SPI is grateful for the skill, heart, and dedication brought by our team of Associates. The following are individuals with a variety of demonstrated gifts, proven competencies, and well-earned lessons learned. Each has demonstrated success in their own right and has made their time available to SPI on an “as needed” basis, as most are working professionals in their field.
Cyndi Alexander
SPI Associate, Tribal Consultant and Trainer
Cyndi has worked in Social Services for over forty years. Cyndi worked as Tribal Consultant/Coach for her local County Child Welfare Social Services and Central California Training Academy CSU-Fresno. Previously having worked under a five-year grant with Child and Family Policy Institute of California as a Tribal Consultant for the CAPP Initiative.
Currently Cyndi is contracting as a Trainer/Tribal Family Consultant for Central California Training Academy Fresno State, as well as a presenter for Central California State Universities, Resource Family Agencies, and Tribal Service Programs. Cyndi has worked and volunteered for her Native American community serving in areas of family wellness, as a State certified substance abuse counselor; Tribal TANF case management; career development services; and case management, job search services for the Special Needs population.
Cyndi had the privilege of being accepted and trained by local Central California spiritual elders to “pour water for the people” (conduct sweat lodge ceremonies) and provide indigenous cultural guidance for Native American families. As a Fire-Starter for White Bison, Incorporated, Cyndi traveled as far north into Canada to train their Wounded Warrior program. In Ceremony, Cyndi was gifted the name Hah-saa-den-ah-wet-kee, (Walks Spiritually) by a local respected Yokut-Wukchumni elder, Marie Wilcox.
James Carter, MS
SPI Associate, Strategy, Systems Delivery, and Implementation
James M. Carter has over two decades of executive experience advancing equity, efficiency, and evidence-based reform across social service systems. He has held senior leadership roles, including serving as Deputy Director of the City of San Diego’s Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department, Senior Fellow at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Associate City Administrator for Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. Mr. Carter’s commitment to youth and family well-being extends beyond his professional work. He has served on the Juvenile Justice Commission of San Diego County, the Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness Among Black San Diegans, and the regional Continuum of Care Working Group on Performance Improvement. He also served on the Child Support Guidelines Commission and the Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, and as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate and Youth Court volunteer during his time in Washington, D.C.
James applies Lean Six Sigma, financial analytics, and data science to improve outcomes in child welfare, juvenile justice, and community health. Across government, nonprofit, and community settings, he focuses on identifying what works to uplift families and strengthen communities—grounded in data, verified through assessment, and guided by proven best practices. He holds a Master of Science in Evidence-Based Social Intervention from the University of Oxford and earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.
Kate Cordell, PhD
Social and Behavioral Health Data Scientist
Dr. Kate Cordell is a Social and Behavioral Health Data Scientist and Researcher. Dr. Cordell works to identify how individuals and families improve during care. She is especially interested in what works for whom. Every person and family have a story, often complex but also sewn with common thread. Dr. Cordell uses longitudinal analysis methods to model the changing patterns in these complex tapestries, hoping to identify the common elements of design.
Dr. Cordell integrates data systems to support a whole-person, success-focused approach to care, building solutions to put the person at the center. She converts information into visualizations to track progress for a person and their care team in ways that are meaningful at the point of care. She empowers real-time outcomes monitoring for programs and populations, identifying who is being served well and for whom additional services and supports are indicated. And, she unifies person-centered information across community agencies and provider networks to support joint care planning across a system of care. Dr. Cordell holds a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, an M.P.H. in Biometry from the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University and a Ph.D. from the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley.
Roger De Leon Jr.
SPI Associate, Lived Expert and Family Advocate
Roger De Leon Jr. is a minister and passionate advocate for children and families. De Leon became an independent contractor while establishing his business “In His Service (Prov. 16:9) RDJ Consulting LLC” contracting as a consultant and trainer for UC Davis RCFFP, Northern and CRT academies; the California Training Academy (CalTran), CWDS/CRA Academies in San Diego State University, and UC Fresno & Bay Area Academy (BAA) developing and delivering state-mandated trainings throughout California.
De Leon was a Parent Partner with Riverside County’s Children Services Division for the past 8 years. He was one of the first PP’s hired and helped develop their program, helping families with support, encouragement and navigating these systems, often leading to reunification. He is a birth father representative on the California Child Welfare Council/ PEI and co-chair to the “Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting Task Force” and serves as a member of the Parent Partner Advisory Committee. De Leon uses his personal experience of successfully navigating the child welfare and court systems to inform his work.
Shor Denny
Founder and CEO of Community Now
Shor Denny is the Founder and CEO of Community Now, a nonprofit organization established 13 years ago, dedicated to violence reduction and resiliency programming for individuals, organizations, and communities. Shor also serves as the HOPE champion for SDSU and the Co-Chair of the SD Trauma-Informed Guide Team. In 2020, Shor was inducted into the Grand Canyon University Hall of Fame in recognition of the significant impact of her dynamic programs. With a master’s degree in psychology, Shor develops, implements programming, and advocates for communities through life coaching, trauma-informed wellness programming, racial/social justice workshops, community resiliency campaigns, and mental wellness Programs.
Margo Fudge, MSW
SPI Associate
Margo Fudge has spent over 25 years in the field of social work, most recently as the Deputy Director for Policy and Program Support at the County of San Diego Child and Family Well Being. She has held a number of roles within the child welfare space, from conducting investigations and providing direct service in both child welfare and clinical settings, program manager for county adoptions and residential treatment programs, as well as the program director for youth engagement. Margo is a champion of family centered, outcome-driven system improvements, anchored in best practices. She also has a passion for sibling relationships and ensuring that children in the child welfare system remain connected to their brothers and sisters, as well as addressing disproportionality for families of color across the system.
Margo is a proud alum of both the University of Wisconsin (Go Badgers!) and San Diego State University and enjoys spending time with her husband and four children, traveling and watching her children compete in sporting events.
Richard Knecht, M.S.
Integrated Human Services Group
Richard Knecht has delivered program operations, leadership, strategic planning and training services to public and private healthcare and human service systems for nearly thirty years. He presently serves as a consultant to CDSS and its partners, providing guidance and cross-system statewide technical assistance toward shared management and service delivery processes for children and families. Richard is the former Chief Operating Officer at Olympus View Hospital. He served in Placer County for nearly a decade, directing its highly regarded children’s system. He is past Chair of the Board of Directors at Ifoster.org, and presently sits on the advisory board at the California Children’s Trust and OPEEKA, a unique software development company.
Marc Mannes, PhD
SPI Associate, Organizational and Program Improvement
Marc Mannes has served in senior management positions in the not-for-profit sector, government, higher education, and for-profit management consulting for over four decades. Dr. Mannes’s roles have entailed generating new knowledge and/or integrating existing knowledge into crafting human service innovations, as well as developing policies, programs, and practices to employ innovations. He directed national centers implementing major reforms in child, youth and family services including the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice, and the National Center for Evidence-Based Practice in Child Welfare. As the research director at Search Institute Dr. Mannes oversaw assessing the impact of the adolescent Developmental Assets Framework (DAF) and guided the formulation of the middle childhood and early childhood version of the DAF. For over five years he was the national training expert at the US Children’s Bureau. His current interest entails designing and applying organizational and program operational and performance improvement strategies.
Judi Sherman
Principal, Judi Sherman & Associates
Through facilitation, strategy building, and partnership development, Judi supports groups and organizations to advance their mission, enhance programs, develop policy, engage constituents, and build strong neighborhoods and communities. Her role with SPI involves contributing to research and publications, and curriculum design and development. Master’s Degree in Education; Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology.
Rochelle Trochtenberg
Youth Leadership Advocate
Rochelle is a passionate advocate for social justice and has 15 years of experience engaging system-involved youth in policy setting and decision-making tables at local, state, and national venues. Rochelle is committed to working alongside marginalized people and communities to resist oppression and to create hopeful and creative ways of responding to hardship and suffering. Rochelle most recently served as the first former foster youth to be appointed as the California Foster Care Ombudsperson. In her free time, she enjoys kayaking, camping, and reading.
For more about Rochelle, read more in this article.
Lianne A. Urada
Applied Research and Evaluation Specialist
Lianne A. Urada, PhD, MSW, LCSW is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at San Diego State University and of Global Public Health at UC San Diego. She is core faculty for the SDSU-UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Research on Substance Use. Dr. Urada has been a Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on several federally and privately funded grants and has over 35 peer reviewed publications.
Mark Varela
Retired (2023) Chief Probation Officer, Ventura County
Mark Varela began his career in public service in Ventura County, California, in 1988 as a Deputy Probation Officer. He rose through the ranks of the Probation Agency becoming Chief Probation Officer in 2010. During his tenure as the agency’s leader, Chief Varela was instrumental in launching many successful juvenile justice and adult criminal justice initiatives and community rehabilitative programs. Chief Varela served as Chair of Ventura County’s Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council, Community Corrections Partnership, and the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Steering Committee. He served as President of the Chief Probation Officers of California in 2015, and he was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the California Board of State and Community Corrections.
Chief Varela retired from public service in January 2023 after 34 years of serving his community – the last 13 as Chief Probation Officer.
Judy Webber
Child Welfare Systems Pioneer
Judy Webber is a licensed clinical social worker and served as Deputy Director for the Human Services Agency in Ventura County, overseeing the department of Children & Family Services for 19 years. Judy’s career spans over 35 years in both the public and private sectors of social services and health care. She has played a central role in the transformation of Children’s Services in California. She was a pioneer in the use of geo-mapping for SIP planning and strategic interventions, effectively used Lean Six Sigma process improvement strategies, and assured the rightful role of prevention in the spectrum of child and family services. She has been active within CWDA and across the state leading many committees and change efforts, promoting structures and practices that will best insure positive outcomes for children and families. Notable was her involvement in the creation and development of the core practice model and her commitment to its implementation and use. Under her leadership, Ventura County solidified its position in bringing capacity to the field as an early adopter of significant child welfare reforms, including decreased use of congregate care prior to Continuum of Care Reform and a dramatic decrease in entries into care through prevention and family preservation efforts. Most notable was her ability to realize effective cross-system partnerships through AB 2083. She is the recipient of the CWDA Executive Leadership Award and most recently will be receiving the NASW Pioneer Award. Judy is passionate about bringing hope, help, and opportunity to children, families and marginalized communities.