Our Team
REL West has dedicated program staff comprised of researchers, coaches, technical support providers, communicators, and other professionals representing the four West Region States. Together, we offer a wide range of expertise on education topics and data-driven decisionmaking. Learn more about our team below.
Management
Lenay Dunn
Deputy Director
Staff
Eric Ambroso
Research Assistant
Kim Austin
Director of Dissemination
Vanessa Barrat
Senior Research Associate
BethAnn Berliner
Senior Research Associate
Jenny Betz
School Climate Specialist
Alicia Bowman
Improvement Specialist
Laura Buckner
Program Associate/Events Coordinator
Elizabeth Burr
Senior Research Associate/Ask A REL Lead
Erin Carter
Web Producer/Administrator
Patricia Castillo
Research Assistant
Rebeca Cerna
Senior Research Associate
Min Chen-Gaddini
Research Associate
Rosemary De La Torre
Program Assistant
Kenwyn Derby
Senior Research Associate
Jonathan Dolle
Senior Research Associate
Neal Finkelstein
Executive Advisor
Tony Fong
Senior Policy Associate
Sylvie Hale
Senior Project Director
Ricky Herzog
Writer/Editor
Min Huang
Research Associate
Kevin (Chun-Wei) Huang
Senior Research Analyst
Karina Jaquet
Research Associate
Lisa Le Fevre
Senior Program Associate
Reino Makkonen
Director of Research-to-Practice Initiatives
Ellen Mandinach
Senior Research Scientist
Maria Martinez
Program Assistant
Anne Porterfield
Program Associate
Mary Rauner
Senior Research Associate
Venisa Sin
Application Developer
Jason Snipes
Director of Applied Research
Sola Takahashi
Senior Research Associate
Thomas Torre Gibney
Research Associate
Julie Torres
Project Manager
Lori Van Houten
Director of Analytic Support
Niufeng Zhu
Research Associate
Joy Zimmerman
Co-Director of Communications, WestEd
