Yonda Snyder, co-founder and co-owner of Sage Squirrel, has a long record as an agent of change, first in public sector organizational design and human capital management and later in the area of policies and programs for older adults. Ms. Snyder has broad knowledge of LTSS and demonstrated experience operationalizing LTSS at the state level.

From 2014 until 2018, Ms. Snyder was the Director of the Division of Aging within Indiana’s Family & Social Services Administration. In that role she led Indiana’s efforts to modernize systems of access to LTSS that included a transformation of PASRR, options counseling and assessment processes into a No Wrong door system for older adults in Indiana. Prior to leading the Division of Aging, Ms. Snyder had extensive experience leading organizational transformation both in the public and private sector. As a partner in Sage Squirrel she has led multiple projects at the state and federal level that impact how people experience or access LTSS.

Yonda Snyder

Ms. Lutz Powell, MPP, offers clients over 25 years of experience with public sector health and human services. Ms. Powell recently joined Sage Squirrel Consulting as a co-owner/partner after 11 years as an SVP with OptumServe Consulting/The Lewin Group (“Lewin”). While with Lewin, her roles included state practice lead and emerging market strategy lead. Prior to her work with Lewin, Ms. Powell built and co-owned a multi-state Medicaid consulting firm specializing in health care reform, Medicaid 1115 waivers, long term care service transformation, rate setting, and litigation support. In this role she provided consulting support to 25+ states over 13 years of operation.

Ms. Powell’s work often bridges programmatic and functional areas, bringing together cross-cutting policy, analytic, and technical teams to inform and develop innovative solutions and implementation strategies. Ms. Powell has supported the full lifecycle of public sector long term care program design, rate setting, implementation, operations, compliance review and evaluation, including providing procurement support and litigation support to state clients. Ms. Powell has assisted numerous states in the design and financial modeling of new value-based delivery systems, managing large, multi-year projects while assisting states with program design, financing, implementation and evaluation. She is a results-oriented leader with a passion for problem solving and improving population health. 

Yvonne Lutz Powell

Erika Robbins, M.A., PMP strives to bring heart and stewardship to consultancy. Prior to joining Sage Squirrel Consulting as a co-owner/partner, she spent eleven years with Optum Serve Consulting directing large scale projects and teams focused on changing the way that people who need long term support access and use publicly and privately funded health and social services. She has worked many years to transform health and social service delivery through the understanding and application of person-centered principles in program and policy design and evaluation, operational efficiency, training, technical assistance and diffusion of innovative practices, and facilitation of cross-system collaboration and integration.

She formerly worked for Ohio Medicaid and was responsible for services to approximately 400,000 Ohioans with disabilities equaling around $4.5 billion of Ohio’s Medicaid budget and developed Ohio’s nationally recognized Money Follows the Person (MFP) Demonstration which has helped persons across age, disability, and need to experience sustained community integration. She has spent time across her career as a director, policy analyst, quality assurance manager, case manager, vocational specialist, and direct service worker. She received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Hanover College and a master’s degree from the Wright State University Applied Behavioral Science Program. She is an ambassador for Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC), a person-centered practice framework and has certifications in Project Management, CtLC In Action Facilitation and CtLC Stakeholder Facilitation.

Erika Robbins

Debbie Pierson was a co-founder of Sage Squirrel Consulting in 2018. She was the “sage” in Sage Squirrel Consulting and departed this life in 2021. She will always remain an owner and a friend in Sage Squirrel Consulting. 

In Memoriam: Debbie Pierson