Our Team

Executive Team

Mike Shaver

President & Chief Executive Officer

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Mike Shaver

President & Chief Executive Officer

A longtime advocate for children and a recognized leader in the child welfare field, Mike Shaver believes in strategic collaboration and in using research, evidence and data to develop, deliver and analyze innovative practices and programs to ensure children and families receive only effective, quality services. Mike has extensive experience in developing collective impact strategies. Mike served as the President & CEO of Children’s Home Society of Florida from 2014 to 2019.

He joined the agency after seven years as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Brightpoint. Mike worked for the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services from 1998 to 2003, serving in a variety of roles including the Deputy Director of Budget, Research and Planning. His work included performance-based contracting for community-based, non-profit agencies, federal waiver demonstrations, and the redesign of intensive treatment and placement stabilization services across the state for children with serious emotional disturbances. These and other reforms were instrumental in reducing, by half, the number of Illinois children in foster care.

He earned a MA in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy and a BA in Political Science from Colorado College.

Mario Perez

Chief Operating Officer

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Mario Perez

Chief Operating Officer

Mario Perez is a seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience driving organizations and initiatives that empower families and expand impact to communities. As the COO of Brightpoint, Mario will be responsible for implementing a comprehensive business strategy that ensures programs and services positively impact children, youth, and families throughout Illinois. 

Prior to joining our team, Mario served as the Executive Director of El Hogar Del Nino, where he spearheaded critical initiatives to connect families from underserved communities, in particular Pilsen and Little Village, with essential resources like early education, childcare, and mental health counseling. During his tenure, Mario guided the organization through a period of remarkable growth, delivering an impressive 125% increase in revenue over 10 years. 

Mario also brings extensive consulting experience to the table, having conducted strategic assessments, developed grants, and established organization-wide policies and best practices. His expertise has been sought by top organizations and even the State of Colorado, where he played a pivotal role in shaping the Governor’s vision for education and healthcare policy. 

Mario is a graduate of the University of Colorado, where he earned his BA in History, and the University of Chicago, where he earned his MA in Public Policy. He has also served as a founding board member of Illinois Latino Agenda and holds board positions with the Illinois Network of Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA), Illinois Head Start Association, and Language Empowers All People.

Jan Stepto-Millett

Chief of Staff

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Jan Stepto-Millett

Chief of Staff

Jan Stepto-Millett joined Brightpoint in 2011 as Vice President of Early Childhood Services. In September 2018 she was appointed Interim Chief Operating Officer and from July 2019 through March 2023 she officially assumed the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Jan’s professional career spans 30 years of committed service to improve the lives of children and families in the not-for-profit, public and private sectors. Before returning to her native Chicago in 2003, Jan lived in Boston, Massachusetts and Kalamazoo, Michigan where she worked for Abt Associates as an Evaluation Assistant, Lena Park Community Development Corporation as the Deputy Director, Kalamazoo Public Schools as the Special Assistant to the Superintendent of Schools and Child Care Resources as the Executive Director.

Upon returning to Chicago, she served as Chief Operating Officer of Centers for New Horizons in the Bronzeville community and District Director for Child Development at City Colleges of Chicago. During her tenure as Vice President for Early Childhood Services, the Early Childhood program grew in numbers from 550 to over 800 children, with increased federal and state support.

Jan holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Social Work from Atlanta University. She has completed coursework in management at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and as a Fellow with the Loyola School of Business Administration’s Executive Leadership Program. Jan was also a McCormick Foundation Community Fellow at Loyola University Center for Urban Research and Learning, and an Emerging Leader in the Bank of America National Neighborhood Leadership Excellence Program.

Angelica Stapert

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

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Angelica Stapert

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Angelica Stapert has nearly 20 years of experience in accounting in the healthcare, education, and nonprofit sectors. Angelica comes to Brightpoint from the Noble Network of Charter Schools, where she demonstrated her ability as a Controller. During her time at the Noble Network of Charter Schools, Stapert successfully closed financial deals ranging from $22 million to $30 million for the construction of new schools. She also served as Vice President/Treasurer on the Noble Network Education Foundation Board.

Added to this relevant experience is Angelica’s familiarity with the human services sector, including leadership roles at Erie Family Health Center and Heartland Health Center. Angelica’s love for mission driven organizations started early in career where she served as an audit manager at one of the largest auditing firms in the world, Ernst & Young, where she relished working with clients making a difference like La Rabida Children’s Hospital, Franciscan Services Corporation, and the Ronald McDonald House Charities, among others.

Angelica earned a MA in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame and a BA in Accounting from Loyola University.

Sean Soun

Chief People Officer

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Sean Soun

Chief People Officer

Sean Soun has over 15 years of experience transforming organizational cultures, advancing the principals of equity, diversity and inclusion and driving organizational change as a senior human resources executive.

Sean has dedicated the majority of his career to the non-profit and public sectors, joining Brightpoint from the Legal Aid Society (LAS) in New York City. As the Chief Human Resources Officer at LAS, Sean worked collaboratively with the senior executive team and unions in maintaining and affirming the organization’s commitment as a progressive, antiracist and inclusive workplace of choice. Sean was responsible for reimagining LAS’s human resources approach, culture, structure, and policies that supported and guided the work of 2,200 employees across 29 locations. His leadership was instrumental in securing LAS as the premier home for those engaged in the pursuit of equal justice in New York City. Sean was the Assistant Commissioner, Human Resources, for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) for four years where he oversaw critical areas of the agency’s equity, diversity and inclusion efforts. At HPD, Sean developed an employee retention plan, internal training program and a promotion selection process which reduced overall employee turnover. He co-created a diversity hiring initiative to share a talent pipeline across four City agencies.

Sean earned a MS in Human Resources Management and Development from New York University and a BAS in Social Science with an emphasis on Law from the University of Washington.

Paula Corrigan-Halpern

Chief External Affairs Officer

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Paula Corrigan-Halpern

Chief External Affairs Officer

Paula Corrigan-Halpern has more than 25 years of experience of leading statewide advocacy efforts and building public support for innovative practices and policies that improve the health, education, and well-being of children and families.

Paula has led Brightpoint’s Ahlquist Center for Policy, Practice & Innovation since 2013. The Ahlquist Center advances program innovations and public policies that are antiracist, equitable and directed at creating social capital, economic mobility and systems designed to insure thriving children, families and communities. The Ahlquist Center team has passed legislation providing child care to families of young children exposed to neglect or abuse and establishing the Governor’s Youth Budget Commission. The Youth Budget Commission analyzes public spending for older youth and young adults and recommends policies and funding strategies to enable young people to enter adulthood with the skills, education and agency to build exceptional lives. Programs incubated by the Ahlquist Center include the Illinois Pregnant and Parenting Youth in Care (IPPYC) Home Visiting pilot and the Power of Fathers program.

Prior to joining Brightpoint, Paula was the policy advocacy director at Voices for Illinois Children where she worked closely with staff, partner organizations, and community leaders to create effective policy solutions and champion Voices’ advocacy agenda in Springfield. She has also worked on family economic security issues, afterschool initiatives, and K-12 education, directing communications for the Education, Human Development, and Workforce Division at American Institutes for Research. Paula directed the state policy agenda for Metropolitan Family Services and worked as a journalist early in her career.

Paula has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a master’s degree from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.

Sara Irmen

Chief Advancement Officer

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Sara Irmen

Chief Advancement Officer

Sara Irmen has over 23 years of nonprofit and fundraising experience. As the Chief Advancement Officer, Sara is responsible for creating, leading and implementing an integrated resource development and advancement strategy to build the organization’s visibility, impact, and financial resources. Sara and her team raise funds from private philanthropic contributions and public/private partnerships and engage volunteer leadership to support Brightpoint’s annual operating budget, campaign goals and strategic initiatives. Sara’s experience involves oversight of every facet of fundraising and involvement in four major campaigns, ranging from $2M to $75M.

Her professional training as a social worker and early childhood teacher, combined with expertise in fundraising, have converged in her work at Brightpoint and fueled a track record of success. Prior to joining Brightpoint in 2006, Sara raised funds for the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and worked in Chicago as a lead Head Start teacher at Howard Area Community Center and as a foster care case manager for ChildServ.

Sara received a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University.

Jennifer Swain

Executive Assistant to the CEO

 

Jennifer Swain

Executive Assistant to the CEO

Leadership Team

Amanda Whitlock

Senior Vice President, Child Welfare & Behavioral Health Services

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Amanda Whitlock

Senior Vice President, Child Welfare & Behavioral Health Services

Amanda Whitlock oversees Intact, Extended Family, and Foster Care Contracts statewide. She also oversees the clinical service delivery of counseling to youth and families in foster care, youth and families utilizing Medicaid and Managed Care Medicaid to access office based and school site based behavioral health counseling, and our Residential Program in Evanston.   Amanda began providing oversight, management of staff, and developing programming for youth and families starting in 2000.   She has worked within the medical, community, nonprofit and private sectors of social services within the Chicago metropolitan area.

Amanda’s experiences include direct care with adjudicated youth, youth who are homeless, youth in residential treatment, youth in care, medically hospitalized youth, and youth and adults who present to the emergency room with suicidal, homicidal, and psychotic symptoms. Amanda began her private practice specializing in providing individual and family therapy for children, adolescents and families in 2005.

Amanda obtained her Master of Social Work (MSW) with a concentration in Child and Family Clinical Social Work from Loyola University. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Bachelors in Sociology and an Associate’s Degree in Community Conflict Resolution from North Central College. In addition to being a LCSW, Amanda also maintains her Illinois Type 73 Certification, which allows her to practice within a school setting.

Mendy Smith

Vice President, Central Region

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Mendy Smith

Vice President, Central Region

Mendy Smith has over 20 years of experience in child and family services at Brightpoint. As the Central Region Vice President for Brightpoint, Mendy is responsible for the over site of all aspects of the region including program development and overall program management. She also participates in community collaborative human service networks and develops and partners with other agency leaders in reducing gaps of services and accessing opportunities of growth to additional service populations.

Mendy’s background in prevention services includes working with award-winning home visiting programs such as Healthy Families, Parents as Teachers, Doula Programs, and Safe from the Start, and parent group services. Prior to her assuming the role as Center Director, Mendy worked in a wide range of roles for Brightpoint including as an infant childcare teacher, Parents Care & Share Illinois regional coordinator, and Program Manger over home visiting services. Mendy has worked with the National Fatherhood Initiative and serves on local task forces for fatherhood involvement. She has also presented at local, state and national conferences on the topic of prevention services.

Mendy has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Missouri and master’s degree in social work from Illinois State University.

Renae Storey

Vice President, Southern Region

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Renae Storey

Vice President, Southern Region

Renae Storey has been employed by Brightpoint for over 40 years and is an experienced leader within the Metro East community area and throughout the state. She has been successful in helping to develop and implement a continuum of community-based Youth Services at Brightpoint and throughout the communities served throughout Southern Illinois.

Renae serves on the Board of Directors for the St. Clair County Child Advocacy Center. She is a founding member of the St. Clair County Youth Coalition and of East Side Aligned where she serves on the Leadership Council. Ms. Storey is responsible for administration, planning and directing all aspects of service delivery in the region. She reports to the Chief Operating Officer, and directly supervises Program Directors and other key Regional staff. Renae is a licensed clinical professional counselor.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Eastern Illinois University and a Master of Science in Counseling and Community Development from Southern Illinois University.

Sarah Saran

Associate Vice President, Statewide Intact Family Services

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Sarah Saran

Associate Vice President, Statewide Intact Family Services

Sarah Saran oversees operations, training, and staff for our intact teams within Chicago and the northern, central, and southern regions of Illinois as well as our Extended Family Support Program in Metro and the southern region, and our Child Welfare Service Referral Program in northern Cook County. Sarah has served in her current role since 2020, assessing community needs to develop and execute program plans in alignment with our strategic initiatives and Blueprint. She represents our agency on the Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) policy creation team, providing guidance to the Department on policy and practice. 

Prior to joining Brightpoint, Sarah spent four years at the Children’s Home Association of Illinois, first as an Intact Family Services Supervisor and then as the Director of Intact Family Services. She oversaw operations, training, and staff, in addition to collaborating with families. During her time there, Sarah developed strategic relationships with community providers, court systems, DCFS, and other agencies. She participated in external groups such as the Intact Child Welfare Advisory Council to DCFS, Illinois State University Community Advisory Board, and the Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) subcommittee. Sarah’s experience includes time at the Center for Youth and Family Solutions where she supervised a combined team of placement and intact workers, led operations for her department, partnered with families, and advocated for children and families’ best interest to DCFS and the Juvenile Court system. While serving as a Foster Care Family Worker at the Center for Youth and Family Solutions, Sarah participated in court hearings, home visits, and other assessments to support families in their reunification, and engaged with service providers as well as legal and medical professionals to connect families with support. 

Sarah received a Master of Social Work and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Illinois State University. 

Seth Baker

Vice President of People & Culture

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Seth Baker

Vice President of People & Culture

Seth comes to us with over 10 years of progressive human resources experience.  He started his HR career as a human resources coordinator in the private industry.  In his most recent role at Malcom X College, he served as the Director of Human Resources with all HR functions reporting up to him.

During his career, he’s managed almost every aspect of HR, including talent acquisition and management, culture, training and development, succession planning, technology, data, benefits and leave management, and labor and employee relations.

Seth has a passion for our mission and vision since it aligns with his personal beliefs. He also brings a service-orientated and collaborate leadership style.  He received his Master of Public Administration from DePaul University, School of Public Service.

In his free time, he loves to travel and take weekend trips to visit family in Ohio.

Lynsey Sloan

Associate Vice President, Statewide Foster Care

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Lynsey Sloan

Associate Vice President, Statewide Foster Care

Lynsey Sloan has nearly 15 years of experience in foster care and adoption at numerous child and family organizations throughout Illinois. As the Associate Vice President of Statewide Foster Care, Lynsey directs and oversees daily operations of foster care and works to represent Brightpoint to funders, social service organizations and other community groups.

Lynsey first began her work with Brightpoint in 2007 as a Child Specialist with the Crisis Nursery in Bloomington. She transitioned to an Adoption Specialist in the Metro Region the following year and left in 2011 to pursue supervisory opportunities. Lynsey then worked at ChildServ, now Kids Above All, through 2020 and most recently served as their Senior Director of Foster Care and Clinical Services.

Lynsey has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Illinois Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in social work from Illinois State University. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Nicole Wegner

Vice President of Public Policy, Strategy & Analytics

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Nicole Wegner

Vice President of Public Policy, Strategy & Analytics

Nikki Wegner has over 15 years of experience in strategy, operations, public policy, advocacy, and analytics.

Nikki came from Deloitte Consulting where she worked in their Government & Public Services practice for 8 years focusing on delivering large-scale Health and Human Service transformation projects for local and state agencies and the federal government.  After working with Brighpoint as a client, she was so inspired by the mission of the organization and its vision for Illinois’ children, youth, and families she joined the organization in 2021.

Nikki previously interned at Illinois Partners for Human Service, worked in political communications consulting and issue advocacy for GMMB, and doing fundraising for the Congressional re-election campaign of now Senator Tammy Baldwin.

Nikki earned her Masters of Public Policy from the Harris School at the University of Chicago and her BA in Political Science and International Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For fun, Nikki enjoys cooking gourmet meals for friends and family, running and biking on her Peloton, and traveling as much as she can.

Eric Brenner

Director of Information Systems

 

Eric Brenner

Director of Information Systems

Alex Gallegos

Director of Strategic Communications

 

Alex Gallegos

Director of Strategic Communications

Houri Gueyikian

Director of Finance

 

Houri Gueyikian

Director of Finance

Tiffanny Powell

Family Support Services Program Director

 

Tiffanny Powell

Family Support Services Program Director

Ellen Ross

Director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) and Quality Improvement

 

Ellen Ross

Director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) and Quality Improvement

Our Program Leads

Administration

Torrey Beasley

Associate Director of Contract Management

 

Torrey Beasley

Associate Director of Contract Management

Amanda Brown

Research Director

 

Amanda Brown

Research Director

Lucy Cardenas

Director of Institutional Advancement

 

Lucy Cardenas

Director of Institutional Advancement

Kari Daniel

Director of Talent Acquisition & Retention

 

Kari Daniel

Director of Talent Acquisition & Retention

Shelby Edwards

Director of Leadership Giving

 

Shelby Edwards

Director of Leadership Giving

Michael Freund

Director of Financial Planning & Analysis

 

Michael Freund

Director of Financial Planning & Analysis

Richard Johnson

Director of Finance Special Projects

 

Richard Johnson

Director of Finance Special Projects

Maureen Kelly

Director of Individual Giving

 

Maureen Kelly

Director of Individual Giving

Emily Kropp

Director of Public Funding

 

Emily Kropp

Director of Public Funding

Michaela Meckel

Director of Performance Analytics

 

Michaela Meckel

Director of Performance Analytics

Shannon Ring

Senior Director of Development

 

Shannon Ring

Senior Director of Development

 
Parent Support

Jaime Russell

Program Director

 

Jaime Russell

Program Director

 
 
 
Child Welfare

Rebecca Stone

Program Director

 

Rebecca Stone

Program Director

Loni Wilson

Program Director

 

Loni Wilson

Program Director

 
 
Mental Health & Wellness

Julia Noobler

Program Director

 

Julia Noobler

Program Director

Lori Poppen

Program Director

 

Lori Poppen

Program Director

 
 
Early Childhood & Education

Rayshonda McElroy

Director of Education & Child Development Services

 

Rayshonda McElroy

Director of Education & Child Development Services

Stacy Mirro

Director of Child and Family Services

 

Stacy Mirro

Director of Child and Family Services

Janice Moenster

Director of Early Childhood Services

 

Janice Moenster

Director of Early Childhood Services

Sharyl Robin

Director of Training and Contracts

 

Sharyl Robin

Director of Training and Contracts

Youth Services

Linda White

Program Director

 

Linda White

Program Director

 
 
 

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