Connections
About Us
BU Hot Team 18
Doctor of Education Students, Organizational Leadership
Brandman University
Hot Team 18 is a group of doctoral students in the Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership program at Brandman University. We have been challenged to come up with an innovation for a new process, procedure, service delivery, or product that will change the world by creating the most value possible in mental health. Our team is comprised of Selena So-Quackenbush, Ashley Sandor, Larry Rankin, and Kristen Miller.
Individual biographies of each team member can be found below.
Selena So-Quackenbush
Co-Owner/Operator
5 Board & Care Homes & Adult Day Programs
Selena So-Quackenbush is the Co-Owner and Operator of five board and care homes, and adult day programs for adults with intellectual delay and moderate to severe behavioral challenges across Sacramento and the Monterey Bay Peninsula. For the past 20 years, So-Quackenbush has been working hard to change the way this special population is perceived while teaching them how to become independent, and increasing their quality of life. We are all individuals with abilities.
Ashley Sandor
Assistant Principal
Chilton Middle School
Ashley Sandor has been an Assistant Principal at a middle school in Roseville, CA for six years after 10 years in the classroom as a high school English teacher. Sandor has focused her practice on making connections with students through a lens of social/emotional learning, positive behavior intervention, restorative practices, and building relationships.
Larry Rankin
Executive Military Liaison
California Military Department
Larry Rankin has worked as an operations officer in the California Military Department for the last five years. Prior to this position, Rankin worked in the mental health field for nine years focusing on individuals with co-occurring disorders. As a military officer with over 17 years of total service, he utilizes a person-centered leadership approach to help build interpersonal connections and foster the positive development of young officers within the organization.
Kristen Miller
CEO/President
With Heart Project
Following a three-year engineering career, Kristen Miller spent 13 years in education teaching predominantly high school mathematics, AVID and Career Technical Education, and serving as a middle school Vice Principal in Northern California. Seeing a huge need for high quality social and emotional interventions, systems and supports, Miller created a youth empowerment organization, With Heart Project (WHP), to work alongside schools and districts promoting Social-Emotional Wellness (SEL), Restorative Practices (RP), and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). In her inaugural year, she partnered with a high poverty middle school in Northern California to create and implement practices, processes, and procedures to decrease student suspension rates and increase academic achievement. Her results were remarkable. Her efforts yielded a 79% growth in Common Core Mathematics achievement, as well as reduction in discipline and attendance infractions, increase in GPA, and increase in math and reading grade levels among at-risk students.