principal partners
Melanie Roberts
PMP, Prosci
Queen of Getting Things Done
What she does: Business consulting and quality assurance services to help leaders and teams succeed; delivering detailed analysis and assessments while not losing sight of the big picture.
Happy Place: Making a difference for our clients by finding solutions to problems facing leaders every day through listening, strategic thinking, collaboration, and hard work.
Superpower: Partnering with others to make things happen!
State Government Experience: over 30 years
Consulting Since: 2008
Recent Experience: quality assurance, program/organizational/financial reviews, and strategic planning.
April Potts
MBA, PMP, Prosci, Certified Culture Coach, Certified Strategy and Implementation Consultant, Certified North Star Coach
Captain of Connections,
Ideation & System Thinking
What she does: Adds value to teams and individuals, helps identify root causes and solutions, supports incremental improvements, embraces data-driven decisions, and facilitates fun.
Happy Place: Working with groups to solve problems in a meaningful and engaging way that produces results.
Superpowers: Valuing emotional intelligence and its place in the workplace, and ability to flex to meet the needs of the workgroup.
State Government Experience: over 25 years
Consulting Since: 2019
Recent Experience: quality assurance, strategic planning, facilitation, program reviews, and change management.
Wendy Carney
Professional Human Resource (PHR), Prosci Advanced Practitioner, IPEC Certified Leadership Coach, Lominger Certified Leadership Architect/360, DiSC, LPI 360 Coach, 5 behaviors Certified Partner
People & Change Maestro
What she does: Full-scale change/transformation and oversight, marrying business objectives with people and process for positive, sustainable success.
Happy Place: Playing outside of the lines. Where people and business thrive, together. Partnering with business leaders to elevate trust, problem solving, and teaming. Providing the secret sauce between harnessing creative energy, relationships, and business objectives. When rich discovery leads to new possibilities and changed thinking, actions, or behaviors.
Superpower: Building deep relationships and igniting other’s superpowers!
State Government Experience: over 25 years
Consulting Since: 2009
Recent Experience: organizational change management (OCM), organizational development, quality assurance, strategic planning, program reviews, and certified leadership assessments complimented by training.
Martin Casey
BIG PICTURES & STORIES ARCHITECT
What he does: Quality assurance services to help projects recognize and manage risks. Leadership consulting for strategic planning and process improvement. Solution facilitation among complex interests and stakeholders.
Happy Place: Applying creativity and critical thinking to resolve difficult challenges. Collaborating on smart, actionable strategies. Keeping things on time and on track.
Superpower: Using observation and data to help see patterns and tell compelling stories
Public Sector Experience: over 20 years
Consulting Since: 2022
Recent Experience: quality assurance, program/organizational reviews, and strategic planning.
Jennifer Vachon
MA, ICF PCC, NBHWC, Leadership Circle Profile 360 Certified, Hogan Certified, Prosci® Certified Change Practitioner | Adv. training: ToP® Group Facilitation, ToP® Strategic Planning, Multi-Stakeholder Facilitation, Classic Leadership Institute
Chief Connection Officer
What she does: Guides executives and organizations through complexity: strengthening teams, driving strategic change, and aligning people, projects, and strategy to achieve meaningful results.
Happy Place: Seeing clients gain clarity and confidence—and turning insight into meaningful action that transforms their teams and organizations. (Also: hiking in the woods!)
Superpower: Turning complexity into clarity and momentum.
Public Sector Experience: 23 years
Consulting Since: 2007
Recent Experience: Organizational assessments, leadership development, team alignment, executive coaching, program reviews, project oversight, strategic planning, and facilitation.
Associate Principals
Shawna Naslund
CHIEF COORDINATOR OF ORDER AND EFFICIENCY
What she does: streamline operations, drive process improvements, project planning and management, marketing, data and research analysis, and customer engagement.
Happy place: Listening actively to client needs and leveraging creativity to overcome challenges. Collaborating to develop effective strategies while ensuring projects remain on schedule.
Superpower: keep things organized and find creative solutions to any challenge.
Experience: 20 years in project planning and management, marketing, operations, data and research analysis, and client service.
Consulting Since: 2023
Recent Experience: program evaluation, organizational assessments, research and data analysis, and project management.
Steven Ketelsen
Certified Scrum Product Owner and SAFe 6 Agile
THE TECHNOLOGY WHISPERER
What he does: helps teams to build and integrate working, functional systems, and create tools and processes to support the ability of enterprise to leverage that work. Assure clients get that same satisfaction and can carry out their mission better because of the solutions they develop together.
Happy place: Looking at the whole system and applying grease at the joints – helping teams identify and manage their biggest technical blockers.
Superpower: providing technical quality assurance services in areas such as data management technology, AI, privacy, and cybersecurity.
State Government Experience: over 14 years
Consulting Since: 2023
Recent Experience: quality assurance, process improvement, and program reviews.
Karen Sampson
WIZARD OF DATA
What she does: focuses on the quantitative side of management – using data to inform decisions, track progress, continuously improve implementation, and show value to stakeholders.
Happy place: Solving puzzles and problems, making data accessible, and making people’s lives easier with the power of awesome spreadsheets.
Superpower: Designing easy-to-understand dashboards and reports for audiences with a wide variety of subject matter expertise and comfort with data.
Public Sector Experience: 5 years in state government, 8 years in nonprofit
Consulting Since: 2019
Recent Experience: resource and cost allocation, data analysis, program evaluation, and project management.
JULIE BOYER, PMP
CO-FOUNDER
Julie Boyer co-founded Stellar Associates LLC in 2015 with Melanie Roberts. Julie was previously a senior associate with Sterling Associates, LLP, and she served for more than 30 years in state government in a variety of leadership roles. Julie retired in 2019.
Our Credentials
