ourteam
The Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault (IowaCASA) is a vibrant organization working to unite people and organizations to promote a society free from sexual violence and to meet the diverse needs of survivors. IowaCASA is a progressive organization, and works toward goals that will improve the well-being of survivors in many aspects of their lives. We support disenfranchised groups and actively work on anti-racist initiatives. IowaCASA is a small, statewide non-profit organization that provides a friendly, fast-paced work environment.
Beth Barnhill
Executive Director
She/her/hers
515-850-1915
Beth has proudly held the Executive Director position for IowaCASA since 1990. She brings with her an extensive history of working in the anti-violence movement. She also serves many roles on a number of state boards and committees addressing violence against women. She is a founding member and past chair of the Iowa Board for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, and a founding board member of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence.
Elizabeth Balcarcel
Director of State Program Technical Assistance and Training
She/her/hers
515-850-1911
515-850-6570 (cell)
Elizabeth started working in the anti-violence movement in 2003 at IowaCASA's member program L.U.N.A. (Latinas Unidas por un Nuevo Amanecer). At the coalition, she provides resources, support, and in-depth capacity building for member programs as she assists them with organizational sustainability. She directs the flow of technical assistance to member programs.
Julie Wooden-Kean
Director of Finance & Administration
She/her/hers
515-850-1902
Julie oversees the financial management of all coalition operations and funding for the coalition. She also manages and monitors the agency's sub-grant program to member programs and provides consultation regarding grant, financial, and administrative issues. She is a Certified Sexual Assault Victim Counselor, and holds a degree from Iowa State University in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing. She earned her master's degree from ISU in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies with areas of specialization in Women's Studies, Sociology and English.
Jocelyn Hernandez
Community Engagement Specialist
She/her/ella
515-850-1912
Jocelyn supports services and collaborative efforts within victim service programs. Jocelyn earned a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Spanish from Iowa State University. She is fluent in both English and Spanish. Prior to joining IowaCASA, Jocelyn worked for ACCESS (Assault Care Center) in Ames as a Domestic Abuse Diversity Advocate. Jocelyn has worked in the anti-violence movement since 2015 and is highly involved in the Latino community.
Sonci Kingery
Staff Attorney
She/her/hers
515-850-1914
515-850-8077 (cell)
Sonci assists survivors with navigating the administrative process in secondary and post-secondary educational settings, as well as certain civil legal processes. Sonci graduated from Wartburg College in 2007 with majors in psychology and sociology and a minor in Woman’s Studies. She graduated from Drake University Law School in 2012. She served as IowaCASA’s Rural SART coordinator in 2015 before spending time at a private practice in West Des Moines. Her areas of practice included family law (dissolutions, establishment of paternity, child support and visitation), residential landlord/tenant, consumer rights, employment, and guardianships.
Nadia La Fontant
Survivor Services & Training Specialist
She/her/hers
515-850-1910
Nadia La Fontant, Underserved Advocacy & Training Specialist, joined IowaCASA December of 2015. She provides support to a statewide group of women and men of color working in comprehensive sexual assault programs. She also assesses the needs of marginalized and other underserved communities, provides training and oversees efforts to work with correctional institutions, detention facilities, and jails as they come into compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards, and provides consultation and support to member programs in these areas. Nadia graduated from Iowa State University in 2013 with a B.S. in Child, Adult, and Family Services. She has been working in the anti-violence movement since 2012.
KellyMarie Z. Meek
Coordinator of Prevention & Public Health Initiatives
She/her/hers
515-850-1906
KellyMarie started in the anti-violence movement as a volunteer in 1996. Since then, she has worked with a local rape crisis and domestic violence program, the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Integrative Services Project, and the Iowa Victim Assistance Academy. She joined IowaCASA in 2008, where she focuses on prevention and training. Her many passions include sex workers' rights, LGBTQIA advocacy, and working with youth and families involved in the foster care system.
Josh Opperman
Staff Attorney
He/him/his
515-850-8078
Josh graduated from William Penn University in Oskaloosa with a degree in Business Management and then obtained his Juris Doctor from Drake University Law School in 2015. He previously worked in contact center management, consulting, and human resources, and has practiced law in a variety of settings primarily in the areas of employment, family law, landlord/tenant, domestic violence, criminal law, and estate and probate. Additionally, Josh has taught classes in human resources topics, law, and information systems as an adjunct instructor at local universities and has served on a number of non-profit boards.
Nafla Poff
Prevention Capacity Building Specialist
She/her/hers
515-850-1904
Nafla provides support for IowaCASA member programs who would like to incorporate public health-based prevention efforts into their existing work as the Prevention Capacity Building Specialist. She received her Masters of Public Health from the University of Minnesota in 2015, and had been focusing on using an equity lens to guide infant mortality prevention and systems change work in Wisconsin before joining IowaCASA in 2020.
Kelsi Roby
Training and Technology Specialist
She/her/hers
515-850-1920
515-850-8084 (cell)
Kelsi works with IowaCASA member programs by providing certification training for advocates around the state, support of the statewide database provided by the Iowa Crime Victim Assistance Division and technical assistance around technology use and confidentiality within our work. She has over 5 years of experience in IT, software support and customer service while earning her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Purdue University.
Kathy Sullivan
Assistant Director of Finance & Administration
She/her/hers
515-850-1917
Kathy assists with the financial management of the coalition operations and funding for the coalition with her main emphasis on the Resource Sharing Project. She also provides technical assistance to financial personnel at state coalitions and programs regarding grants, fiscal duties, budgeting, and human resources issues. She has over 20 years’ experience in non-profit fiscal management and several years in benefits administration. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Computer Information Systems from Simpson College and a Human Resource Certificate from Des Moines Area Community College.
Matty Tate-Smith
Public Affairs Coordinator
He/him/his
515-850-1907
515-850-8080 (cell)
Matty leads strategic communications efforts for the coalition and works on state and national policy initiatives that help to improve services and empower survivors. He also provides guidance and technical assistance on communication and legislative strategies to member programs across the state. He has a degree in journalism from Drake University.
Laura Velazquez
Legal Advocate
She/her/hers
515-850-1922
515-850-6188 (cell)
Laura works with the coalition's legal team to provide legal support and resources to survivors of sexual assault. Before joining IowaCASA, Laura started as a volunteer in 2013 with L.U.N.A. (Latinas Unidas por Un Nuevo Amanecer), a culturally specific program in Des Moines, where she later became a full-time Sexual Assault Coordinator. Laura is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Human Services with a minor in physiology. She speaks and writes Spanish fluently.
Maggie Woznicki, LMSW
Coordinator of Technical Assistance & Special Projects
She/her/hers
515-850-1905
515-850-8079 (cell)
Maggie serves as a point of contact between the coalition and its member organizations. She hopes to engage and support coalition members in any aspect of nonprofit programming so that they can successfully support survivors. Prior to this role, she worked for Social Security Administration; assisting low-income Chicagoans with disabilities obtain cash benefits. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Northern Iowa and a master’s degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago.
resource
sharing
project
The Resource Sharing Project is part of a national movement of sexual violence-related services and resources. Led by the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Resource Sharing Project was created to help sexual assault coalitions across the country access the resources they need in order to thrive as they work to support survivors and end sexual assault.
Cat Fribley
Director for the Resource Sharing Project
She/her/hers
319-339-0899
Cat has been with the coalition since 2001 managing the National Sexual Assault Coalition's Resource Sharing Project for the coalition. She provides capacity-building training and technical assistance to state and territorial sexual assault coalitions. In addition, she coordinates all national activities and events for the project. Cat has worked in the anti-violence movement since 1995 at national, state, and local advocacy organizations.
Kris Bein
Assistant Director for the Resource Sharing Project
She/her/hers
515-401-8722
Kris has been an active part of the anti-violence movement since 1995. Before joining IowaCASA's team in 2009, she provided medical and legal advocacy to survivors of sexual violence, institutional advocacy, and training through a dual domestic violence and sexual assault agency in rural Illinois. Kris holds a master's degree in Human Services from the University of Illinois, with specialization in Social Services Administration.
Elizabeth
Edmondson Bauer
SASP Technical Assistance Specialist for the Resource Sharing Project
She/her/hers
515-401-8984
Elizabeth has worked in victim services and violence prevention since 1999. She comes to the Resource Resource Sharing Project after 12 years with the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. She earned her Bachelor’s of Social Work from Middle Tennessee State University in 2000 and began her career at the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee.
Valerie Davis
SADI Technical Assistance Coordinator for the Resource Sharing Project
She/her/hers
515-330-6175
Valerie provides training and technical assistance to state coalitions and rural dual-service programs on enhancing and building comprehensive sexual assault services. She holds a master's degree in Public Administration, with a concentration in domestic violence, from the University of Colorado Denver. She has been part of the anti-violence movement since 1995.
Leah Green
Rural Technical Assistance Specialist for the Resource Sharing Project
She/her/hers
515-444-7381
Leah is originally from Eastern Iowa and earned a bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and Studio Art from Cornell College. She has been involved in the anti-violence movement since 2010 working for several centers across Iowa as an advocate and prevention educator. At the Resource Sharing Project, she provides training and technical assistance to state coalitions and rural dual-service programs across the country on issues related to creating sustainable sexual assault services.
Norio Umezu Hall
Publications Specialist for the Resource Sharing Project
He/him/his
515-505-2729
Norio loves finding resilience and wisdom in the written word. As publications specialist, he gets to combine three loves: the anti-violence movement, systems change, and art. Before coming to Iowa, he worked with low-income LGBTQ survivors of color. He’s worked at the statewide coalition level in Iowa for almost three years now. When he isn’t writing or reading, he can be found learning about culturally based healing and community organizing.
Board of Directors
Michael Shaw, President
Iowa City Community School District
Alyssa Rodriguez Palante, President-Elect
Johnson County Attorney’s Office
Jon Buse, Secretary
Kirkwood Community College
Kathi Koenig, Treasurer
McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith, P.C.
Dawn Collins
Edward Jones
Wm. Michael Fleming
University of Northern Iowa
Tory Flynn
Community Member
Jasmin Higgins
Mental Health Therapist
Sara Siebert
Beyond Borders
Tiffany Stoner-Harris
Counselor Educator
Anasia C. Sturdivant
Assault Care Center Extending Shelter & Support (ACCESS)
Yoshida Thomas
Friends of the Family
Leah Vejzovic
Community Member