Board of Directors

Tony Biglan is the founder of Values to Action and an award-winning leader of worldwide efforts to evolve more nurturing societies. He earned the Award for Scientific Translation from the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Analysis in recognition of his contribution to public understanding of the power of behavioral science. Dr. Biglan’s expertise is based on 40 years of research on the treatment and prevention of psychological and behavioral problems. As a Senior Scientist at Oregon Research Institute, he has helped to identify effective family, school, and community interventions to prevent the most common and costly problems of childhood and adolescence around the world.

Founder and CEO Twenty Ideas, Mike Biglan has led the creation of transformative digital products adopted by millions of users–including an FDA-approved digital therapeutics platform, innovative AI and ML-powered RPM systems supporting physical and behavioral health, a platform built to conduct the XPRIZE $7m adult literacy prize, and more. As the former Head of Technology, Mike also led the creation of the early version of Marco Polo, an acclaimed consumer-facing video messaging/streaming app with tens of millions of downloads.

With a lifelong desire to help change the world for the better, Liz pursued science and technology as a career. She stumbled into Behavior Science by accident and felt right at home. In 2018, Liz graduated from California State University, Fresno with her masters in psychology, specializing in cultural and organizational behavior. She has long been involved in coordinating and supporting her local community through various avenues including the founding and directing of Fresno's Comic Convention (FresCon), and kick-starting organizational development services for non-profits. She currently works for CentralReach, providing software for the delivery of ABA and related therapies and serves as the volunteer coordinator for the California Association for Behavior Analysis annual conference. Liz also continues to provide consulting services for non-profit and community organizations in the California's Central Valley region.

Alison J. Szarko, M.A. (she/her) is a researcher-practitioner specializing in Organizational Behavior Management (OBM), Behavioral Systems Analysis (BSA) and Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT). She has twelve years of experience in behavioral science and practice. As an undergraduate at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), Alison was a frontline tutor in Applied Behavior Analysis clinics working with individuals with Autism and related diagnoses. During that time, she also worked in basic laboratory settings with BALB/c mice, learned about philosophical and theoretical foundations of science as a social enterprise, and began her researcher-practitioner journey in OBM, BSA, and ACT. For the past seven years, she has worked in medical settings. Specifically, by providing consultation to organizational leaders at medical schools and in healthcare systems for developing and implementing value-based strategic initiatives, identifying and measuring Key Performance Indicators, conducting process improvement initiatives, and promoting system-wide cultures of psychological well-being for healthcare workers. She is passionate about using an interdisciplinary approach to tackle the growing epidemic of healthcare provider burnout and the implications these factors have for improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare disparities. Alison received her Master’s degree in Behavior Analysis from UNR in 2019 and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in UNR’s Behavior Analysis Program under the advisement of Dr. Ramona A. Houmanfar. She is also a Performance Excellence Program Manager at Renown Health and a Board Member for Values to Action.

Katie Clawson is the Secretary at Values to Action. She has worked with Anthony Biglan for the past 10 years on various research projects at Oregon Research Institute (ORI). Katie has worked at ORI for the past 21 years. She is also the Grants Manager at Influents Innovations. Prior to joining ORI and Influents Katie worked for the Independent Development Trust in South Africa, post-apartheid, in the rural sustainability department. She also spent a number of years working in Hong Kong as a para legal for international law firms. Katie has a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Oregon.

Dr. Bonner is a Teaching Faculty in the behavior analysis program at Florida State University. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology with a concentration in Behavior Analysis from the University of Florida. Before receiving his Ph.D., he received an M.A. in Human Services Psychology with a concentration in behavior analysis from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). While at UMBC, Dr. Bonner worked on the Neurobehavioral Unit at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. He has extensive experience working with individuals with developmental disabilities in many clinical contexts. His research interests include assessing and treating severe problem behavior, skill acquisition, and verbal behavior. In addition, Dr. Bonner is engaged in several other areas of research. One area aims to evaluate interventions to enhance literacy in under-resourced schools using direct instruction. Another involves using family and home-based interventions to improve social-emotional learning and reduce challenging behavior in neurotypical learners. And a third is focused on developing small- and large-scale interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Kathryn Roose is an independent contractor working remotely in state government (in the US) while living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. She previously worked at the State of Nevada Division of Child and Family Services overseeing policy, programs, and quality assurance for the state's juvenile justice, child welfare, and children's mental health systems; and at the University of Nevada, Reno implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in juvenile justice and youth psychiatric settings and evaluating statewide school-wide PBIS implementation. She has experience providing support to families and school teams to develop behavioral systems and working with children and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Dr. Roose holds a bachelor of science degree in psychology from the University of California, San Diego, and a master of arts and doctoral degree in behavior analysis from the University of Nevada, Reno. Her current and recent research projects include an experimental analysis of cooperation in organizational settings, a conceptual analysis of the fake new phenomenon, a behavioral science perspective of nonviolent action and resistance movements, and the role of culturo-behavior science in addressing large-scale social issues.

Dr. Jomella Watson-Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science, affiliated with the Center for Community Health and Development, and the Director of the Center for Service Learning at the University of Kansas. Dr. Thompson leads the Kansas City Youth Violence Prevention Research Center, a Center for Disease Control National Center of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention. Her research has focused on behavioral-community approaches to neighborhood development, substance abuse prevention, and youth and community violence prevention. She also works with community collaboratives to examine social determinants or factors, including educational attainment and access to resources and supports, that may contribute to disparities, particularly for racial and ethnic groups and underserved communities. Dr. Thompson researches and promotes collaboration and community-academic partnerships as an approach to foster sustainable change and improvement in communities. She has examined the effects of community-based processes and behavioral-community interventions to promote mobilization and change in communities. Dr. Thompson has received numerous funding awards and co-authored articles on community capacity-building, youth and neighborhood development, and adolescent substance abuse and youth and community violence prevention.  She serves on the Executive Council for the Association of Behavior Analysis International. Dr. Thompson is as an Associate Editor with Behavior and Social Issues and on the Editorial Board of the Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning. Additionally, she is a co-founder and Principal consultant with Ad Astra Community Innovations Group. She attained a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology, a Masters of Urban Planning from the University of Kansas, and a B.A. in Urban Studies from Jackson State University.

Tommy Ashby is the Managing Director at Values to Action, where he focuses on the day-to-day operations of the organization. Tommy’s background is in Business and Advertising/Marketing. He previously worked for a large Advertising Agency in Fort Lauderdale, working in Account Service on a variety of accounts for national brands including retail, homebuilding, food service and automotive industries. He also held roles in Operations within the Account Services and Strategy departments, focusing on Consumer Insights, Research (quantitative and qualitative), and Strategic Planning. More recently, he has completed the Prosocial Facilitator training, which focuses on increasing psychological flexibility by aligning interest, supporting cooperation and achieving shared goals. Tommy has a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry with a Minor in Business Administration from Florida Atlantic University.

Dr. Vincent Chirimwami is an Associate Scientist at the Oregon Research Institute (ORI) and a member of the Congolese refugee and immigrant community in Portland, Oregon. He immigrated to the United States in 2004. In 2019, he obtained his doctoral degree in public policy and administration to realize his childhood dream. His research focuses on understanding how public policy ameliorates or perpetuates education and health disparities in communities and neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantages. Vincent is also a K-12 teacher on special assignment (TOSA) at Portland Public Schools. When he is not busy conceptualizing a research study, he likes to hang out with his children (15 and 9 years old), play games, or help with homework.

Mark Van Ryzin has conducted extensive research on social and developmental issues in childhood and adolescence encompassing both peer and family influences. In this research, he has explored the etiology and prevention of a number of behavioral and emotional problems, including bullying and violence, substance use, health-risking sexual behavior (HRSB), anxiety and depression, and obesity, as well as the development of social competence, prosocial behavior, academic engagement, and psychological adjustment. Mark is well-versed in concepts related to small-group instructional techniques, social-emotional learning, attachment theory, academic disparities, school climate, family systems, positive youth development, and restorative justice. A major component of his research is the bi-directional interface between theory and application, where theory drives the development of prevention programming, and the evaluation of prevention programs contributes to theoretical understanding of both prevention program processes and adolescent developmental pathways.

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