As Executive Director, Andrew provides leadership and oversight of all programs and services and is responsible for the consistent achievement of the Center’s mission and financial objectives. Prior to joining the team at Pat’s Place, Andrew served for more than five years as Executive Director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass in Lexington, KY. During that time, services provision increased by 70% and revenues increased by more than 60%. Previously, Andrew served as Executive Director of Sunflower Kids, Treatment Director for Necco Therapeutic Foster Care, and as an adjunct faculty member of the University of Kentucky College of Social Work. He is a member of the Mecklenburg Child Fatality Prevention and Protection Team and Children’s Alliance, and is the former board president of the Kentucky Association of Children’s Advocacy Centers.

Prior to joining the staff at Pat’s Place, Ann spent 10 years as the Coordinator and Interviewer for the greater Hartford area (Connecticut) MDT/CAC where she was also active in numerous statewide efforts to further the CAC mission. Prior to that Ann held positions serving children & families in various mental and physical health care settings, schools and private practice.

Suzanne joined Pat’s Place in January 2021 and manages all financial, business, and people operations for the organization. Prior to joining PPCAC, she worked with several local nonprofits including The Junior League of Charlotte, the Carolina Raptor Center, the NC Science Network, and Pineville Neighbors Place. A former pediatric speech-language pathologist, Suzanne brings decades of experience in accounting, human resources, project management, and conflict resolution. She holds a certificate in nonprofit management from her undergraduate alma mater, Duke University, and is a member of the Women’s Impact Fund, SHRM, and CASHRM.

Lori joined the Pat’s Place team in November 2015 after spending almost 13 years with LIFESPAN in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lori brings over 20 years of experience that includes fundraising, building community relationships and advocacy efforts.

Kelli began her career working as an after-hours social worker at Children’s HealthCare of Atlanta (CHOA), where she conducted psycho-Social assessments of children who presented to the Emergency Department due to concerns of child maltreatment. Kelli continued her career at CHOA by becoming a Forensic Interviewer at The Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children, which is a medical model Child Advocacy Center.  As a member of a Multidisciplinary Team of Physicians, Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, Post-Doctoral Fellows, Social Workers and Forensic Specialists, they were tasked with the mission of providing Forensic Interviews and Forensic Medial Evaluations to children, ages 0-18 years old, who were identified as possible victims of child abuse, sexual exploitation, and witness to crime. It was at The Stephanie V. Blank Center that Kelli’s passion for working with survivors of commercial sexual exploration was ignited. She had the awesome opportunity to assist in the development of the center’s Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) Program, CSEC Multi-disciplinary team meetings, and CSEC book-bag initiative which provided bags, clothing and toiletries to CSEC survivors. In 2012 Kelli relocated to Charlotte, NC where she joined the team of Pat’s Place Child Advocacy Center as a Forensic Interviewer.  To date Kelli has conducted over 2200 forensic interviews, presented at both national and local child maltreatment conferences, and have been a frequent guest lecturer at multiple high schools and Universities on the topics of Child Maltreatment, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking and Forensic Interviewing.

Mary Kathryn Elkins strives to impact systems of care to reduce barriers to treatment for clients and to provide secondary-traumatic stress informed leadership within organizations serving individuals who have experienced trauma. Combining decades of experience in higher education, small business management, non-profit leadership, and clinical mental health, she works to build strong, and effective programs and processes. She brings experience as a licensed clinician with an early childhood specialty and with organizational policy and program management to her work with evaluation, data analysis, and strategic initiatives at Pat’s Place. Mary Kathryn is also trained in Parent Child Interaction Therapy and serves as PCIT Senior Leader Faculty for the North Carolina Child Treatment Program advising agencies across the state on evidence-based model implementation.

For the past 15 years, Adam Levine has primarily worked with families impacted by the effects of trauma, with much of his practice focused directly on serving children. Having first interned with the Pasadena Unified School District outside of Los Angeles, Adam continued to develop his clinical skills working in a variety of treatment settings in both California and North Carolina, including community mental health agencies, psychiatric residential facilities, inpatient hospitalization and as a community acute care provider with Mecklenburg County’s Child Development – Community Policing program. Adam has managed large social work teams at both Atrium Health and Mecklenburg County Health Department and has been extensively trained in numerous evidence-based treatment interventions, such as the Child & Family Traumatic Stress Intervention, the Community Resilience Model, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Play Therapy, and Aggression Replacement Training.

In her role, Shawna oversees training and education and human trafficking initiatives. In her prior work, Shawna was a victim advocate serving survivors of sexual violence. Shawna provides training various groups and conferences on the issues of human trafficking and child abuse. Shawna serves as the co-chair of the Charlotte Metropolitan Human Trafficking Task Force and has volunteered with anti-trafficking organizations in Thailand, Bulgaria, and Kenya. She is a trained faciliator in Seeking Safety®, Darkness to Light’s Stewards of Children®, and MBF Child Safety Matters®.