Partnerships

ABOUT

Creating the policy, budgetary, clinical, and public engagement conditions necessary for a durable,
trauma-informed system of care requires strong,
cross-sector partners.

The ACE Resource Network has created three interconnected partnership structures that accelerate systems change:

Together, these partnerships create the connective tissue that allows states to move faster together than they could alone – aligning national leadership, cross-state learning, and state-level implementation into a unified, scalable systems-change strategy.

State Coalitions

State-level coalitions, convened and led by in-state Anchor Partners, that unite key local leaders to advance implementation, expand training uptake, and build trauma‑informed networks of care within local communities.

National Workgroups

To synthesize implementation experience and refine shared standards across states, ACE Resource Network is convening cross-sector leaders—from clinicians and community-based providers to advocates and researchers. These workgroups promote consistency across states and accelerate the pace of systems alignment.

National Leadership Council

A bipartisan, cross-sector group of nationally recognized leaders who lend strategic guidance to ACE Resource Network’s mission.

LEADERSHIP

Meet our national leadership council.

Co-Chairs

  • Jerome Adams

    Former U.S. Surgeon General Distinguished Professor of Practice Department of Public Health, Purdue University

  • Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton

    Secretary of State

  • Dr. Katie Beckmann

    Children and Families Director David and Lucile Packard Foundation 

  • Dr. Georges Benjamin

    Chief Executive Officer American Public Health Association

  • Dr. Bechara Choucair

    EVP & Chief Health Officer Kaiser Permanente

  • Dr. Chelsea Clinton

    Vice Chair Clinton Foundation

  • Gerry Cobb

    Director Pritzker Children's Initiative, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation

  • Sarah Groothuis

    Executive Director Treehouse Family Foundation

  • Dr. Debra Houry

    Principal DH Leadership and Strategy Solutions

  • Katherine Kaufmann

    Partner The Bridgespan Group

  • Dr. Karestan Koenen

    Professor Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

  • Dr. Alicia Lieberman

    Professor Emerita University of California, San Francisco

  • Dr. Joan Lombardi

    Principal Advisor and Adjunct Professor Stanford Center on Early Childhood Senior Scholar Thrive Center for Children, Families and Communities, Georgetown University

  • Dr. Aletha Maybank

    Founder Novellawells, LLC

  • Matthew Melmed

    Executive Director ZERO TO THREE

  • Dr. Melissa Merrick

    President and CEO Prevent Child Abuse America

  • John Miller

    CEO JR Miller Enterprises

  • Jennifer Siebel Newsom

    First Partner of California

  • Dr. Bruce Perry

    Principal The Neurosequential Network Professor (Adjunct) School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University

  • Rebecca (Becky) Pringle

    President National Education Association

  • Dave Proctor

    Founder Treehouse Family Foundation

  • Shruti Sehra

    CEO New Profit

  • Bill Smith

    Founder and CEO Inseparable

  • Brad Thomas

    CEO Triple P America

  • Tonette Walker

    President Fostering Futures of Wisconsin

  • Dr. Debra Waldron

    Senior Vice President Healthy and Resilient Children, Youth and Families, American Academy of Pediatrics

  • Kacey Wulff

    Donor Advisor Pivotal

OBJECTIVES

Charting the path forward.

  • Strengthen cross-sector partnerships at the national and state levels to advance the prevention, early detection, and evidence-based treatment of toxic stress.

  • Support Anchor Partners in convening and sustaining effective state-level coalitions that drive training uptake, implementation, and trauma‑informed networks of care.

  • Surface real‑world implementation challenges from states and ensure they inform ARN’s guidance, tools, and strategic priorities.

  • Share lessons learned and best practices across states to reduce reinvention, strengthen coherence, and accelerate adoption of effective approaches.

  • Refine shared standards, communication strategies, and implementation guidance through cross‑state learning and expert input.

  • Identify opportunities for collaborative funding, policy advancement, and long‑term sustainability that strengthen statewide and cross‑state systems of care.

KEY MILESTONES

The progress so far.

  • June 2026

    First Meeting of National Leadership Council