CDCLP Faculty Team
Faculty Team
Jessica Allen
Jessica Allen's experience as both an executive director and development director inform her ability to help clients build campaigns and strategies mindful of their resources, leadership, and staff abilities. Since 2014, she has worked as a fundraising consultant both independently and with JarosStrategy, helping to secure more than $60 million in funding for Northeast Ohio institutions. Jessica served as campaign consultant for the Children's Museum of Cleveland, securing more than $10 million in funding to open its new facility in 2017. Jessica served as executive director of Fairmount Center for the Arts, leading it through an emergency campaign and rebuilding its infrastructure. She also served as director of development at The City Club and foundation relations officer at Case Western Reserve University. She is an accomplished grant writer with more than $12 million in secured grants to her credit.
Scott Allen
Scott Allen is an award-winning professor with a passion for working with people of all ages. He teaches courses in leadership, future of work and executive communication. Scott served as a Mulwick Scholar in the Boler College of Business and his primary stream of research focuses on leadership development. Scott has published more than 50 chapter books and peer reviewed journals, including the co-author of The Little Book of Leadership Development: 50 Ways to Bring Out the Leader in Every Employee, Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: A Guide for College Students, Captovation: Online Presentations by Design and the textbook Discovering Leadership: Designing Your Success (2019). He is also the host of two podcasts: The Captovation Podcast and Phronesis: Practical Wisdom for Leaders. Scott is the co-founder of Captovation, a services firm dedicated to “Presentation Coaching for the Digital Age.” He is also the co-founder and Board Chair of the Collegiate Leadership Competition. Allen was named an ILA Fellow by the International Leadership Association in 2021.
Ellen Burts-Cooper
Dr. Ellen Burts-Cooper is the senior managing partner of Improve Consulting and Training Group, a firm that provides personal and professional development training, coaching and consultation. Improve has been featured in Time Magazine, Black Voices, Smart Business Magazine and Bloomberg Businessweek.
Dr. Burts-Cooper is an instructor at Case Western Reserve University in the Weatherhead Executive Education Program and The Institute for Management Studies (IMS). She is also the author of the book Canine Instinct: A Guide to Survival and Advancement in Corporate America.
She earned a BS in chemistry from Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, AL, her PhD in organic/polymer chemistry from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, her MBA from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Business and her Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification from 3M Company.
Ivan Conard
Ivan received his Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Morehouse College and a Master's degree in Social Administration with a certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. Ivan is a Licensed Social Worker and Research Associate at the Center on Trauma and Adversity. His research interests are centered around trauma-informed practice, healing centered engagement, and building trauma-informed systems. Ivan's desire is to support the development of organizations that promote healing for youth and families experiencing trauma and victimization.
Brant Duda
Brant Duda is director of strategy and analysis for SDP and brings over six years of expertise in strategic planning, financial analysis, nonprofit governance and board development, and research. From helping to transform the social service system in Columbia, South Carolina to managing a coalition combating the opioid epidemic in Lorain County, Ohio to forming the first Center for the Arts in Oberlin, Ohio, Brant has worked on large-scale projects and with organizations that impact entire communities. Brant has a masters of social administration and certificate in nonprofit management from Case Western Reserve University. He earned his bachelor’s degree from California University of Pennsylvania.
John Grabowski
John J. Grabowski received his BA, MA, and Ph.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University. His academic interests are in the fields of immigration and migration, public history, public memory, and museum studies. He holds a joint position as the Krieger-Mueller Associate Professor of Applied History at Case Western Reserve and Senior Historian and Vice President for Research and Publications at the Western Reserve Historical Society. He is the editor of the on-line edition of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History and the Dictionary of Cleveland Biography. His publications include The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, The Dictionary of Cleveland Biography, and Cleveland: A Tradition of Reform, which he co-edited with the late Dr. David D. Van Tassel. He is also the author of Sports in Cleveland: An Illustrated History and Cleveland A to Z: Historical Essentials for Newcomers and Residents in Northeastern Ohio, and has written numerous articles relating to immigration history and to archival issues.
Ian Heisey
Ian Heisey has been interested in peacemaking and conflict resolution throughout his career. Ian worked for two years as Coordinator for Project Peacemakers, an ecumenical peace and justice non-profit in Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Ian spent the majority of his career at Bellaire-Puritas Development Corporation (now Jefferson-Puritas West Park CDC) as Mediation Coordinator and later director of Community Engagement. In that role Ian coordinated mediations between neighbors, landlords and tenants, youth and other stakeholders and also provided conflict coaching. He also supported neighborhood associations, organized community events and helped coordinate a job club at John Marshall High School focusing on career exploration. Currently Ian is an Audience Support Coordinator at Ideastream Public Media, the Cleveland affiliate of NPR, PBS and the home for WCLV the classical music station and also does freelance mediation work. Ian is a graduate of Class 10 of Neighborhood Leadership Institute and is active at St. Paul's Community Church in Ohio City as well as with the Restorative Justice Working Group in Cleveland. Ian is a graduate of Messiah University with a degree in Communications, focusing in Journalism, and took classes as a post-undergrad at the Applied Conflict Management Department at Kent State University.
David Jurca
David Jurca is Principal at Seventh Hill, an urban design consultancy focused on improving user experiences in the public realm through appropriate technology and insightful research. With over 15 years of professional experience, his work combines a deep understanding of spatial design with effective methods to include diverse community members in the co-creation process. Prior to starting Seventh Hill, David was Associate Director at Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC), where he managed client projects at a range of scales, from city-wide redevelopment plans to public art installations. David co-edited the book Coldscapes: Design Ideas for Winter Cities and his research is included in several publications, including Tactical Urbanism, Doing It Differently, and Next American City. David is Chair of the City of Cleveland's Near West Design Review Committee, which includes Tremont, Ohio City, Detroit Shoreway, Clark Fulton, and Old Brooklyn neighborhoods. He also serves as Chair on the Board of Directors for Canalway Partners. David holds a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from The Ohio State University and received a Master of Architecture from Kent State University.
Amy Korsch-Williams
Ms. Korsch-Williams, a Senior Instructor and the previous Assistant Dean of Field Education, is an independently licensed social worker with a practice background in infant and early childhood mental health and development, trauma-informed care, maternal health, child and adolescent behavioral health, and early intervention. She has 19 years of experience in both direct practice and leadership roles within child welfare, public health, community behavioral health, and academic settings. Her interests are centered in the area of trauma-informed practice and in building trauma-informed systems.
Erica Merritt
Erica Merritt (she/her/hers) is the vibrant compass of Equius. She leads Equius, creates the conditions for her team and clients to thrive, and pushes clients to have the tough conversations that are essential to reaching their desired outcome. A Gestalt-trained leader, Erica Merritt has extensive experience leveraging organizational development practices to drive change, designing, and facilitating leadership programs and applying an equity lens to create workplaces and communities that work for everyone. By skillfully creating brave spaces to explore challenging topics and have difficult conversations, Erica helps groups build trusting relationships and achieve powerful breakthroughs. As a sought-after consultant, speaker, and coach, she builds the capacity of leaders to grow personally, develop professionally and transform organizations. Erica holds a Bachelor of the Arts Degree in Public Relations from Ursuline College and a Master of the Arts Degree in Psychology with a certification in Diversity Management (NTL) from Cleveland State University. She also holds coaching certifications from the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and the Center for Credentialing Education. Before launching Equius Group, Erica served in leadership roles in the non-profit and higher education sectors.
Scott Page
Scott Page founded Interface Studio to test and develop a unique and innovative set of urban design ideas. Scott is an urban designer and planner with degrees from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design and the Georgia Institute of Technology Architecture Department including a year of study at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts in Paris. Scott has more than twenty years of diverse experience ranging from city-wide master planning to site specific design and redevelopment strategies. He has been a leader in developing innovative neighborhood plans targeted toward enhancing communication, awareness and empowerment at the community level. Scott is a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design and his research on urban design, emerging technologies and sustainability has been presented and published both in the United States and Europe.
Melvin Smith
Melvin L. Smith, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Faculty Director of Executive Education at the Case Weatherhead School of Management. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Graduate School Alliance for Education in Coaching (GSAEC). Dr. Smith received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management from the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business. He also holds a B.S. degree in General Management and Accounting from Purdue University and an MBA in Marketing from Clark-Atlanta University. Dr. Smith’s research and teaching focus on leadership and emotional intelligence in the workplace, as well as the development and use of human and social capital in organizations through executive coaching. He is co-author (with Richard Boyatzis and Ellen Van Oosten) of the book, Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth (Harvard Business Review Press). He has also served as a visiting professor at ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Spain where he co-taught a senior executive education course on emotionally intelligent leadership.
Elizabeth Voudouris
Since its founding in 1993, Elizabeth has worked at BVU to connect and engage businesses, nonprofits, and volunteers. Her work focuses on strengthening the governance and management of nonprofit organizations, facilitating board assessments, strategic planning, and merger feasibility studies. She provides governance and board leadership training to over 450 individuals annually. She serves on the boards of Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Akron Zoological Park and GCP’s Equity & Inclusion Advisory Board.