We are thrilled to announced that long-time community leader and service impact expert Lisa Russell will be joining our executive team as Encompass's new chief programs officer. Lisa comes to Encompass from Janus of Santa Cruz where she worked as director of research and evaluation and, most recently, as interim co-executive director.
As chief programs officer, Lisa will oversee the operations and direction of Encompass’ more than 40 programs in health and human services related to family and social well-being, early childhood education, behavioral health, housing and more.
Given the broad spectrum of community members we have the privilege of serving at Encompass, we need a strong leader with experience leading data-driven service line development across multiple service areas. Lisa has focused her public health career on preventing and intervening with chronic conditions across the lifespan, as well as resiliency building among children and families at risk for such conditions. With more than 20 years’ experience navigating and developing systems to monitor client outcomes and support evidence-based practices, Lisa is the perfect fit to help lead Encompass into the future.
Lisa has worked in the Santa Cruz community for many years. Prior to her work at Janus of Santa Cruz, Lisa spent more than 20 years of post-doctoral experience designing, directing, and managing research studies and evaluation projects across a variety of public health areas. Her work includes descriptive studies as well as theory-based intervention development and implementation projects. Some studies have addressed chronic conditions across the lifespan, such as serious emotional disturbance and mental illness, substance use disorder, homelessness, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, while other studies have focused on prevention and early intervention approaches such as school-based comprehensive health education, community-based youth development, and resiliency building for at-risk youth.
Lisa has also served as an evaluation consultant on Encompass programs such as Primeros Pasos, Papas, Housing for Health, and the START Reentry Project. Please help us welcome Lisa as she begin her position at Encompass this month!