Staff, Authors & Trainers

Rick Brown, Business Development Director
Pamela Evanston, Training Manager

Leslie Finlay, OCF Project Coordinator

Kris Hallenburg, Author & Trainer

Ellen Hyman, Author

Laura Backen Jones, Author & Trainer

Linda Reilly, Author

Connie Rose, Sales & Marketing Manager

Juvata Rusch, Author & Trainer

Minalee Saks, Executive Director, Author & Trainer

Mika Singer, Managing Director

Biographies

Rick Brown–Since its inception in December of 2003, Rick has been the Business Development Director for Parenting Now!  This division of Birth To Three is responsible for the dissemination of all curricula, training ,and products owned, operated, and or copyrighted by Birth To Three.  With executive experience in motion picture finance, public relations, marketing and global manufacturing, Rick has a diverse business background and helps to shape and direct our social enterprise.

Pamela Evanston, BA in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Education and Psychology, joined Birth To Three in 2001 as a Parent Educator in the Parenting: The First Three Years program. Since then, she has held various positions including Children's Program Coordinator, Project Coordinator of the Spanish Adaptation of Make Parenting A Pleasure curriculum, and is currently the Training Manager, as well as a Trainer and Consultant. Prior to coming to Birth To Three, Pamela spent six years teaching preschool. She and her husband have two children.

Leslie Finlay holds a Master's Degree in Special Education with an emphasis on Early Childhood Intervention. She has 15 years experience working individually and in groups with teen parents, parents in recovery from alcohol and other drug abuse, court-mandated families, incarcerated mothers, parents and children with special needs, families experiencing domestic violence, and families in the general population. Leslie has provided on-going early intervention and early childhood special education services to children with special needs. She has designed and conducted trainings in behavior management and working with challenging children to foster parents and preschool teachers around the state and for students at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College in Eugene. At Birth To Three, Leslie has functioned as a Parent Educator for Make Parenting A Pleasure, First Three Years, and on the Parent HelpLine, and was a writer on the Parenting: The First Three Years curriculum project. Currently, she manages the First Three Years Program, coordinates the Oregon MPAP/P:F3Y Project, and conducts trainings for both curricula. Leslie is the mother of two delightful daughters.

Kris Hallenburg, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who served as a program manager for Birth To Three for two years and is an author of the Parenting Now! curriculum. Kris currently works as an outpatient psychologist for PeaceHealth Medical Group and is an instructor in the clinical counseling program at Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Oregon. Kris has worked in the mental health field for more than 13 years, 7 of which were in American Samoa. Kris has extensive cross-cultural experience and particular interest in parenting and prevention issues. She is the mother of three children and one grandchild.

Ellen Hyman received her MA degree in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, California. She was hired in 1987 to direct the Teen Parent program and began writing grants in 1989. She also served as Development Director. Ellen’s professional background includes seven years as an early childhood specialist at a Los Angeles Child Care Center and a private practice as a marriage, family, and child counselor. She taught human sexuality and counseled teenagers at the US Naval base in Rota, Spain, for a year before moving with her husband to Oregon.

Laura Backen Jones, PhD, is a researcher and practitioner concerned with the well-being of children and families. She began with Birth To Three in 1998 as a Parent Educator for the First Three Years program and is a co-author of Parenting: The First Three Years curriculum. Laura's research focuses on the design of effective intervention programs for families and schools. She has a PhD in developmental psychology and has worked for over 15 years providing individual and group-based parent training interventions to families of children from infancy through adolescence. Dr. Jones currently coordinates and delivers a community-based parent education program that serves over 500 families each year. Laura lives in Eugene, Oregon with her three children: Gwen, Kate, and Nick.

Linda Reilly, MSW, worked at the Graduate School of Social Work at Portland State University as an Assistant Field Director. In this capacity, she developed placements for student practicum and serves as a student advisor overseeing students’ educational programs. She is serving as consultant to Portland State’s statewide MSW program. Linda has worked as a counselor with children and families through Dartmouth College’s rural outreach program in New Hampshire and as a family therapist while she lived in Eugene, Oregon. Linda was a Make Parenting A Pleasure program facilitator from 1986 to 1988. Linda and her husband have two children who consistently challenge and deepen their understanding of what it means to be parents.

Connie Rose, is our Sales Manager. She has extensive experience in customer relations, human resources, benefit management, and sales. She is a member of our entrepreneurial marketing/sales team. She and her husband are the co-directors of their own humanitarian aid organization based in Kiev, Ukraine. She has two children and two grandchildren, which bring her immeasurable joy.

Juvata Rusch, MA, MS, joined the Birth To Three staff in 1981 and has held many positions, including Parent Educator and Group Program Manager. She developed the Birth To Three Toddler Program in 1984, which evolved into the Wonderful ONEs and Terrific TWOs in 1998. She is currently a trainer and consultant for the organization. In addition to Parenting: The First Three Years, she is also an author of the Parenting Now! and Make Parenting A Pleasure curricula. Juvata has worked with parents and children for over 40 years, first as a preschool director and parent educator in Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. With Master's degrees in both child development and counseling psychology, she has taught child development on the college level. Juvata is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice. She and her husband, Chuck, have four grown children, Mark, Jeff, Laren, and Leslie, all of whom have been a source of satisfaction and inspiration for her work.

Minalee Saks, MS, is a founder and Executive Director of Birth To Three. She helped develop many of Birth To Three's programs and is the primary author of the Make Parenting A Pleasure and Parenting Now! curricula. Minalee has been an advocate for parenting programs and child abuse prevention, helping to create the Children's Trust Fund in Oregon. Minalee has partnered in a collaboration between Birth To Three and Holt International Children's Programs in Romania to adapt Make Parenting A Pleasure curriculum into Romanian to help prevent child abandonment. She also traveled to Romania to consult on the implementation of the curriculum.

Minalee received her MS degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin at Madison where she was a Teacher Corps Intern working with Native American children and their families in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. After moving to Oregon she taught elementary school. Minalee has two sons who continually remind her of the pleasures and challenges of parenting, and her experiences as a grandmother add depth, perspective and delight to her understanding of child rearing.

Mika Singer,