Our Team

Donna-Marie Winn, PhD

Founder and President
Senior Consultant - Wellness, Evaluation, and Strategy

Donna-Marie is a licensed psychologist, researcher, and strategist. As a clinician, she supports the mental health, academic achievement, and economic viability of emerging majority people and communities. She has developed numerous therapeutic interventions, tools and games to meet people where they are and provide support as they travel their own pathways to thriving.

For over three decades, Donna-Marie has led complex research and evaluation projects. Her work has evolved over the years to focus on expanding and leveraging assets and shifting structures to increase equity and justice. To do this, she centers race, ethnicity, culture, class, and other contextual factors.

Donna-Marie is a thought leader and strategist, having participated on numerous boards and committees, including the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s National Girls Study Group, Head Start’s National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness, White House’s Initiative on Educational Excellence on African Americans under the Obama Administration, Communities for Just Schools Fund, The Beautiful Project, and Durham NC’s My Brother’s Keeper - Education Committee. She has authored numerous articles and book chapters and delivered over one hundred presentations throughout the United States, Ghana, Portugal, France, Italy, England, and Canada. Recently, she was named a 2019 BMe Vanguard Social Determinants of Health Fellow. 

Donna-Marie earned her B.A. from Notre Dame, her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, and her post-doctorate from Duke University. She founded KPLLC in 2011. She is a native New Orleanian and resides with her family in North Carolina.  Donna-Marie is a lover of sunrises and sunsets, particularly ones over mountain ranges or crystal blue waters.

Elaine Ortiz, MS

Consultant - Evaluation

Elaine supports Kaleidoscope Pathways (KPLLC) in the evaluation of community-based programs in the areas of health, education, workforce development, racial equity, and civic engagement. Her expertise is in identifying the best indicators and data sources for a given project, while efficiently sorting through key details such as the availability of data by geographic level (e.g. neighborhood, city, and state) and demographic sub-group (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, and low income). 

Elaine received her B.A. in economics from Hanover College and her M.S. in urban and regional planning from the University of Iowa. She worked for The Data Center in New Orleans for about 10 years, as a lead researcher for some projects and data support for other projects, including The New Orleans Prosperity Index; The New Orleans Index at Ten; and many other economic development, housing, community health, and entrepreneurship projects with a racial equity lens. Elaine also worked for several years as a researcher at the Iowa Policy Project, conducting data analysis to inform state public policy. 

Elaine began working for Kaleidoscope Pathways in 2014. She is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and she currently resides in North Carolina with her husband and two young boys. Elaine loves being in the great outdoors and exploring the beautiful landscapes of North Carolina.

Iheoma Iruka, Ph.D

Senior Consultant - Evaluation and Strategy

Iheoma is an expert in instrument development and quantitative data analyses (i.e., regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and hierarchical linear modeling). She uses mixed-methods approaches including interviews and focus groups. Iheoma works to understand how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in early education can support the optimal development and experiences of low-income, ethnic minority, diverse and immigrant children, particularly in the United States and Africa.

She has held leadership positions at FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the Buffett Institute at the University of Nebraska. She is the Chief Research Innovation Officer and Director of The Center for Early Education Research and Evaluation at HighScope. Dr. Iruka has and continues to serve on numerous national boards and committee, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees on Supporting Parents of Young Children, and Applying Neurobiological and Socio-behavioral Sciences from Prenatal through Early Childhood Development: A Health Equity Approach. 

Iheoma joined KPLLC’s team in XXXX.  She earned her B.A. from Temple University, M.A. from Boston University, and Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, Florida. Iheoma is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, currently resides in North Carolina with her family, and has deep family ties to Nigeria.

Kiira Lyons, MA

Consultant -  Wellness and Evaluation 

Kiira has nearly 10 years of experience in research, evaluation, and technical assistance. She has expertise in collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing qualitative data and tracking policy progress. Kiira has experience conceptualizing and implementing both summative and formative evaluations. She brings her engaging and accessible writing and visualization talents to all of her projects.  The consummate evaluation professional, Kiira has a knack for translating complex quantitative data and lifting up learnings that support actionable decisions. 

Kiira’s graduate coursework was in clinical psychology, and she has a particular interest in how thoughts, perceptions and beliefs influence behavior. Mrs. Lyons has contributed to research and evaluation efforts in both clinical and non-clinical settings. Her areas of specialization include instrument development, data collection (via surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.), qualitative and quantitative analysis, and summative and formative reporting.

Ms. Lyons joined the KPLLC team in 2019.  She resides in North Carolina with enjoys spending time with her husband, their most amazing toddler, and their extended network of family and friends.

Mark McDaniel, MA

Consultant - Evaluation and Strategy

Mark partners with decision makers to enhance and align policies, programs and practices, and to inform systems innovations and reforms.  He works tirelessly to improve the capacity of public systems and private providers to operationalize and evaluate outcomes and address barriers to child and family well-being. Mark has extensive experience designing and implementing comprehensive community change, education, and service systems reforms, as well as economic development initiatives to improve the socio-economic outcomes of low- and moderate-income residents.

Mark has a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Morgan State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Mark previously served as a Program Officer at the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Polk Bros. Foundation (Chicago).  After leaving philanthropy, he became a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Community Capital & Urban Investment Strategies Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mark is Principal at Inclusive Innovations LLC and became a Policy Fellow at Chapin Hall.

He is based in Chapel Hill, NC and has been with KPLLC since 2018.  Mark is an avid college basketball fan (Go Tarheels!) and loves taking his bike on the local American Tobacco trail when not hanging out with his wife, two daughters and extended family.

Marvin H. McKinney, PhD

Senior Consultant -  Evaluation and Strategy

Marvin has over 30 years of experience in strategy development, research, consultation, grant procurement and public policy and systems change while working in philanthropic organizations. At KPLLC, his work has focused on supporting foundations in developing programmatic and organizational strategies, analyzing evaluation results and creating reports that are user-friendly for a wide variety of audiences, including community constituents, advisory boards, senior leadership, and partner networks. 

During his tenure as Program Director at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Marvin developed the early childhood portfolio and made international and national grants. Prior to this work, he served as a program officer at the C. S. Mott Foundation where he specialized in grantmaking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and early childhood and parenting education.  Marvin also served as the inaugural chairperson for the state of Michigan’s Early Childhood Investment Corporation.

Marvin earned his Ed.S. and M.A. in curriculum/supervision and guidance/counseling at Eastern Michigan University and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in Curriculum and Instruction.  He has been a NDEA Fellow and a post-doctoral Bush Professional Fellow and Research Fellow at the FPG Child Development Institute (UNC-CH). Most recently, Marvin has been a Senior Consultant in the Office of Community Outreach at Michigan State University.

Marvin is one of the original team members with KPLLC, having joined the organization in 2011. He is a native of Detroit, MI and a long-time resident of Haslett, MI. He is a FitBit enthusiast and voracious reader.

Nadia Brigham, MSW, MPA

Consultant - Evaluation and Strategy

Nadia has over 20 years of experience advancing diversity, equity and inclusion and utilizing research and evaluation to inform strategy while working in philanthropy. In particular, she has deep expertise in racial equity and community engagement strategies. Nadia has a strong systems transformation focus, with a ground-level understanding of the strategies and tactics necessary to make change happen. In working with KPLLC, she has led efforts to infuse equity lenses while conducting evaluations and contextualizing findings for different audiences.

Nadia has worked with many sectors, including educational institutions, nonprofit associations, grassroots organizations, health care associations, advocacy groups, and social capital markets. A cornerstone of her work has been listening, learning and leaning into change frameworks for doing racial equity work. Nadia’s work has contributed to decreased infant mortality and increased parental, including father, engagement. She has worked to build organizational and individual leadership capacity to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion such that the humanity of all is acknowledged and celebrated.

She has held various positions within philanthropy as a Racial Equity Squad Leader, Program Officer and Program Manager. In 2019, she founded Brigham Consulting to advise and assist organizations as they productively and profitably align their human capital and organizational cultures toward racial equity, community justice, and maximizing human potential.

Nadia joined KPLLC in 2019.  She earned a BSW, MSW, and MPA from Grand Valley State University and is currently pursuing her PhD in Sociology, with a concentration in Race, Ethnicity, and Power Inequalities from Western Michigan University.

Susan James, PhD

Senior Consultant - Evaluation

Susan is a psychologist whose work focuses on the intersections of culture, evaluation and art. She strives to understand deeply how culture in its many historic and contemporary manifestations has been and is a form of resistance and resilience.  Susan has expertise in disseminating social science research and evaluation findings using visual design solutions and film, a practice she pioneered over a decade ago. Most recently, she has spearheaded KPLLCs work in using culturally congruent methods to collect data with communities of color.  These methods are much more in sync with the organizations’ regular routines and ways of relating to others and sharing knowledge. Specifically, Susan has led the KPLLC’s work on evaluation using storytelling, relational interviewing, visual imagery and critical arts based method.  She also directed a KPLLC indigenous methodologies internship program, serving as a mentor, educator and trainer, and supervises qualitative evaluations interns for KPLLC.

Susan established several innovative action research agendas and directed large-scale projects while holding senior positions at New York University, Chapin Hall at University of Chicago, and the Center on Addiction (formerly at Columbia University). She has also been a guest member of the psychology faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, and a faculty member in the department of Africology at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Her own research focuses on the influence of structural violence on well-being, as well as Indigenous methodologies and spiritual traditions. She is published in American Journal of Community Psychology, Violence Against Women and Woman and Therapy. She supports and facilitates locally driven evaluation research and the development of relevant communications products for nonprofit organizations. 

Susan earned a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D. from New York University.  She joined the KPLLC collective in 2018. Over the years, she has enjoyed the quintessential American bicoastal life.

Syrena Williams, JD, MBA

Senior Project Manager - Strategy, and Wellness

Syrena utilizes her educational experience coupled with her work experiences, to assist individuals and organizations with strategic planning, process observation, effectiveness and efficiency process training, group facilitation, project management, contract negotiations, conflict resolution, mediation, and legal needs. Over the past decade, she has served as a consultant to several organizations providing extensive support in identifying and recognizing goals, areas for improvement, and unresolved issues. 

She works to ensure seamless training on and implementation of new strategies and techniques that advance the organizations’ missions and shareholders’ interests, when applicable. She specializes in long-term coaching and strategizing to ensure that new systems and procedures result in proven value to clients. Syrena’s keen interest in helping her community to develop and grow drives her work to arm others with relevant, timely information in order to maximize their ability to advocate for and achieve their own success. She has mentored numerous individuals in Black-owned fledgling businesses to improve their back-office processes and procedures. 

Syrena has served on the boards of NC Bar Association, Museum of Durham History and Durham County Bar while serving as an advisory member to many organizational businesses across the nation.  Her many roles working with KPLLC since 2011 draw upon her unique blend of expertise in project management, group observation and facilitation, and contract negotiation. She leads community and professional education classes through Practical Skills University, as well as teaches at NCCU School of Law.  Ms. Williams is an active service member in her community. Syrena enjoys laughing, listening to music and learning new things.

William P. Moore, Ph. D.

Consultant -  Evaluation and Strategy

William Moore is an educational psychologist who specializes in co-creating theories of change, conducting multi-site evaluations, and designing and implementing surveys and tools. Bill’s career has centered on reforming urban education in under-performing school systems; capturing policy, advocacy, and social networks changes; promoting health and wellness; and supporting non-profit and philanthropic organizations’ capacity to be strategic.

Bill has enjoyed serving others as an educator, researcher and director at Auburn University, the University of Kansas, the Institute for Research and Reform in Education, and Caliber and Associates in Washington, DC.  Bill has worked in and alongside numerous philanthropic and non-profit organizations, including the REACH Healthcare Foundation, Support Kansas City – a nonprofit intermediary in metropolitan Kansas City, and the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He founded The Strategy Group, a national consulting group to philanthropies.

Bill currently serves on the Olathe Human Relations Commission, a community-level appointed body focused on ensuring that diversity, inclusion and equity are front and center in the policies, services, and opportunities that residents receive from their local government. He has authored of numerous publications and presented his work at hundreds of national conferences.

Bill has been part of the KPLLC team since 2018 and is based in Kansas City. He enjoys sailing, golf, meeting new people, watching his children play soccer, reading and learning. His favorite quote is “The strength of America is not in her conformity.  We believe the strength of America is in her diversity!” - Cesar Chavez