Jennifer Pohlhaus
Chief Operating Officer

How did you join Ripple Effect? 

After my AAAS Science & Technology Policy fellowship, I was looking for my next career step. A colleague mentioned that I should talk to Amy Bielski from Ripple Effect, a company I had heard positive things about. I contacted Amy and we hit it off right away. I started off by managing an NIH contract that Ripple Effect had recently won, and after that project was over, there was always another new and exciting challenge to overcome—that satisfied my need for learning and achieving.

What do you think is your biggest strength as a leader? 

When I took the CliftonStrengths assessment, I was a little surprised by the results. My top five strengths are Achiever, Relator, Responsibility, Harmony, and Learner. My husband says I have the most patience of anyone he knows and I think that comes from the Relator and Harmony strengths. I’ve learned that taking the time to understand and see situations from multiple perspectives is key to connecting with others and solving problems.

What do you do in your free time? 

I don’t have a lot of free time since most of my time outside of work is spent taking care of my kids. But I make time every morning to be active—I’m an avid runner and I do yoga on the weekends. 

What are you proudest of in your career? 

I am proudest of what Amy and I have built at Ripple Effect. We’ve created a place that welcomes diversity and values lifelong learners who always want to find better ways to do things. 

Deborah Sartin
Director of Project Management Office

Deborah Sartin, Director of the Project Management Office, for Ripple Effect Communications, Inc. brings 15+ Years’ professional experience developing PMOs from inception to service delivery.  She is an accomplished leader managing enterprise technical and business projects for federal, corporate, education and non-profit organizations.  

Created and managed an Office of Business Excellence and several PMO Centers of Excellence to drive organizational maturity in strategic planning, process improvement, quality management, contract management, and project portfolio management  

Ms. Sartin received her M.S. in Management Information Systems from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.  

Ms. Sartin holds CMMI Associate, ISO Certified Auditor, PMP, CSM, SAFe SM, Prosci, ITIL, CIPM, and Balance Scorecard certifications.

Early Work History  

1990s  

Ms. Sartin worked as a federal contractor to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) managing technical support and training.  She also managed technical support and training for Mead Packaging, a global manufacturing company.  In addition, she worked as a Project Manager for an international telecommunication firm, Global One where she launched call centers in the Americas. She has a breadth of experience in all aspects of technology services, shifting organizations from traditional service models to innovative transformational models.  

Recent Work History  

2000-2012  

Ms. Sartin managed projects in the banking industry and worked as a business process improvement analyst for a telecommunications firm.  In these roles she developed metrics to improve IT staff performance as well as processes and procedures for organizational efficiencies. She served as a Technology Support Manager for T-Mobile’s global call center. She delivered the best customer experience via outstanding customer relationship management.  She also worked as an account executive and technical recruiter for Robert Half Technology. Ms. Sartin is frequently requested as a guest speaker and trainer on project management and organizational change management topics.  

Current Work History  

In 2012, Ms. Sartin joined the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) as their inaugural Project Management Office (PMO) Director. From the success of this role, she was promoted to the role of Director, Office of Business Excellence to lead strategic planning, process improvement and project portfolio management. After her tenure at ASHA, Ms. Sartin developed and expanded PMOs at educational institutions including West Virginia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Success Academy Charter Schools in NYC, and the Univ. of TN Health Science Center.  She also provided Project Management consultation services with a global consulting firm where she helped clients establish Agile project management best practices.  

Debbie McCarron
Deputy Director of Communications and Outreach

Debra McCarron has professional experience in strategic communications, project management, outreach and event planning, as well distance learning. She is the project manager for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network which involves the creation of materials such as fact sheets, infographics, white papers, Power Point reports, videos and learning modules and she has managed graphics teams in all aspects of the design process from conception to development to final production. Previously, she co-owned Quality Design Solutions, a full-service company specializing in web design and marketing as well as database development for non-profit and small business. She also has experience in community marketing and facilities management. Ms. McCarron helped brand and grow a small business to over $1.5 million per year where she assisted in the day to day operations of three facility sites including budget, human resources, facilities management, and internal and external communication. She has experience in WordPress, the Adobe Creative suite and has become versed in 508 compliance. Ms. McCarron received her Bachelors of Science in Biology from Virginia Tech. Her early experience in basic research at both Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Cambridge Biotech was to support grants from the NIH. She also has over 4 years of experience in clinical research performed at the University of Maryland, Department of Cardiology, where she worked with Interventionist developing IIb/IIIa inhibitors. 

Asher Beckwitt
Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation

Dr. Karen “Asher” Beckwitt received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from American University, with a specialization in qualitative methods. Dr. Beckwitt has consulted on over 5,000 qualitative and mixed-methods projects in health, medicine, education, and related areas. She has experience leading large and small multi-method research and evaluation projects and manages all aspects of these projects including research design, instrument design, sampling and recruitment, quantitative and qualitative data collection, data analysis, dissemination (peer-review publications, technical reports, and presentations), project timelines, and budgets. During her time with Ripple Effect, Dr. Beckwitt has led components of several multi-method evaluations of NIH biomedical research programs for NIAID. She also managed four public comment analysis projects for CMS, supervising teams of up to 40 policy analysts and overseeing training, task coordination, quality assurance, and client communication. Prior to joining Ripple Effect, Dr. Beckwitt worked as the Lead Qualitative Research Consultant for her own research company and as the Qualitative Analysis Research Consultant for George Mason University, where she created a qualitative service for the entire university community. Dr. Beckwitt has authored or co-authored 37 technical reports, 6 peer-reviewed articles, and a book chapter. She has delivered over 40 presentations at professional conferences to present research findings and to train researchers in qualitative methods and software. She is proficient in Dedoose and an expert trainer in NVivo software systems used to organize qualitative data.