Michelle Miller-Adams is an expert on asset-building strategies and the author of Owning Up: Poverty, Assets, and the American Dream (Brookings Institution Press, 2002). She received her Ph.D. in Political Science and Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University, and her B.A. in History (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her professional career has spanned the fields of non-profit management, finance, research, and academia; positions have included strategic planning consultant at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, vice president for programs at the Twentieth Century Fund (now the Century Foundation), and vice president for research at Salomon Brothers. She is the author of two books and numerous articles and foundation reports, and was the principal investigator for a Ford Foundation-sponsored research grant concerning asset-building strategies for fighting poverty. She is currently an assistant professor of political science at Grand Valley State University.

Sarah M. Klerk, Special Projects Coordinator

Sarah M. Klerk's responsibilities for the Upjohn Institute include coordinating the accumulation of Promise-related data, working with stakeholders inside and outside Kalamazoo, and assisting in education/economic development research. She is a recent graduate of the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. While at Chicago, Sarah concentrated her studies in economics, poverty and inequality issues. Her varied work experience includes working in San Francisco Public Schools, consulting for the employment program at the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, and conducting research for the Chicago Rehab Network.