John is a career legislative program evaluator who has now headed legislative program evaluation staffs in three states over a 35 year period. The Legislative Services Commission appointed John as the first Director of the Program Evaluation Division in June 2007 following his services as Project Manager of the NC General Assembly’s Government Performance Audit Committee in 2006. John was CEO of Turcotte Public Administration Consulting and Training, LLC (TPACT) from 2003-2007. TPACT provided training and consulting for audit and other knowledge-based staffs at all levels of government. From 1996-2003, John was Director of the Florida Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA). From 1977-1995, John served as Director of Mississippi’s Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER). In Mississippi and Florida, John and his staffs produced over 750 technical reports and program evaluations. He was the National Staff Chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures in 1994. John has also been an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Mississippi College and Millsaps College and an instructor of American Government at Hinds Community College in Jackson, Mississippi. He began his career as a math and science teacher in Mississippi. He received a BA in Political Science with Highest Honors and a MA in Political Science and American Government from the University of Southern Mississippi. He completed additional study at Millsaps College, the Federal Executive Institute, Mississippi State Executive Development Institute, and the National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Staff Management Institute. In 1983, John was selected as one of the first group of Henry Toll Fellows of the Council of State Government.

Carol H. Ripple,  Principal Program Evaluator

Carol joined the Program Evaluation Division in September 2007. Previously, Carol was a Senior Research Associate at Casey Family Services in New Haven, Connecticut, where she conducted investigations in child welfare and community-based programs for disadvantaged children and families. As an Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry in the Yale University School of Medicine, she examined child-welfare systems reform, child-care workforce development, and child abuse and neglect. With 18 years’ experience, Carol is highly skilled in designing, conducting, and reporting findings from program evaluations. She has published numerous articles in scholarly journals on topics including psychosocial resilience, psychiatric epidemiology, high-school dropout, and early care and education. Carol holds a PhD in developmental psychology (1995) and a BA, summa cum laude, in psychology (1990), both from Yale University. She retains appointments as adjunct faculty in Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, faculty fellow at Yale’s Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy, and voluntary faculty at the Yale Child Study Center.

Carol came to the Program Evaluation Division in August 2007 from the NC General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division where she had worked for twenty-four years. Most recently, she was a Principal Fiscal Analyst and Team Leader for the Health and Human Services Team, and she is an acknowledged expert on the NC Medicaid Program. Carol’s policy and budgetary knowledge extends to many other departments of State government including Agriculture and Consumer Services, Commerce, Labor, Transportation, Employment Security Commission, Housing Finance Agency, Wildlife Resources Commission, State Ports Authority, and Environment and Natural Resources. With her extensive experience advising the legislature, Carol is practiced in conducting policy and program analyses. She holds a Masters of Regional Planning (1983) and BA in American Studies, summa cum laude, both from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently serving on the National Conference of State Legislatures Executive Committee and the Long Term and Chronic Care Steering Committee for the National Academy of State Health Policy.

Larry joined the Program Evaluation Division in March 2008. Larry has over 35 years of experience in progressive leadership positions with the United States Air Force and commercial entities. As president of Acumen Strategies, a private consulting firm, he provided guidance and evaluation of process re-engineering, outsourcing strategies, compliance with international quality programs and standards, and government contract management for government and commercial organizations. He is an ISO 9001-2000 Quality Management System Lead Assessor and was the Calibration Accreditation Manager for ACLASS Accreditation Services. Larry was the Senior Technical Advisor in support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) where he evaluated the Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan governments’ implementation of the USAID Metrology Accreditation Standardization-Quality (MAS-Q) initiative in Uzbekistan. Larry is a retired Colonel with the US Air Force. He received a MS in Human Resources Management from Golden State University and a BS in Aerospace from the University of Tulsa.

Pam joined the Program Evaluation Division in November 2007. Previously, she was a Manager for the Exploratory Data Analysis group within Deloitte & Touche’s National Service Center. Prior to her national position, Pam served as a Senior Consultant for the Data Quality and Integrity unit in the Pacific Southwest. Pam has extensive experience in data management, data analysis, and technical support, serving as Director of Institutional Research and Acting Director of Information Technology for the UCLA Graduate Division. In addition, she has been directly involved in the design and implementation of program evaluations for community-based organizations, foundations, educational institutions, and government agencies. Pam received a PhD in social psychology with a minor in measurement from UCLA (1998) and a BA, summa cum laude, in psychology with a minor in mathematics from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC (1993).

Michelle joined the Program Evaluation Division in November 2007. Previously, she worked at the NC Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission as a Research and Policy Associate. There she served as lead researcher for the first biennial juvenile recidivism report, which was submitted to the NC General Assembly in May 2007, and worked on prison projections and adult recidivism projects. As a Research and Evaluation Analyst with the Department of Correction she did research, program evaluation, and planning/policy development. In addition, she worked with the State Center for Health Statistics and the Center for Nursing where she was directly involved in the planning, collection, analysis, and presentation of data. Michelle has authored many reports during her work in state government and has journal publications mostly in the areas of public health and nursing workforce. She received her BA and MS in sociology from NC State University.

Kiernan joined the Program Evaluation Division in November 2007. Prior to her work at PED, she was a Project Director at the NC Institute of Medicine, an independent, quasi-state agency that was chartered by the NC General Assembly to provide balanced, nonpartisan information on issues of relevance to the health of North Carolina's population. From 2004-2006, Kiernan was a law clerk with the Nebraska Health and Human Services System where she represented the Department in administrative hearings. She received her PhD in cognitive psychology (2007) and her JD, with a concentration in healthcare law (2006), from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She has published articles in legal, medical, and psychological journals. Kiernan received her BS, cum laude, in psychology from Davidson College (2001).

Yana joined the Program Evaluation Division in October 2007. Previously, she was the Center for Naval Analyses field representative to Commanding General, Marine Corps Forces Command in Norfolk, VA. She provided on-site, real-time analysis on a range of operational issues in support of Marines, including a deployment in support of USMC operations in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. From 1999-2007, Yana was an analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), based in Alexandria VA. While at CNA she focused on a range of operational, organizational, and medical issues associated with Navy and Marine Corps operations around the world. From 1992-1999, Yana was a reporter for a variety of daily newspapers and magazines. Her work has appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Fayetteville, NC Observer-Times, the Marine Corps Times, Jane’s Defense, Black Enterprise Magazine, and Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, as well as on Voice of America radio broadcasts. Yana holds a BA in Journalism and Political Science from Indiana University at Bloomington as well as a MA in National Security Policy from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

Abby Parcell, Evaluation Research Analyst

Abby joined the Program Evaluation Division in September 2007. Her previous state government work includes a position as a policy and management analyst for the NC Department of State Treasurer, Retirement Systems Division, and as a team member on numerous UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government program evaluations. Prior to receiving her Masters of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2007), Abby worked as a coordinator of GED and adult basic education programs in North Carolina and New York. Abby also has extensive experience as an editor of university-level distance learning courses for both UNC and Brigham Young University. She received her BA in English from Brigham Young University in 2000.

Doris Gilbert, Administrative Assistant

Doris joined the Program Evaluation Division in June 2007. Prior to her work at PED, she was the Office Manager for the NC Progress Board for six years. Doris worked for state government starting in 1964 and retiring in 1995. For 17 years, she worked for NC State University in various departments. Her work at NC Public Television in Development involved all aspects of fundraising where she was the Manager of the Development Fundraising Division. Doris returned to state government in 1983 with the Department of Administration, Secretary’s Office and later, in 1995, retired from the Office of the State Controller. Since her retirement, she has continued to work part-time with the Senate Clerk’s Office and the Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary’s Office.