January 2, 2025

Dear Children’s Home Society Team Members:

Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely holiday season and are ready for 2025!

With the new year, we reflect on the successes and challenges of the past and look forward to the future. At Children’s Home Society, our future is a bright one indeed with many exciting initiatives underway. With these initiatives come some needed changes in our leadership structures to ensure we continue to be successful in our important mission:

• Deanna Larson joined us as our interim COO, expecting to serve for just six months. She resigned from our board to do so and came out of retirement. As you know, that six months extended through the past 20 months as she brought unprecedented and excellent change through process improvements, new services, an integrated care model, COA accreditation for all programs and a renewed focus on quality. Deanna has decided to truly retire this time, effective January 31, 2025. With grandchildren on the way, a newly constructed home and a husband who has been patiently waiting to travel, Deanna has much to look forward to. We thank her for her exemplary service and leadership. Please watch for her upcoming retirement party announcement.

• Deanna will be replaced by our current Chief Human Resources Officer, Allison Sanderson, effective upon Deanna’s departure in January. Allison has been working very closely with Deanna and has a keen understanding of the operational needs, talent pool and our overall culture. Allison has previous program and operational experience from seven years at EmBe, leading the childcare program for nearly three hundred (300) children. Prior to CHS, Allison served seven years at Southeastern Behavioral Health where she led quality and compliance as well as Human Resources, reporting to the CEO. Allison holds a BA in Education with a minor in Special Education and served as a Special Education teacher at Children’s Hospital and School upon graduation. I have been impressed with Allison’s efforts during her tenure with CHS, especially the strong relationships she has developed through partnering with our leaders and all employees. She has also excelled in action planning for our employee engagement work, our national compensation study and the growth of her human resources team. Allison will work closely with Deanna for the month to ensure a smooth transition.

• Allison will supervise all of our programs with the exception of the Shelter for Family Safety, which will report directly to me on an interim basis. In addition, while our nursing staff reported to Deanna, our nurses will now report to program leadership on their respective campuses. Gil Johnson, our Director of Business Intelligence and Revenue Cycle will report to me.
  
• Many of you have asked if there will be additional opportunities for leadership roles as we grow and as we move into our new building in Rapid City. That said, we will be adding a new level of leadership, given the complexity of our organization and the significant initiatives underway. The new Vice President positions will be as follows:

• Vice President of Operations. This position will be Rapid City-based and will be posted immediately.

• Vice President of Human Resources. This will replace Allison’s current role. The new VP will report to Allison and will be posted immediately. In the past, this position was titled Chief Human Resources Officer.
• Vice President of Development. This position is based in Rapid City and will be filled by our Current Director of Development, Kara Flynn, effective January 6, 2025. She will report to our Chief Philanthropy Officer, Jon Mammenga. Kara has excelled in her role in Rapid City and will play an increasingly important role in our campaign. The Directors of Development in the west and east will report to her.

Please congratulate Deanna on her retirement and Allison and Kara on their new roles. If you are interested in any of our new positions, please review the job descriptions on Paylocity.

Thank you all as we make these transitions and please let me know if you have any questions.

Here’s to a terrific 2025! It is a great time to work at Children’s Home Society as we work together to stand up to trauma, where all people are safe, healthy and resilient!

-Michelle