About the Speakers
Andrea Sanders, MSW, JD
Andrea Sanders is the Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services, where she was appointed in October 2020. Sanders grew up in Brandon as one of four kids in her family. She was adopted at birth into her family through Canopy Children’s Services along with her older brother. She attended Ole Miss and Millsaps before continuing her education at Tulane completing a master's degree in social work. She worked for about ten years in mental health services for children and adolescents, as well as hospital administration in psychiatric hospitals.
In 2005, she got her law degree and worked for 10 years in McComb for two circuit judges before moving into private practice. She then moved to Jackson, becoming a lawyer at the Department of Human Services, working primarily with the early subsidized child care program. There, she was part of a group of employees that noticed irregularities and ended up turning in evidence to the governor. The governor then asked her to take this position as commissioner in November 2020.
Dan Torres
Dan Torres is the Senior Program Manager for the Bezos Family Foundation. Dan joined the Bezos Family Foundation in October of 2019 to focus on supporting and cultivating partnerships for the Vroom program. Prior to joining BFF Dan has had a number of roles focused on systems work to support families. He was the Executive Director of the Washington State Essentials for Childhood initiative, a cross systems, public private partnership with a vision that all children in Washington state thrive in safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environments. He also previously served as the Director of Policy and Partnerships at Thrive Washington. In that role he directed the community momentum strategy for 10 early learning regional coalitions and developed Thrive Washington’s legislative agenda. Dan spent the beginning of his career focused on child welfare policy as an associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy and at Casey Family Programs.
Erin Ramsey
Erin Ramsey is the Senior Manager for Mind in the Making at Families and Work Institute and is responsible for the overall implementation and development of partnerships.
Ms. Ramsey has worked for over 30 years in the early childhood field and began her career as a family childcare provider and preschool teacher. She later served for 12 years as Executive Director of a childcare resource and referral agency, where she developed the organization and several programs that were nationally recognized. Ms. Ramsey also served as the director of public relations for a statewide childcare resource and referral agency and was the Director of Early Childhood for the third largest urban school district in Indiana. She has been with Mind in the Making for ten years.
Throughout her career, Ms. Ramsey has served on numerous national, state and local boards and initiatives to increase the awareness of the importance of early childhood education and to improve the quality and accessibility for families, professionals and communities.
She holds an undergraduate degree in Child Development and Psychology from California State University at Sacramento. She also earned a Master of Science in Public Service from the University of Evansville.
Erin Ramsey is the mother of four children, has been happily married for 31 years, has two dogs and three grandchildren. She resides on her lavender farm in Kentucky. She is an experienced public speaker, author and works to help others see their potential.
Haley Fisackerly
Haley Fisackerly is the president and chief executive officer of Entergy Mississippi, LLC, an electric utility that serves approximately 449,000 customers in 45 Mississippi counties. He was named to the post in June 2008. Fisackerly is responsible for Entergy Mississippi’s electric distribution system, customer service, economic development, charitable contributions, regulatory and public affairs, as well as the company’s financial performance.
During his tenure as CEO, Entergy Mississippi has seen a steady rise in customer satisfaction scores, as measured by J.D. Power and Associates, which recognized the company as the top brand in customer service for business customers in 2017.
The company has also been recognized for both its economic development efforts and community support. Entergy has been named in the top 10 for Site Selection magazine’s Top Utilities in Economic Development for 11 consecutive years. Because of its partnerships with Mississippi schools, the company also received two 2012 Governor’s Awards of Distinction from the Mississippi Association of Partners in Education, the organization’s most prestigious tribute.
Fisackerly, a native of Columbus, Mississippi, holds a degree in business administration from Mississippi State University and a master’s degree in public policy administration from George Washington University. He served for several years on the staff of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran prior to joining Entergy at its Washington, D.C. office in 1995.
In 1999, Fisackerly moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was director of system regulatory strategy. He returned to Mississippi in June 2002 as Entergy Mississippi’s vice president of customer operations, creating the customer operations organization by combining economic development, customer service and commercial and industrial accounts functions. In 2007, he began a year at Entergy Nuclear as the vice president of governmental and regulatory affairs.
A recognized business leader in Mississippi, Fisackerly was named in 2016 to the inaugural class of Mississippi Top 50 and as the Mississippi State University College of Business Alumnus of the Year. He is passionate about workforce development in the state and has championed a number of initiatives working with the Mississippi Economic Council and other partners to improve educational opportunities and job growth for Mississippians. As part of these endeavors, he has committed Entergy’s support of over $1 million toward various workforce development efforts focused on communities in Entergy Mississippi’s service territory and led the way for a partnership with C Spire and the Mississippi Public Service Commission to help close the digital divide and bring rural broadband services to underserved Mississippians.
Fisackerly serves on numerous local and statewide boards, including but not limited to the Mississippi Economic Council, Mississippi Energy Institute, Mississippi State University College of Business Advisory Board, Bankfirst Financial Services, Woodward Hines Education Foundation, the Foundation for Mississippi History and the Nature Conservancy. He also served on the steering committee to establish the 2Museums (Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum) and is past chair of the Mississippi Partnership for Economic Development, the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership, MEC, and the USA IBC.
Senator Nicole Boyd
Senator Nicole Akins Boyd has been representing the 9th district in the Mississippi State Senate since 2019. Nicole grew up in Oxford and Lafayette County and is a graduate of Oxford High School. As a child, her days after school were spent on the Oxford Square or traveling to homes with her mother, Joyce Akins, the Lafayette County Extension Home Economist, to help families in need. Her mother taught her the value of serving our district's families and how service creates thriving communities. Nicole’s father, Noal Akins, was a longtime educator, coach, and later businessman and legislator from our district. To Nicole, he instilled the value of hard work, a winning attitude, and community service through his service and dedication to our community. In the Senate, Boyd sits on the following Senate committees:
- Insurance (Vice-Chair)
- Education
- Finance
- Housing
- Judiciary, Division A
- Technology
- Tourism
- Universities and Colleges
She previously served in roles such as Special Assistant Attorney General, Division Director of the Youth Services Division, and director of a non-profit healthcare organization. She also served for six years on the Tourism Board and a year as Chair, and currently serves on the board of a community bank that is locally owned and operated.
Nicole is married to Daniel Boyd, a local physician and small-business owner. They will be married 25 years this December. Nicole and Daniel have two children, Izzy (18) and Speight (15).
Russ Woods
Russell Woods currently serves as a senior director for Casey Family Programs’ Systems Improvement Division. Woods has demonstrated expertise in leading complex, large-scale special projects, child welfare initiatives, and interventions through research, data analysis, and best practice methodologies. He examines and supports Program Improvement Plans in assigned state child welfare jurisdictions using Implementation Science and specialized tools to execute solutions to address intricate challenges underscored in Child and Family Services Reviews.
Woods has provided strategic consultation and technical assistance on child welfare policy and practice to an array of stakeholders, including child welfare practitioners at all levels and community child and family serving private provider agencies. This is evidenced by his leadership in guiding multi-disciplinary teams to operationalize milestone public system reform efforts and innovative community capacity building projects, such as Oregon’s Department of Human Services transition to an Alternative Response System, procedural and fiscal analysis of the Arkansas Children and Family Services Differential Response System, the development of the California Statewide Kinship Advocacy Network created to position kinship caregivers to partner with the California Department of Health and Human Services to inform policies impacting relative caregivers, collaboration with former Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources, William A. Hazel, Jr., to mobilize efforts across systems and state borders to address the Opioid epidemic in Appalachia, supported implementation of statewide trauma informed system of care championed by Wisconsin’s former First Lady Tonette Walker, conducted Business Process Reengineering to support the child welfare transformation and redesign of Kentucky’s foster care system.
Woods started his career in Child Welfare 26 years ago as a Crisis Intervention Counselor and Therapeutic Behavioral Specialist at a residential treatment facility in Los Angeles County, serving severely emotionally disturbed boys.
Woods is passionate about educating community members on their rights and responsibilities regarding the safety, permanency, and well-being of youth and families, child welfare reform and prevention, and the importance of father engagement to improve permanency options and outcomes.
Russell Woods holds a Master of Fine Arts degree and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Public Administration.