Stewards of Change is grounded in the principle that leaders from all sectors share in the responsibility for improving human services delivery and the lives of the children and families supported by these systems. SOC’s founding partners are dedicated to finding new ways to take social innovation to scale in the 21st Century:
Founding Partners:
Daniel Stein is a cofounder of Stewards of Change and serves as the Managing Partner and a member of the leadership team providing overall strategic leadership and management for the organization. Mr. Stein brings over 22 years of experience working in business and consulting to public, private, and not-for-profit human services organizations focused on building capacity, solving problems and improving outcomes. Mr. Stein has directed multidisciplinary engagements in some of the largest and most challenging jurisdictions including California, New York, Washington DC, Louisiana, Connecticut and New Jersey. These projects draw upon Mr. Stein’s broad experience and knowledge including strategic visioning and planning, business process reengineering, quantitative analysis, organizational development, performance management, marketing and communications, consumer research, and information technology. Prior to forming Stewards of Change, Mr. Stein started True Insight Marketing – a consultancy dedicated to applying business and marketing practices to child welfare organizations. Prior to his work in human services Mr. Stein spent ten years at Kraft Foods where he held senior leadership positions in multiple divisions managing national brands. Mr. Stein has focused on transferring and translating his experience in private industry into the human services to improve operational efficiency and outcomes. Daniel holds an MBA from Yale School of Management, 1987. He received a BA from The Evergreen State College, 1975.
Vernon McFarland Brown is a cofounder of Stewards of Change and a member of the leadership team. Vernon brings 30 years of experience as CEO of Aspiranet, a private Child Welfare Services Agency with forty-four service sites throughout California serving over 2,500 clients on a weekly basis. As a child welfare innovator and leader, Vernon has developed nationally recognized programs that serve children, youth, families and communities. Microsoft recently completed a Case Study on Aspiranet's use of SharePoint to support its IT Network accessed by nearly one thousand staff. Vernon has served on variety of national, state and local boards representing children and youth service agencies, advocacy groups and associations. Vernon holds a Master of Public Administration (1986) from Golden Gate University, SF, CA. He attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, receiving a Secondary Education Degree (1978) and a BA (1977).
Michael Smith was an original cofounder of Stewards of Change. Michael has 25 years of experience in business consulting and marketing as the CEO of Linx Communications where he provides overall leadership and management of day-to-day activities. Michael is involved in the Young Presidents Organization where he is spearheading a global project, “Helping Disadvantaged Kids Network,” to support children in developed and developing countries. Michael received an MA from Bentley College, Waltham (1979-1983) with degrees in management, marketing, finance and computer science. He attended the Harvard Business School, Boston, MA (1999-2001) Executive Education program.
Team Members
Gerry Pape
Executive Vice President
Stewards of Change
Gerry Pape is Executive Vice President for Stewards of Change (SOC). After 30 years of successfully working for large corporate enterprise technology firms, he joined SOC in 2007 to fulfill a personal commitment to improve the lives of children and others in need. Gerry supports the SOC team through strategic management and project oversight. He most recently oversaw the first Human Services 2.0 Roadmap project with the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Human Services Agency.
Prior to joining Stewards of Change, Gerry was an Executive for AT&T where he worked for 25 years. He has extensive experience in developing, running and transforming major corporate systems and networks; leading large teams and multi-billion dollar engagements on a global and P/L basis, and producing turnaround results in times of business, economic and regulatory change. He has also worked for Alcaltel-Lucent, Aon Consulting, and TeleTech in executive positions.
Gerry is active in community, church and charity organizations, including serving as the 2008-2010 President of the Board of Trustees for Inwood House, a 175 year old New York City Charity. Gerry holds a BS in Engineering and an MBA with emphasis in Organizational Behavior and Finance from the University of Illinois. He also earned an Executive MBA from Penn State University. Gerry is featured in the book “Leading at the Speed of Change”, a business publication by Capodagli and Jackson, McGraw-Hill.
Mary Curtis
Senior Consultant
Stewards of Change
Mary Ryan Curtis is a Senior Consultant with Stewards of Change. Dr. Curtis has more than 20 years experience in health and human services working in non-profit organizations and in government. Curtis brings hands on experience in developing and implementing interoperable health and human services as Deputy County Executive for Health and Human Services in Nassau County, New York; consisting of 7 departments, 1,800 staff and accounting for approximately 1/3 of the County’s annual $2.5 billion dollar operating budget.
As Deputy County Executive, Curtis envisioned and implemented initiatives that improved interoperability between the health and human services departments of the County. This effort included consolidated intake, integrated case management, improved customer services, electronic client records, and performance measurement. In addition, Curtis was responsible for the strategic vision for “Smart Government Initiatives” in Health and Human Services, including revenue maximization, expense reduction, and technology initiatives that resulted in savings to the County in excess of $50 million dollars and improved quality of client services.
Curtis has her doctorate in applied research and evaluation in psychology from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
April Kaplan
Senior Consultant
Stewards of Change
April Kaplan is a Senior Consultant with Stewards of Change. April is known for her creative and optimistic approach to strengthening communities, non- profit organizations and government agencies so they can maximize funding and partnerships and to assure vulnerable populations become self sufficient.
Ms. Kaplan has worked with policy makers and key stakeholders at the local, state and national level in the development of policies and programs that serve vulnerable populations in the human service and justice sectors. Ms. Kaplan has done extensive Federal grant development and regulatory and policy development, while working at the Department of Health and Human Services as the Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Office of Family Assistance and at the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.
Prior to her federal service Ms. Kaplan started and managed the Welfare Information Network for 7 years, including helping to develop its extensive information repository. Prior and during her tenure at the Welfare Information Network, Ms. Kaplan helped States and local government with the implementation of welfare reform and workforce development policies. Over the last 5 years as a consultant Ms. Kaplan has worked with State and local governments to obtain and maximize Federal and State dollars as well as assist in the develop and implementation of coordinated service systems.
Rachel Pratt
Senior Project Consultant
Stewards of Change
Rachel Pratt joined Stewards of Change in late 2010 with more than 15 years of child welfare experience. While working with SOC, she is also the CEO of the Adoption Exchange Association, a position she has held since 2007. Prior to joining AEA, Rachel worked for 12 years for the NYC Administration for Children’s Services, where she served as Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Case Management and Director of Parent Recruitment & Expedited Permanency. She has co-authored several publications about adoption and has spoken on the topic at conferences and meetings in the United States and Canada. Rachel Pratt holds a M.S. in Non-Profit Management from New School University. She lives in Brooklyn, is the mother of three children, and this fall she will run her fourth marathon.