Our Team

Sharlene Wolbeck Minke
Director
MSc, BScN, Credentialed Evaluator

As well as being the Director of SWM Consulting Services Inc., Sharlene is a Practice Affiliate in the Centre for Healthy Communities and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Alberta & NWT Chapter of the Canadian Evaluation Society since 2019.

Sharlene began her career as a community health nurse in 1992 with a particular focus on mental health, crisis intervention and school health promotion. She discovered evaluation during graduate school in the early 2000s and was hooked! After more than a decade of formal evaluation consulting she earned the Credentialed Evaluator designation from the Canadian Evaluation Society in 2013.

As a consultant Sharlene has extensive experience coordinating complex projects involving many stakeholder groups. She has worked with clients from all levels of government, as well as community-based organizations. Drawing on decades of experience working with people and communities, Sharlene collaborates with clients to ensure they are meaningfully involved in key project decisions and actions. In all of her work she blends respectful, inclusive engagement with evidence-informed processes to produce useful deliverables.

In her leisure time Sharlene loves to spend time outdoors with her husband, their two children and the family dog.

Birgitta Larsson
Evaluation Associate
MSc, Credentialed Evaluator

Birgitta contributes expertise in project ethics, mixed methods, and intercultural community engagement to the team.

Birgitta is the principal of BIM Larsson & Associates, a Practice Affiliate in the Centre for Healthy Communities and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. She currently serves on the Canadian Evaluation Society’s Credentialing Board responsible for assessing and adjudicating the professional designation of Credentialed Evaluator (CE).

With over 30 years in private practice she has been the principal investigator in over 170 evaluations, leading projects through planning, implementation and final deliverables.

Birgitta works with diverse populations ensuring that evaluations are culturally appropriate and the methods align and support the people touched by the evaluation. Most of her projects have involved community engagement and she uses approaches that are based on trust, respect and reciprocity and with a constant focus on reducing the burden on participants. 

Birgitta brings in-depth knowledge of project ethics as she was part of the founding ARECCI network and is a Second Opinion Reviewer and facilitator.

In June 2018, in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of program evaluation in Canada, Birgitta received the Contribution to Evaluation in Canada award from the Canadian Evaluation Society.

Kelly Wiens
Evaluation Associate
MSc, BScN

Kelly is a relationship builder and skilled in developing effective professional connections. Over the past 20 years, Kelly has worked in a variety of evaluation, research, and policy environments at local, provincial and federal levels. Previously, she worked as a Registered Nurse in Intensive Care, Home Care, and Public Health.

Kelly is passionate about evaluation as a foundational component of good policy and program planning. She is equally passionate about good design (which is really just good planning!). To do this well, she draws on diverse left and right brain experiences as an evaluator and working artist.

She is highly proficient in a large variety of software applications, including web-based and digital documentation, data management, business, and analytical applications. She has considerable experience in applying ethical considerations in the health, research, and evaluation spaces. She was on the team that took the original ARECCI ethics tool from paper to online.

Kelly has lived all over Canada, from the Yukon to Nova Scotia and many places in between. Living in so many areas has given her a wide experience with innovation, creativity, and novel approaches to living as a Canadian. She is a watercolour painter and completes fine art drawings in wood burning.

Kelly’s strongest values lead to the belief that when we bring our authentic best, including our compassion, respect, excellence and genuine appreciation for individuals and the team, our work becomes meaningful, invigorating and productive.

Brittany Molner
Evaluation Associate
MSc, BSc

Brittany is an emerging evaluator and currently building experience towards her Credentialed Evaluator designation from the Canadian Evaluation Society. She also serves as a Director on the Board of Directors for the Alberta & NWT Chapter of the Canadian Evaluation Society. 

Brittany has worked in public health research since 2018 and brings her experience in qualitative and quantitative methods, health promotion and supportive outreach services to the team.

During her graduate studies, Brittany also spent extensive time examining early childhood development and learning, focusing on pedagogical approaches. In addition to this research, her passion for evaluation began during this time when she gained experience through a practicum with an Edmonton-based evaluator working with a restorative justice youth program. For her accomplishments during her studies, she was awarded the Dean’s Gold Medal in 2023 from the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta.

In her evaluation career, Brittany has worked with local not-for-profits who support health promotion, supportive outreach and financial literacy. Brittany approaches her practice from a participatory, utilization-focused lens where engaging people and communities is critical to developing meaningful results. She has spent most of her career working within complex systems and is passionate about developmental evaluation. She continues to explore and practice this approach, and others, in both her consultant work and internally as an evaluator with Strathcona County.

Outside of her evaluation career, Brittany is an outdoor enthusiast and avid runner. She can usually be found training for her next race or in the mountains backpacking.

Amelia Van Hoffen
Graphic Design Associate
BA

Amelia is a fine arts and graphic artist with a flair for quantitative data. She loves finding ways to communicate complex information through approachable, accessible, and aesthetic designs. 

She is deeply rooted in her community, serving on the Board of Directors for Grimsby Community Preschool since 2019 (Treasurer, President, and Past-President), participating in school events for her children, and involving herself in a variety of local projects. 

When not engrossed with a project or volunteering, Amelia spends her time enjoying her young family, collecting hobbies, gardening (with few successes), or disappearing into a library book.