


Doerre is joining the EBA leadership team as project manager for its "Put Families First" project in Washington D.C. Doerre received her bachelor's degree from Indiana University and her master's degree from Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work. She has worked in the mental health and child welfare fields for 15 years and served as an independent trainer and consultant for various community and government agencies for the last eight years.



Allison Simpson
Administrative Assistant


Allison Simpson joined Evidence-Based Associates in 2007, as administrative assistant. Simpson coordinates office services for the Evidence-Based Associates team. She received her bachelor's degree in English from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a master's degree in deaf education from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Simpson taught hearing-impaired children for nine years in Massachusetts, North Carolina and South Carolina. She works out of the company's South Carolina office and resides in Summerville, with her husband and their children.



REDIRECTION PROJECT TEAM

Nicole Janer
Project Director


Nicole Janer is the lead project manager for the Florida Redirection project and has been in this role since the project's inception in Oct. 2004. Her role incorporates her desire to provide quality services for youth and families in the State of Florida while shifting public policy toward a rehabilitative approach for youth, who are involved in the juvenile justice system. Janer's past experiences as a vocational counselor, director of a parent advocacy and training organization, implementer of a federal demonstration project for system changes with youth with developmental disabilities and an administrator of a provider organization have all proven to be beneficial in her role with Evidence-Based Associates. She shares great enthusiasm for building local teams that include the Department of Juvenile Justice, legislators, treatment model representatives and direct service providers of evidence-based treatment services in order to deliver quality and meaningful services.



Maria Bledsoe
Project Manager, North Florida Operations


Bledsoe holds a master's degree in criminal justice and has more than 10 years of experience working with the juvenile justice system and at-risk youth. As project manager, Bledsoe manages the Redirection project in North Florida, and is responsible for promoting the project, contract management and renewal, training, ongoing quality assurance and government relations. Bledsoe joined Evidence-Based Associates from One Voice for Volusia Inc., where she was a project director and was previously director of operations for Community Based Care Inc., the privatized child welfare system.



Rick Morris
Project Manager, Central Florida Operations


As project manager, Morris works with Evidence-Based Associates' Central Florida Redirection project, Morris is responsible for promoting the Redirection project, contract management and renewal, training, ongoing quality assurance, and government relations. Morris joined Evidence-Based Associates from the community outpatient mental health field, where he managed programs committed to treating children and teens with sexually abusive behaviors within their family and community setting. Morris is a licensed mental health counselor and specializes in treatment of juvenile sex offenders. He has written and published "Protecting and Parenting Sexually Abused Children," a book for parents and caregivers of children, who have been sexually abused. In addition, he has provided training for community agencies to assist in protecting children from further sexual abuse.



Barbara Byrne
Project Manager, South Florida Operations


Byrne is a licensed clinical social worker with nearly 20 years of experience helping families with at-risk children. As project manager, Byrne works with Evidence-Based Associates' South Florida Redirection project. She is responsible for promoting the Redirection project, contract management and renewal, training, ongoing quality assurance and government relations. Byrne joined Evidence-Based Associates from a private practice as a psychotherapist and parenting coach in Miami. She writes a monthly column on parenting issues and behavior management for Miami Family magazine.