Kristen Ackert, Mph Email & Phone Number

• Coordinated the legislative agenda for the MN Department of Health.
• Shepherded policy proposals through the legislative process in collaboration with the Governor’s Office, legislative leadership, and staff.
• Communicated with legislators, stakeholder organizations and other state agencies to provide technical assistance on proposed and current programs and policy initiatives.

• Led eight policy campaigns that resulted in city ordinance changes to reduce youth tobacco use such as raising the tobacco age to 21, restricting flavored tobacco products and banning electronic cigarettes.
• Provide technical assistance to municipalities enforcing and implementing tobacco prevention policies.
• Conduct research and policy analysis to evaluate the economic impact of the proposed regulatory and policy changes.
• Oversee project budget, monthly reports, strategic communication, contracts with partner organizations, evaluation activities and lobbying efforts.
• Assist with policy research and evaluation to determine best-practices and overall community impact.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

• Coordinated and supported local policy initiatives to reduce youth tobacco use, including the first city in Minnesota to raise the tobacco sales age to 21.
• Oversaw subcontracts with partner organizations that work with youth in Minneapolis to educate the community about the harms of tobacco and advocate for local policies.
• Assisted with policy research and evaluation through survey development, store assessments and data analysis.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

• Assist with monitoring internal database in order to track and follow previous and incoming grant recipients.
• Plan and implement community engagement events on topics such as dissemination, ethics of community-based research, and collaboration between community and university researchers.
• Worked with the Evaluation Manager on a qualitative program evaluation of previous Community Health Collaborative grants and accompanying community partnerships.

• Assist Public Policy staff and advocates at the Minnesota State Capitol to advocate for Medical Assistance reform for seniors and adults with disabilities
• Helped plan a citizen advocate training session and served as the point of contact between citizen advocates and their legislators
• Developed charts and tables for executive reports that were distributed to Minnesota State Senators and Representatives

Minneapolis, Minnesota

• Researched evidence-based content to produce online and print education materials focused on the prevention of heart disease such as blog posts and monthly community newsletters.
• Worked with the Program Manager of the Heart of New Ulm (HONU) project on program budgeting and process planning for on-going HONU initiatives.
• Updated website using the content management system Drupal.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

• Worked with Dr. Melissa Laska and her research team to collect the baseline data for a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation analyzing the effect of a staple food ordinance in the City of Minneapolis.
• Collected data through customer intercept surveys at local corner stores and markets.
• Interviewed managers and store associates on health food procurement and policy issues pertaining to the Minneapolis Healthy Corner Store Program.

Greensboro, NC

• Served as a member of a community-based participatory research organization focused on recognizing and addressing racially disparate health issues in the Greensboro community.
• Interviewed patients participating in the on-going ACCURE study in collaboration with UNC Chapel Hill School of Public Health.
• Analyzed focus group transcripts for the creation of a health equity-training seminar for health care providers.

High Point, NC

• Planned and coordinated all aspects of the CEO’s schedule ranging from daily tasks to national speaking engagements to ensure her ability to lead and support the organization through the transition from volume to value.
• Collaborated with internal executives to compile necessary and current data for the CEO’s local and national presentations on health care reform.
• Completed an in-depth executive brief on the public health initiatives of the City of High Point in order to present High Point as an alpha site for a national healthy communities initiative called HICCup.
• Served as the company’s point of contact for a community health care summit aimed to bring together leaders and advocates in the faith and health communities of the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina.

Greenville, SC

• Conducted in-depth research on a local political figure living in Greenville at the turn of the 20th century.
• Transcribed his unfinished autobiographical manuscript and researched his story along with local and state history in order to write an introduction to the publication of his autobiography (currently in process to be.
• Completed an internship in Local and Public History (James M. Richardson) transcribing his unfinished autobiography manuscript. Transcription was used to forward the manuscript into publication.

Houston, Texas Area

• Managed archived database of historical records (PastPerfect), including home records.
• Provided attention to detail in making sure all records were accurate and were managed with high integrity.

Master Of Public Health (Mph), Community Health Promotion

Activities and Societies: School of Public Health Student Senate-Vice President of Student Advancement - 2014 – Present; Health EquityWork.

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), Sociology, History

Activities and Societies: Alpha Kappa Delta Honor Society Inductee (spring 2012); Kappa Delta Sorority; Women's Club Lacrosse; Gilpatrick.