Who I Am.
Alongside this work, I lead Flicker Consulting, a consulting practice focused on strategy, evaluation, facilitation, and organizational capacity building, and Resonant Minds, a neurodiversity-affirming practice supporting adults through assessment, consultation, groups, and leadership development.
I also currently serve as President of the Minnesota Evaluation Association, where I help support and strengthen Minnesota’s evaluation community and the role evaluation can play in advancing equity, learning, and systems change.
Outside of work, I live in Saint Paul with my two middle-school-aged kids who do an excellent job keeping me humble and at least somewhat aware of current trends. I play bass clarinet with the Minnesota Freedom Band, and co-created and love engaging with a transmasculine book club for folx over 30, and spend a lot of time thinking about identity, belonging, leadership, systems, and what it means to create spaces where people can show up more fully as themselves.
Professionally, my work spans public systems transformation, implementation strategy, evaluation, behavioral health, and leadership development. In my full-time role as Deputy Director of Integrated Population Health with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, I help lead population health and health equity strategy for the roughly 1.2 million Minnesotans served by Medicaid and MinnesotaCare. I guide division-wide strategic planning and organizational design, and direct teams focused on research and analytics and on community engagement and health equity. I work on systems change efforts focused on improving access, equity, cross-system alignment, and community-centered approaches within Medicaid and public systems.
My Perspective
My work consistently brings me back to systems, identity, leadership, and human experience. Across both my consulting and clinical work I am interested in how people navigate complex systems and how systems, in turn, shape what becomes possible for people and communities.
My perspective is shaped by my background as a clinician in behavioral health, in implementation science, evaluation, and organizational systems, as well as my own experiences navigating systems with varying degrees of success as a neurodivergent and trans/queer person. I am particularly interested in the ways institutions define normalcy, expertise, leadership, and success as well as how those definitions can unintentionally reproduce exclusion, inequity, and harm.
Whether I am supporting large-scale systems change efforts, facilitating strategy and evaluation work, or working directly with neurodivergent adults, my work is grounded in the belief that sustainable change requires both structural transformation and deeper understanding of the human experience inside those structures.
Across my work, I aspire to create spaces that hold complexity well - spaces where reflection, rigor, accountability, learning, and humanity can successfully coexist.
My Credentials
Education
Implementation Scient Postdoctoral Training Institute, 2024
University of Cork College, Ireland
PhD: Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development: Evaluation Studies, 2024
University of Minnesota
Implementation Science Institute, Health Policy, 2021
University of Pennsylvania
Masters: Social Work, 2009
University of St. Thomas
BS: Psychology, 2006
BA: Social Work, 2006
Southwest Minnesota State University
Professional Experience
Founder and Principal Consultant, 07/2023-Present
Flicker Consulting, LLC | St. Paul, MN
Founder and Clinician, 12/2025-Present
Resonant Minds, PLLC | St. Paul, MN
Deputy Director of Integrated Population Health / Human Services Manager 4, 09/2024-present
Office of the Medicaid Medical Director, Healthcare Administration
Minnesota Department of Human Services | St. Paul, MN
Director of Learning and Impact Strategy, 10/2022-09/2024
Greater Twin Cities United Way | Minneapolis, MN
Fiscal Analysis, Research, and Evaluation Supervisor / Human Services Supervisor 4, 04/2019-12/2020
Fiscal Analysis and Results Management, Aging and Disability Services Administration
Minnesota Department of Human Services | St. Paul, MN
Research and Evaluation Team Supervisor / Human Services Supervisor 3, 12/2020-10/2022
Behavioral Health Administration
Minnesota Department of Human Services | St. Paul, MN
Clinical Trainer / Education Program Specialist 2, 04/2018-04/2019
Center for Practice Transformation
University of Minnesota | St. Paul, MN
Education Program Specialist 2, 07/2016-04/2018
Institute on Community Integration
University of Minnesota | Minneapolis, MN
Clinical Supervisor and Clinician, 2009-2016
Various Providers including Minnesota Direct Care and Treatment, Thad Wilderson and Associates, and OPTIONS Family and Behavior Services
Professional Service
Board of Directors, President, 01/2025-Present
Minnesota Evaluation Association | Minnesota
Board of Directors, Internal Affairs, 10/2023-10/2024
Rainbow Health | Minneapolis, MN
Selected Recent Publications
Flicker, A. (Submitted for publication). Reframing Evaluation Theory: Nonlinear Program Theory Modeling as a Tool for Structural and Empirical Clarity. New Directions in Evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation.
Flicker, A. (Submitted for publication). Leveraging Implementation Science Frameworks for Community Engagement Strategy. New Directions in Evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation.
Flicker, A. (Submitted for publication). Surfacing casual assumptions in evaluation theory: Using nonlinear program theory logic as a tool for discernment between evaluation approaches.
Chomilo, N. & Flicker, A. (2026). Health Related Social Needs in Minnesota. Minnesota Department of Human Services.
Kannan, P. & Flicker, E. (2025). Intersecting Identities, Interwoven Practices: A Collective Reflection on Evaluation and Identity Disclosure. American Journal of Evaluation.
Flicker, E. (2024). Navigating the Evaluation Labyrinth: Using Nonlinear Program Theory to Evaluate Evaluation Theory. Dissertation. University of Minnesota.
Flicker, E. (2022). Connecting the Dots: Policy and Funding Solutions to Support Thriving Minnesota Communities. Greater Twin Cities United Way, Minneapolis, MN. https://www.gtcuw.org/our-impact/nonprofit-partnerships/connecting-the-dots/
Selected Recent Presentations
Flicker, A. (2026) Opening the Black Box of Evaluation Theory: Nonlinear Program Theory as a Method for Examining Evaluation Theories. European Evaluation Society Biennial Conference, Lille, France.
Flicker, A. & Kannan, P. (2026). Navigating Identity and Disclosure in Evaluation Practice: Implications for Power, Trust, and Responsiveness. European Evaluation Society, Lille, France.
Flicker, A. (2026). Redefining Leadership: Beyond Neurotypical Models. Autism Society of Minnesota Conference.
Queeglay, M., Vu, N., & Flicker, A. (2026). Medicaid Matters: Changes in 2025 and Beyond: Impacting Health Equity in Minnesota. Minnesota Public Health Association. St. Cloud, MN.,
Flicker, E., Lightfield, T., Around Him, D., & Grauman, L.(2025). Pathways to Racial Equity in Medicaid: Improving the Health and Opportunity of American Indians in Minnesota. Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment 8th International Conference. Chicago, IL.
Flicker, E. (2024). Bridging Program Evaluation with Implementation Science: Leveraging the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). American Evaluation Association Conference, OR.
Flicker, E. (2024). Navigating the Evaluation Labyrinth: Using Nonlinear Program Theory to Evaluate Evaluation Theory. American Evaluation Association, Portland, OR.