CEO Staff Biographies

Alix Gould-Werth Chief Evaluation Officer

Alix Gould-Werth, PhD, is the Chief Evaluation Officer of the Department of Labor. In this role, Dr. Gould-Werth leads the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), an independent office responsible for coordinating, managing and implementing the department’s evaluation research. CEO oversees research that is trustworthy, credible, independent and rigorous, in alignment with DOL’s Evaluation Policy principles. Working in close collaboration with DOL partner agencies, CEO also supports the department’s mandates related to the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, including developing the department’s annual evaluation plan, evidence-building plan, and DOL’s overall capacity to access and use research and data. As Chief Evaluation Officer, Dr. Gould-Werth also serves as the department’s Scientific Integrity Official.

Prior to her time at the Department of Labor, Dr. Gould-Werth worked at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Mathematica, and Fountain House. Dr. Gould-Werth is a nationally recognized expert on Unemployment Insurance, Paid Family and Medical Leave, schedule stability, and other issues affecting low-wage U.S. workers and their families. She has published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Monthly Labor Review, Social Service Review, and Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. Her expertise has been cited in outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. She holds a B.A. in History and Sociology/Anthropology from Swarthmore College, M.S.W. from the University of Michigan, and Ph.D. in Social Work and Sociology, also from the University of Michigan.

Lauren Damme Director of Research, Protection & Enforcement Programs; Currently on Detail with DOL’s Office of Disability Employment Policy

Lauren Damme is the Director of Research for Protection & Enforcement Programs in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), where she is responsible for helping oversee CEO’s evaluation research portfolio, staff and office functions. Before joining CEO in 2019, Ms. Damme served as the Senior Evaluation Research Advisor in the DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT). There, Ms. Damme led strategic guidance and bilateral engagement efforts; and provided technical oversight of the impact evaluation and survey research portfolios for OCFT. She has over 20 years of experience in quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation, primarily in international development, and has worked in around 30 countries. Ms. Damme has served in Ecuador, Japan, Switzerland, the UK and the US in multilateral United Nations organizations, corporate and nonprofit sectors, and has worked with the Japanese government. She holds an MSc in development management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a BSc in marketing/survey research from Iowa State University, and is a doctoral candidate in the Public Policy Ph.D. program at George Washington University.

C.J. Krizan Director of Data Analytics

C.J. Krizan, PhD, is the Director of Data Analytics at the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO). As Director, Dr. Krizan oversees a team of statisticians supporting DOL agencies through customized services such as applied econometric modeling, project oversight, data provision, and statistical consulting. Before coming to DOL, Dr. Krizan was a Senior Economist at the Census Bureau's Center for Economic Studies where he conducted evaluations of Commerce Department and Small Business Administration business-assistance programs, developed innovative databases of U.S. businesses, and led the creation of the Census Bureau’s web-based tool to help exporters find new markets. He has published peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the role of firm heterogeneity in: job creation and destruction, productivity growth, industry evolution, and exporting. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Georgetown University, was awarded a postdoctoral research fellowship from the Central Bank of Spain in Madrid, and is an elected member of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER) Conference on Research in Income and Wealth (CRIW).

Savi Swick Director of Research, Employment & Training Programs

Savi Swick is the Director of Research for Employment and Training Programs in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), where she is responsible for helping oversee CEO’s employment and training evaluation research portfolio, staff and office functions. Before joining CEO, Ms. Swick served as the Director of Research and Evaluation in the DOL’s Office of Disability Employment Policy for over eight years leading the Research and Evaluation (R&E) Division which conducts intramural and extramural research and analysis on disability employment. Previously, Ms. Swick was at DOL's Office of Policy Development and Research in Employment and Training Administration (ETA) as a Supervisory Workforce Analyst. In ETA, Ms. Swick managed an extensive portfolio of federal evaluations employing rigorous evaluation methodologies. Prior to joining the federal government, Ms. Swick was an Organizational Development Manager and a Statistician at the County of San Diego, Health and Human Services Agency. Ms. Swick received her M.A. and M.S.F.S. from Colorado State University and Georgetown University, respectively, in Political Science/Economics, and holds a B.A. in Political Science from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Suchitra (Suchi) Akmanchi Economist

Suchitra (Suchi) Akmanchi, PhD, is an Economist in the Chief Evaluation Office. She leads and supports on workforce development evaluations with a primary focus on apprenticeship and community college. She is experienced in using quasi-experimental methods to analyze large data sets, and her previous public service work includes data visualization support for the Virginia Community College System. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Virginia. In addition, she holds an M.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Leonardo Antenangeli Statistician

Leonardo Antenangeli, PhD, is a Statistician in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO). His work leverages data to inform a broad range of topics including collective bargaining agreements, labor-management relations, veterans’ employment and training, and workers’ compensation programs. Before joining CEO, he worked at the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the Department of Justice, where he supported research on re-entry and recidivism. Leonardo has an MA and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Houston, and he teaches graduate-level quantitative methods courses at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

Kuang-chi (Kacie) Chang Senior Evaluation Specialist; Acting Director of Research, Protection & Enforcement

Kuang-chi (Kacie) Chang, PhD, is a Senior Evaluation Specialist and Acting Director of Research, Protection & Enforcement at the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO). Her evaluation portfolio includes worker protection, employee benefits, worker leave, workers’ compensation, and international labor affairs. Dr. Chang has more than 20 years of experience conducting research using both quantitative and qualitative methods. She has published in peer-reviewed journals on topics such as supplier networks in the global supply chain of the computer manufacturing industry and on working conditions, employment outcomes, and job-searching approaches used by migrant workers. Before joining the federal government in 2016, Dr. Chang led research on labor issues at the Fair Labor Association and was a member of the Sociology Department faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and holds a PhD and a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Chicago.

Marie-Ellen Ehounou Senior Evaluation Specialist

Marie-Ellen Ehounou is a Senior Evaluation Specialist in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO). She leads the Behavioral Insights portfolio and supports the Worker Protection & Enforcement Team. Prior to joining CEO, she served as a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist in the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, where she managed multi-country evaluation projects, implemented program monitoring efforts, and conducted capacity-building for the bureau and its partners. Throughout her career, she has developed relationships with and provided M&E technical assistance to a range of government and non-profit organizations working on issues related to public diplomacy, access to finance, agriculture and gender programs. She has conducted and managed evaluation field work across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and MENA. She holds a Master’s in Economics from American University and a B.A in Economics from Saint Mary's College.

Bradley Hannon Evaluation Operations Specialist

Bradley Hannon, M.P.P., is an Evaluation Operations Specialist in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), where he provides support for CEO’s core office operations and DOL-wide capacity-building efforts. Mr. Hannon leads Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) coordination for the office, the CEO Seminar Series (a DOL-wide research events series featuring external experts), conducts analyses of internal operations data, provides support for DOL’s Evidence Act-related mandates and manages CEO’s website and publications. He has experience in evaluation support, social science research, and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Before joining CEO, Mr. Hannon worked as a research associate at Avar Consulting providing project management, technical reviews of evaluation products, survey research, PRA reviews, and other support activities to DOL and other federal agencies. He received his Master’s in Public Policy and B.S. in Economics from George Mason University.

Janet Javar Senior Evaluation Specialist

Janet Javar is a Senior Evaluation Specialist in the Chief Evaluation Office. She has more than 20 years of experience in planning, designing, and managing evaluations and research using quantitative and qualitative methods to support DOL agencies with their evidence-informed decision-making. Her portfolio focuses primarily on employment and training, community colleges, veterans services, and the use of administrative data for research and program management. She is also responsible for planning and implementing CEO’s communications strategy to disseminate CEO’s body of work in research and other evidence-building activities. She led the Department’s first Evidence Capacity Assessment, as part of the Evidence Act, and serves as the CEO liaison with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and the Veterans Employment Services (VETS) on their learning agendas. Prior to joining CEO in 2012, she was with ETA’s Office of Policy Development and Research where she helped design and test new interventions in randomized controlled trial evaluations, as well as manage implementation and outcome evaluations of employment and training programs and grant initiatives, particularly those focused on adults and dislocated workers. She also led ETA’s five-year strategic research plans and research symposiums. She holds an MPM, with a focus on social policy, from the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a BA in interdisciplinary studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Austin M. Knipper Economist

Austin M. Knipper is an Economist in the Chief Evaluation Office. His portfolio includes evaluations of employment and training programs, primarily those focused on youth and disability. Before joining CEO, Mr. Knipper was an Economist in the Division of Policy Planning and Research at DOL's Office of Disability Employment Policy, where he supported the Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network Initiative, the Partnership for Inclusive Apprenticeships, and revisions to the Current Population Survey Disability Supplement. Prior to ODEP, he was an Economist in the Division of Industrial Price Surveys at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, where he worked on the field operations of the Producer Price Index and International Price Program. Mr. Knipper holds a M.S. in Data Analytics and Policy from Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in Public Management and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Florida with a certificate in Public Affairs.

Megan E. Lizik Senior Evaluation Specialist

Megan E. Lizik is a Senior Evaluation Specialist in the Chief Evaluation Office. She has nearly 20 years of evidence-building experience across the public and private sectors, helping translate evidence for use by policymakers and practitioners seeking to meet continuous improvement goals. She has expertise in tiered evidence strategies, behavioral interventions, and pay for performance approaches, and has advised agencies pursuing similar strategies. Ms. Lizik leads the development of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research (CLEAR) and oversees a portfolio of applied evaluation and research projects primarily related to employment and training issues, including unemployment insurance, workforce development, and the use of administrative data for research. Prior to joining CEO in 2014, she held a variety of positions with DOL’s Employment and Training Administration in its Washington, DC headquarters and Chicago regional offices, as well as in the private sector, gaining experience in public policy, grant and contracts management, performance management, compensation, and labor relations. Ms. Lizik holds an M.A. in human resources, labor, and industrial relations and a B.S. in human development and family science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Tara Martin Evaluation Specialist

Tara Martin, PhD, is an Evaluation Specialist in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO). Her portfolio includes oversight of complex administrative data research projects focused on a broad range of worker protection and enforcement topics. She has published in peer-reviewed journals on topics including reentry challenges and crime victimization, and she has conducted program evaluations related to crime prevention. Before joining CEO, Dr. Martin was a faculty member in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a statistician with the Crime Victim Services Division in the South Carolina Office of the Attorney General. She received her PhD and MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of South Carolina and her BS in Psychology from the College of William & Mary.

Evan Murphy Evaluation Specialist

Evan Murphy, PhD, is an Evaluation Specialist in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO). His evaluation portfolio focuses broadly on employment and training, including reentry programs, workforce development programs, and unemployment insurance. He also supports the development of the Department's Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research (CLEAR). Prior to joining the CEO, he conducted research and evaluated education programs at the National Judicial College. He also has experience managing and evaluating various programs with at-risk youth. He received his PhD and MA in Interdisciplinary Social Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he conducted research on psychology and public policy.

Jessie Park Economist

Jessie Park is an Economist in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) working on the Secure Transfer, Research-Use Data Lake (STRUDL). Before joining CEO, she worked on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI). In CFOI, she reviewed state-level workplace fatalities and improved the processing of state-level, national-level, and special-aggregate statistics. During Jessie’s time in CPI’s Branch of Revision Methodology, she led the quarterly estimation of expenditure weights, analyzed the effects of weight revisions to the index, liaised for CPI and the Consumer Expenditure survey, assisted in the implementation of annual weight revision methodology, and supported research to further improve the timeliness and relevance of expenditure weights. Jessie received a B.S. and M.A. in Economics from George Mason University’s Accelerated Master’s program.

Sarada Pyda Economist

Sarada Pyda, PhD, is an economist in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO). Her work addresses a number of policy topics and utilizes an array of econometric techniques with an emphasis on the quantitative analysis of spatial accessibility and specialized projection and forecasting methods. Before joining CEO, Sarada worked in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the Department of Health and Human Services, where she did research on a wide range of policy topics including maternal and reproductive health, kidney health, and COVID-19 vaccine and treatment commercialization. She holds a PhD in Applied Economics from the Ohio State University.

Omara Reach-Turner Evaluation Operations Specialist

Omara Reach-Turner is an Evaluation Operations Specialist, in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), where she is responsible for supporting CEO’s core office operations, including contract, budget, training and travel management. Before joining CEO in 2023, Ms. Reach-Turner served as an International Administrative Specialist in DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), Office of Trade and Labor Affairs (OTLA). There, she was responsible for contract, budget, training, document clearance, staff and office management functions. Ms. Reach-Turner has over 20 years of experience in the financial field, including work on international payroll/pensions for Watson Wyatt Worldwide, where she oversaw four countries with four different payroll/pension laws; and site supervision for Apt, Inc. where she researched salary and benefits and supported bids on government contracts. Ms. Reach-Turner holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Harrison College, is a Level 3-certified Contracting Officer Representative, and has earned a number of certifications in financial, project and property management.

Neil Ridley Senior Evaluation Specialist

Neil Ridley is a Senior Evaluation Specialist in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO). He conducts research and evaluation of employment and training programs. Before joining CEO, he was a supervisor and team lead in Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) Office of Policy Development and Research. His previous experience includes conducting research and co-authoring publications at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce; contributing to the post-secondary education and workforce development portfolio at Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); and serving as a senior staff member at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, located at Rutgers University. He also worked on employment and training issues at the National Governors Association. Neil received a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in History from Occidental College.

Raymond Tang Economist

Raymond Tang is an Economist in the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), where he handles various data matching, data acquisition, and data cleaning tasks for CEO projects. Raymond specializes in building datasets and constructing data pipelines for statistical analysis, as well as providing analytical and data visualization solutions for researchers and data users. Prior to joining CEO, Mr. Tang worked as a research analyst at Avar Consulting providing data sciences and analytical support services to a variety of federal programs, such as the Location Affordability Index (LAI) for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and various initiatives within the Department of Labor (DOL). He holds a B.A. in Economics from Rice University.