Dave Phillips, a project director at WestEd, leads CIFR. This role builds on his years of experience developing processes, creating cross-organizational partnerships, and organizing teams to provide effective technical assistance to state agencies. He has previously held leadership roles in a number of federally funded regional and national data and TA centers, including serving as co-director of the prior iteration of CIFR, convener of the Fiscal Improvement Team in the Regional Resource Center Program, co-lead of the Urban School Improvement Alliance for the Regional Education Lab-Northeast and Islands, and TA Team Lead for the IDEA Data Center.

Prior to joining WestEd, Phillips served as the IDEA Part B Data Manager for the state of Vermont.

Jenifer J. Harr-Robins, PhD, is the Deputy Director of CIFR. Formerly a principal researcher at the American Institutes for Research, she has over 20 years of special education research and evaluation experience with expertise in special education finance. As a co-director of the first CIFR (2014 – 2020), she focused on CIFR’s quality assurance and provided input on the external evaluation activities.

Over the years, she has supported states with their state special education funding systems, including California, the District of Columbia, Georgia, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. Dr. Harr-Robins was also the associate director of the Center for Special Education Finance (CSEF) and its national Special Education Expenditure Project (SEEP) and was co-author of two book chapters on special education finance.

Other special education research includes an Institute of Education Sciences study of school accountability systems, evaluations of special education programs, and examinations of special education service delivery.

Lizann Salazar is a Program Coordinator II at WestEd with more than 10 years at the agency. She has significant experience working on federally funded projects with a variety of partner organizations, personnel, and subject matter experts. As the project coordinator for CIFR, she manages timelines, project plans, logistics, events, production schedules, and day-to-day operations. Before joining WestEd, she worked in classrooms providing homework support, assessment administration, and weekly planning.

Pakethia Harris, PhD, is a technical assistance (TA) consultant at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). She has expertise in K-12 special education curriculum and policy and school finance. She has more than 10 years of experience in the special education field. Dr. Harris currently provides technical assistance and professional development to states pertaining to fiscal policy and procedures, collecting and using high-quality data, and data reporting with the Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting (CIFR). Harris also engages in product development and state technical assistance with the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) and IDEA Data Center (IDC).

Prior to her position at AIR, Dr. Harris was a graduate fellow engaged in research at University of South Florida were her research agenda focused on the reciprocal relationship between education policy and the multiple dimensions of education finance and economics. Also, Dr. Harris taught university coursework. Prior to her experiences in higher education, she was an instructional coach for general and special education teachers, where she developed and provided professional development workshops for teachers and administrators related to the area of curriculum and instruction and behavioral interventions.

Mari Mathews is a Program Associate on the Special Education Policy and Practice Team at WestEd. As co-lead of CIFR Part B technical assistance, she helps states build their IDEA fiscal knowledge and capacity through one-on-one support, communities of practice, and national webinars and events. She provides technical assistance on collecting and reporting special education data and funding and policy to improve outcomes for children and youth with disabilities.

Danielle Crain is a Senior Study Director at Westat with more than 15 years of experience providing technical assistance to support policy development and systems improvement and to address equity issues. Crain leads CIFR’s IDEA Part B tools and product development and provides targeted and intensive technical assistance to states to improve their IDEA fiscal data collection, reporting, analysis, and use. Crain is Liaison Lead for the National Comprehensive Center, where she co-leads the National Comprehensive EBI/ARP Community of Practice and manages the CCNetwork liaison team’s communication with the 19 Regional Comprehensive Centers. She holds a certificate in Education Finance.

Leslie Fox, PhD, is the Director for Early Childhood Intervention, Mental Health & Inclusion at WestEd. She is responsible for project development and oversight of cross-sector early childhood policies and practices intended to improve learning, health and developmental outcomes for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Dr. Fox joined WestEd after working at the US Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs where she provided monitoring and technical assistance to state agencies implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Dr. Fox has over 20 years of experience as an early intervention specialist working in birth to eight IDEA programs.

Allison Davey is a Program Associate at WestEd with more 20 years of experience in special education at the state and district levels. She has significant expertise in collecting, reporting, analyzing, and using IDEA fiscal data; project planning and management; and aligning resources to support statewide initiatives. As co-lead of CIFR Part C technical assistance, she helps states build their IDEA fiscal knowledge and capacity through one-on-one support, communities of practice, and national webinars and events. Before joining WestEd, Davey was Senior Director of Strategic Supports in the Division of Special Populations at the Tennessee Department of Education. She has a master’s in Special Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Beth Cole, EdD, is an Early Childhood Special Education Funding & Accountability Program Associate at WestEd. She is a CIFR technical assistance liaison and leads the center’s IDEA Part C tools and product development. Dr. Cole has worked in Part C since 1996, beginning at a local program in Colorado after her son was diagnosed with autism at age 2-1/2. Before joining WestEd in 2021, she worked at local Part C programs and at Colorado’s lead agency where she served as Fiscal Accountability Manager and Provider Relations Manager and oversaw the development and rollout of Colorado’s Telehealth training and trainings for providers on billing private insurance and Medicaid. Dr. Cole received her EdD in early childhood leadership and equity from the University of Colorado, Denver, in 2019..

Peter Orne, MA, is an editorial and communications consultant with significant experience promoting regional and national research and TA initiatives for K–12 and federal education stakeholder groups. He is former division director of communications at Education Development Center, Inc., and for nearly a decade was dissemination director for the U.S. Department of Education’s Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands. He has brought his expertise to projects such as the Department’s Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) and the National Science Foundation’s Research + Practice Collaboratory (RPC). Orne designs and carries out wide-scale dissemination strategies using a data-driven, continuous-improvement approach across a range of publication and storytelling platforms.

Sanjay Pardanani works for WestEd’s Communications department as a project manager and digital media producer. He supports CIFR’s technical assistance efforts through management of the center’s website, as well as other internal technology tools. He has co-lead CIFR’s Technology & Communications team since the center’s inception in 2014.

Prior to joining WestEd, Pardanani’s experience includes working with English learners and students in special education.

Courtney Clingan, a senior consultant with The Improve Group, leads the evaluation for CIFR. Clingan has been a key member of CIFR’s evaluation team since the center’s inception in 2014. Since then, her work has focused on real-time analysis and reporting to support continued improvement of CIFR’s targeted technical assistance.

Clingan draws evaluation experience from projects spanning multiple disciplines. Notably, she has also supported work partnering with WestEd and the Minnesota Department of Education on a statewide evaluation of the Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services program, which aims to avoid inappropriate referrals to special education programs among Minnesota schools. She has extensive experience overseeing evaluation design, data collection, analysis, and development of practical findings.