Debra Thompson is the President and founder of Strategy Solutions, Inc. In this position she provides strategic planning facilitation, training and planning and research project management services to organizations and communities. Prior to this position, she served as Director of Planning for Hamot Health Foundation and Corry Regional Health Systems where she was responsible for strategic planning, market research, marketing information systems, as well as affiliate and community planning support.
Throughout her tenure at Hamot, Debra had the opportunity to work with Health Care Outlook, a consortium operated by Dr. Robert Blendon, Director of the Harvard School of Public Health; Humphrey Taylor, Chairman of Lou Harris & Associates; and Ian Morrison, President of the Institute for the Future. From this and other strategic planning experiences, Debra created a unique approach to data collection, analysis and facilitation that is successful for individual organizations, systems and communities. Her project work and clients have been recognized by the International Economic Development Council, the International Association of Facilitators, US News and World Report, US Department of Health and Human Services and by the Pennsylvania Departments of Health, Welfare and Education. A graduate of Villa Maria College with a B.S. in Marketing, Debbie received her Master of Business Administration from Gannon University. She has also completed advanced training in Strategic Planning, Quantitative and Qualitative Market Research, Total Quality Management and Leadership Development, Systems Thinking & Facilitation (through affiliates of MIT) and is a 1993 graduate of Leadership Erie. She was a member of the 2003 inaugural class of the Coro Center for Civic Leadership “Women in Leadership” program in Pittsburgh, and is also a Coro Certified Trainer.
Debra is on the adjunct faculty of Duquesne University where she teaches organizational development and program development/evaluation in the Masters of Organizational Leadership program. She was also an adjunct professor at Gannon University for 10 years where she taught Strategic Planning, Research Methods and Program Development. She has also completed the BoardSource Board Governance Training program and is a trainer for the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations Standards for Excellence Program. Chosen as one of Pennsylvania’s Best 50 Women in Business 2001, she was honored as one of Erie’s “Dynamic Dozen” of Women Making History in 2003 and was a finalist for the International Stevie Award for Women in Business in 2006 in the Technology Innovator category. Debra was also a finalist for the Woman of the Year in Erie, 2008 & 2011.
As Director of Nonprofit and Community Services, Jacqui is responsible for providing leadership, organization, project management and client coordination support for training, research, planning, facilitation, organizational and program development and evaluation projects for nonprofit and community/government clients.
With an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Social Work degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Jacqui brings a depth and breadth of project management and program development experience to SSI clients. Earlier in her career, Jacqui was a Research Project Manager at SSI where she was responsible for developing, implementing, analyzing and reporting primary and secondary research projects in all industry sectors and facilitating program development initiatives. Her significant accomplishments include the establishment of the Success by Six program in Erie County and work on the development of the program outcomes measurement and evaluation process for GECAC’s Even Start Program, which was recognized by the PA Department of Education as a best practice.
Prior to returning to Strategy Solutions, Jacqui held the position of Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant for the Northwest Regional Key in Pennsylvania. In that role she facilitated training programs for early care and education providers in addition to coordinating services for children and families. Jacqui also held progressively responsible positions for the Achievement Center, first as Therapeutic Staff Support, team leader assistant, team leader and behavioral specialist consultant, where she was responsible for developing and overseeing the Summer Autism Program.
She has also been a Research Analyst with the Mercyhurst Civic Institute in Erie, where she provided the primary research management including data entry, analysis in SPSS or Excel, graphing results, report drafting, and preparing presentations, conducted secondary research via web and journal searches and compiled reports on topics relevant to local community organizations.
As Director, Research, Evaluation & Strategy for Strategy Solutions, Inc., Toni is responsible for the design, development and implementation of community needs assessments and other projects and is the Director of SSI’s Pittsburgh office. Toni completed her undergraduate education in Psychology at Slippery Rock University and received her doctoral degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Louisville
Prior to joining the SSI team, Toni has held research and evaluation, teaching, and leadership positions in health care systems located in Louisville, Kentucky, Houston, Texas and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After completing her doctoral course work, she took a position in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at University of Louisville School of Medicine where she served as Research Manager for physician-led research projects. An offer extended to her husband led to a move to Houston, Texas where Toni took a faculty position in the Residency Department of the Department of Family and Community Medicine with the University of Texas Medical Center. Her primary focus during this time was working with Family Medicine residents to develop doctor-patient relationship skills. She also provided allied health services to patients who were hospitalized or received care through the Department’s outpatient clinic system.
Toni returned to Pennsylvania in 2000 and accepted a position with Adagio Health in Pittsburgh. She was with Adagio Health for 11 years serving as Associate Director and later Vice President for Applied Research. She led the Department in its efforts to evaluate the agency’s programs and services, identify health care needs for those living in Adagio Health’s 23-county service region, conduct federal, state, and foundation supported research, and provide evaluations services for other nonprofits in Pennsylvania. Toni serves on the Board of Directors for Conservation Consultants, Inc. She served as Co-Chair for the Girls Coalition of Southwestern Pennsylvania from 2008 to 2010. Toni was an inaugural member of the Pennsylvania State Licensing and Ethics Board for Massage Therapy created in 2009. She is a member of Leadership Pittsburgh XXV graduating class.
As a Project Manager with Strategy Solutions, Inc, Courtney is responsible for providing research, business planning, program development, and grant writing support for client projects. Additionally, Courtney works to support the various Industry Partnerships that SSI acts as facilitator to and helps connect them to opportunities to further the workforce development system in Northwest PA.
Prior to joining SSI, Courtney worked as a Sponsored Programs Administrator at Kent State University in the Research and Sponsored Programs Office where she facilitated the submission of research grants between KSU faculty members and federal agencies. She also worked at Youngstown State University managing two federally funded research projects including a $911,050 Department of Defense, Army Research grant for the development of the YSU Cyber-Enabled Industrial Innovation Center and an Ohio Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration grant to establish the Center for Transportation and Materials Engineering.
Courtney graduated summa cum laude from Kent State University with a bachelor’s degree in Technology. In 2007, she completed The Grantsmanship Training Program, which covered planning and developing fundraising programs, researching funding sources, writing grant proposals, and conducting stewardship responsibilities. In 2010, she attended the National Council of University Research Administrators’ “Fundamentals of Sponsored Project Administration” workshop covering the preparation and review of proposals, negotiation and acceptance of awards, financial and administrative management, closeout and audit, as well as federal compliance issues. Courtney has also obtained advanced certification in Microsoft Excel and Word.
As one of SSI’s Project Coordinators, Melissa is responsible for keeping client projects on track through exceptional organization and communication. She works with both internal Project managers and external clients to ensure that deliverables are being met in a comprehensive and timely manner. Additionally, she acts as support to SSI marketing efforts and business management functions.
Prior to beginning with SSI, Melissa held a variety of positions across multiple industries demonstrating her capacity to provide comprehensive support for executive level staff and became adept at developing and maintaining client relationships. Working as both marketing coordinator and an executive assistant at Howard Industries in Erie, PA, Melissa had a proven track record of accurately completing tasks including reporting, scheduling and research.
Before her work at Howard Industries, Melissa was located various locations in Southern Florida and New York, NY and held positions such as advertising services manager and marketing assistant. In conjunction to her work with SSI, she is pursuing adegree in Human Resources at Mercyhurst College.
As Business Manager, Diane supports the functional business operations of Strategy Solutions through organized systems and management activities, thereby sustaining the lifeline of the business. Diane provides office management and project coordination support for internal and client-related projects, oversees and maintains the back office operations of the company including but not limited to financial management, grant and loan documentation processes, bookkeeping, accounts receivable, accounts payable, administrative support, human resources and benefits administration, and is responsible for business and office operations in the absence of the CEO.
Prior to joining Strategy Solutions, Diane held the position of Administrative Assistant for United Moving & Storage / Records Management supporting management, operations, sales and accounting personnel in developing an operations locator system, sales client information database, maintained departmental inventories, and procedures, event scheduler, handled DMV and PA Criminal History Background reporting, dispatch support and consolidation of vehicle maintenance files. 
Diane also worked in several Executive Secretarial positions at the City of Erie School District, working for Federal Programs and Special Education Departments in collecting and presentation of questionnaire data, county and state reporting for fund reimbursements, working with county school offices, agencies, doctors, counselors, psychologists, principals and home and school visitors on statistical reporting requirements.
James is a project coordinator intern with Strategy Solutions where he focuses on support services and secondary research for several of our clients. James is currently a senior at Penn State Behrend and is working on earning dual degrees in Marketing and Management.
In addition to his work at SSI, James is also a Research Assistant at Penn State where he recently developed a research study centering around creativity and its manifestation in new products. James designed the research framework, conducted extensive literature review, gathered primary data by conducting focus groups and in-depth interviews, and analyzed data by transcribing and coding. He will be presenting his research at the 2012 Delta Xi Undergraduate Research Conference in Spring of 2012.
Prior to his work at Strategy Solutions, James was a certified Apple Product Professional working in Best Buy where he was responsible for developing and maintaining customer relationships.
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