As Manager of System Design and Development at Focus Strategies, Vanessa oversees and leads a variety of complex projects for our client communities. She works with our clients to analyze their homeless systems and develop solutions, conducts research on best practices in the field, analyzes information sources, authors reports, and facilitates stakeholder input processes.
Vanessa has over a decade of experience working in both local government and non-profit organizations to transform homelessness and behavioral health systems in communities. Prior to joining Focus Strategies, she served as an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration; as the Director of Homeward 2020, a local initiative to make homelessness rare, short-lived, and non-recurring in Fort Collins, Colorado; and as the Director of the Denver Office of Drug Strategy. She also has experience consulting on a variety of homelessness and housing plans and programs, including developing a governance structure for a new Continuum of Care and overseeing the process to submit their first application for HUD funding. Vanessa has a PhD in Public Affairs from the University of Colorado – Denver and a Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Kansas.