Staff

Leadership Team

Liz Snyder

Co-Director
snyde276@umn.edu

In addition to being Co-Director of the MNCWTA, Liz is the Director of Training Partnerships at the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW). Liz has worked in the area of support and development of the child welfare workforce since 2008. Prior to her work with the Academy she managed the MSW Title IV-E Child Welfare Fellows program at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Tracy Crudo

Co-Director
tcrudo@umn.edu

Tracy, manager of the Workforce Development and Training Unit in the Child Safety and Permanency Division, joined the Department of Human Services in 2015. She manages the training and workforce development and delivery to approximately 2,000 county and tribal workers and supervisors who provide child protection, foster care and adoption services throughout the state.

Traci LaLiberte

Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) Executive Director
lali0017@umn.edu

Traci has worked in a variety of roles in the field of child welfare for the past 30 years, including child welfare professional, supervisor, researcher, educator, trainer and policy advocate. Traci’s research is focused in child welfare practice and policy with particular interest in the intersection of child welfare and disability, child welfare and educational experiences of youth, comprehensive assessment, evidence-based practice in treatment foster care settings, and the child welfare workforce. When she's not working, Traci is most likely hanging out with her two kids and their dog, Bear. She is an avid hiker, traveler, and gardener.

Jamie Sorenson

Director of the Child Safety and Permanency Division for the Department of Human Services
jamie.sorenson@state.mn.us

Jamie provides leadership to the state’s child welfare system. He oversees child safety and prevention; family support and placement services; adoption; Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy; American Indian child welfare; child welfare research, evaluation, data and continuous quality improvement; and legislative and policy coordination. Sorenson is responsible for leading and implementing a vision for the division’s future.

Ryan Warren

Co-Director of Educational Technology Innovations (ETI)
rwarren@umn.edu

For over 20 years, Ryan's career has largely been in higher education administration, with cumulative experiences leading to his founding the Educational Technology Innovations (ETI) in 2015. Through ETI, Ryan seeks to have modern, scalable and secure technology applications developed to meet greater societal needs. His interests are centered around partnership and achieving larger outcomes by identifying more comprehensive approaches to tackle society's toughest problems.

Kia Moua

Training Supervisor
kmoua@umn.edu

Kia has over 20 years of training experience in law enforcement, youth development, human service programs, and K-12. Kia has worked in the human services field from court ordered visitation, truancy, case management, domestic violence, and homelessness. Kia’s experience working with systems on centering equity through leadership, policies, processes, decision-making and cultural practices has been the common thread that weaves and connects her professional career. Kia has been involved in creating Decentering Whiteness which is rooted in the MNCWTA. Kia founded and Chairs the People of Color ERG and serves as a council member on the Cultural and Ethnic Community Leadership Council (CECLC) as a representative for DHS.

Lolita Johnson

Curriculum Supervisor
howa0052@umn.edu

Lolita has over 20 years of leadership, training, and design experience that relates to adult education and development. Analyzing, researching, and assessing educational needs serves as an important component in the ongoing effort to design meaningful curriculum that supports growth and engagement. Her dedication and commitment to education is grounded by her interest to help learners by interpreting outcomes that lead to success. Lolita plans to lead in meaningful curriculum development work that supports healthy outcomes for children and families.

Jane Fields

Evaluation and Credentialing Supervisor
jfields@umn.edu

Jane has more than two decades of experience working with project leaders, staff members, participants, and communities in evaluating program designs, implementation, and impact as both an internal and external evaluator. She has worked with organizations to help them, for example, design logic models, surveys, and ongoing data collection systems in order for them to build their evaluation capacity. Her work evaluating professional development programs designed for adult learners is directly applicable to her role as Evaluation and Credentialing Supervisor. In this role, she will be developing systems to evaluate the work of the Academy and working with stakeholders throughout the state on a credentialing system for child welfare workers and supervisors.

Bill O’Connor

Communications Specialist
oconn301@umn.edu

Bill has been with the University of Minnesota for fifteen years, working in the Orientation & Transition Experiences office and overseeing communication for programs like New Student Orientation, Parent Orientation, and Welcome Week. Prior to that he provided project support to the Family Services department at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in St. Paul. Originally from Tennessee, Bill earned a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications from the University of Tennessee, and later a Master of Public Affairs from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Connie Abbott-Foster

Leadership Consultant
cabbottf@umn.edu

Ms. Abbott-Foster has a lifelong career of working with children and families. Her experience includes education, social work, program development, supervision and organizational consulting. She began working for the child welfare training system at the Minnesota Department of Human Services in 2005.