Montana Winter InstitutE 2027
VIRTUAL ONLINE EVENT
January 25th-29th
5 DAYS - 90 MINUTES A DAY - NOON CT
$149 per person - register 2 or more for a 10% discount!
LIVE OR RECORDED ACCESS
Positively Productive Teams:
Using the Science of the positive to move from busy to effective together.
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Carla Ritz
MANAGING DIRECTOR AT THE MONTANA INSTITUTE
Monday, January 25 @ 12:00CT
Experience using SOTP as a Team Playbook -
ALI Chorley Dzieweczynski
DIRECTOR OF THE ORONO COALITION & SCIENCE OF THE POSITIVE TRAINER AT THE MONTANA INSTITUTE
Tuesday, January 26 @12:00 CT
Developing Shared Team Identity Using the Core Principles -
Zach Mercurio
AUTHOR, “THE POWER OF MATTERING" & “THE INVISIBLE LEADER” | SPEAKER & FACILITATOR | ADJUNCT PROFESSOR & RESEARCHER @ COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
Wednesday, January 27 @12:00CT
Noticing, Affirming, & Showing Team Members How They Are Needed -
jason mccoy & cassandra hainey
SCIENCE OF THE POSITIVE TRAINERS AT THE MONTANA INSTITUTE
Thursday, January 28 @12:00CT
Effective SOTP Team Practices -
Jeff Linkenbach & sharon hirsch
JEFF IS THE FOUNDING DIRECTOR & RESEARCH SCIENTIST AT THE MONTANA INSTITUTE & SHARON IS THE CEO AT THE POSITIVE CHILDHOOD ALLIANCE NORTH CAROLINA
Friday, January 29 @12:00CT
Winning, Learning, & Growing as a SOTP Team -
Register for the Winter Institute today
Get live and recorded access to all five sessions for just $149. Click below to register!
CARLA RITZ
Monday, January 25 @ 12:00CT | Experience using SCience of the positive as a Team Playbook
Carla Ritz is the Managing Director at The Montana Institute. With over 18 years of experience working coast-to-coast as a government and nonprofit leader, convener, early childhood and prevention advocate, and innovator. Before joining the Montana Institute, she served as the Executive Director for First 5 Lake County in Northern California, where she collaborated at the county, regional, and state levels to reduce ACEs by applying the principles of the Science of the Positive. Her prior roles include administrative and executive positions at Pew Research Center in Washington DC, the Infant Development Program in central Pennsylvania, and the CEO Fellowship in Brentwood, TN. Carla holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arizona and a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership & Learning from The George Washington University (Aug. 2025).
ALI Chorley Dzieweczynski
Tuesday, January 26 @12:00CT | Developing Shared Team Identity Using the Core Principles
Ali earned her Bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas. With more than two decades of experience in community health, she has served in a wide range of roles—from mental health provider and crisis counselor to prevention specialist, coalition director, and university professor.
Ali began her career providing mental health support and crisis intervention for college students, often during their most vulnerable moments. These late-night calls sparked deeper questions for her—not just about how to respond, but about what might be done upstream to prevent such crises in the first place. That curiosity led her into the world of community prevention, where she served as a chemical health coordinator and prevention specialist across several Minnesota communities.
Today, Ali serves as Director of The Orono Coalition and teaches at Metro State University, where her course examines the neuropsychology of addiction, how both adverse and positive childhood experiences shape lifelong health outcomes, and how prevention can transform communities. Her life’s work is rooted in cultivating environments and relationships where all people can flourish, with a deep commitment to well-being, belonging, and resilience.
As a former client of The Montana Institute, Ali helped lead the development of a Positive Community Norms campaign that successfully reshaped perceptions of youth substance use in her local high school. Drawing on the Science of the Positive and the Cycle of Transformation, she continues to integrate these frameworks into her leadership and teaching—inviting others to transform their communities through a lens of hope, strength, and possibility.
Ali is most proud of her family life with her husband, Casey, and their four children. They live in the suburbs of Minneapolis and together, they’re on a mission to visit every U.S. national park. Ali is a life-long learner, she finds joy in adventure, time in nature, and the everyday moments that connect people to one another and to the world around them. On the weekends, you will find her cheering on her family at triathlons, soccer games, basketball tournaments and lacrosse matches, always with an iced latte in hand.
ZACH MERCURIO
Wednesday, January 27 @12:00CT | Noticing, Affirming, & Showing Team Members How They Are Needed
Zach is a researcher, author, and speaker specializing in purposeful leadership, mattering, meaningful work, and positive organizational psychology.
He wrote “The Invisible Leader: Transform Your Life, Work, and Organization with the Power of Authentic Purpose” and “The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance,” which was released by Harvard Business Review Press in 2025.
His practice is informed through hands-on work with hundreds of organizations worldwide, forging purposeful leaders who enable mattering, motivation, well-being, and performance. Some of his clients include teams at the U.S. Army, USA Wrestling, J.P. Morgan Chase, Delta Airlines, Marriott International, The Government of Canada, and The National Park Service. He also serves as one of bestselling author Simon Sinek’s “Optimist Instructors,” teaching a course with Simon on how leaders can show everyone how they matter.
Zach earned his Ph.D. in organizational learning, performance, and change from Colorado State University, where he serves as a Senior Honorary Fellow in the Department of Psychology’s Center for Meaning and Purpose and as an Instructor in the Organizational Learning, Performance, and Change program. His research on meaningful work has been awarded by the Association for Talent Development, the Academy of Management, and the Academy of Human Resource Development.
He lives in Fort Collins, CO, with his wife, two sons, and two adopted dogs.
Jason Mccoy & cassandra hainey
Thursday, January 28 @12:00 CT | Effective Science of the Positive Team Practices
Jason McCoy, MPH, has spent more than a decade helping young people, families, schools, and communities build healthier environments. He currently serves as Community Prevention Manager with Clay County Public Health in Minnesota, where his work spans youth substance use prevention, community engagement, Positive Community Norms, positive experiences, and public health policy.
Jason’s journey with Positive Community Norms began as a practitioner looking for a better way to talk about prevention. Rather than focusing primarily on what was going wrong, PCN offered a way to accurately tell the story of what was already going right—and then grow it. He has since applied Positive Community Norms in schools and communities, working alongside young people to collect and communicate local data, correct misperceptions, strengthen protective norms, and build prevention efforts rooted in the strengths already present in a community.
Jason holds a Master of Public Health from North Dakota State University and bachelor’s degrees in Exercise Science and Community Nutrition from the University of North Dakota. He is a Certified Prevention Professional in Minnesota and a trained facilitator in HOPE—Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences. His work with HOPE has deepened his interest in the Science of Positive Experiences and its connection to the Science of the Positive: not only recognizing what is going right, but intentionally creating the relationships, environments, opportunities, and experiences that help people flourish.
Outside of public health, Jason is a husband and father, an author, and an enthusiastic storyteller. He enjoys writing fiction and nonfiction, staying active, and spending time with his family. Whether he is working with students, community leaders, or prevention professionals, he tries to bring the same principle to the work: focus on what is strong, build from what is good, and help people see what is possible.
Cassandra Hainey is a Science of the Positive Trainer with the Montana Institute, where she is honored to work with communities to uncover and grow the positive that already exists.
Cassandra has spent fifteen years supporting students and strengthening the systems that surround them. She spent five years as the Positive Community Norms Grant Coordinator in Rock Ridge, Minnesota, leading efforts to correct misperceptions of teen substance use norms to grow healthy behaviors and attitudes. She previously advocated for the best interests of children as a guardian ad litem and served as Executive Director for Volunteers in Education, connecting students to trained volunteer tutors.
Cassandra currently serves as the Mesabi Behavioral Health Network Coordinator, building on what is going right in her region and working to expand access to comprehensive, person-centered services for mental health and wellbeing. She works to strengthen collaboration across Northeastern Minnesota and connect organizations and systems in ways that better serve people and communities. Cassandra also sits on the State’s Behavioral Health Planning Council, helping ensure funding brought into Minnesota is used in ways that create meaningful, positive impact. Throughout her career, Cassandra has continuously moved her work further upstream, focusing on prevention, early intervention, and the conditions that help people and communities thrive.
Cassandra is passionate about empowering young people to lead, grow, and make a meaningful impact in their communities. She has witnessed firsthand that when students are given the guidance and space to make decisions, they develop genuine ownership, confidence, and personal growth. Cassandra has provided training to elementary and junior high students, helping them present at statewide conferences, lead initiatives within their school, and share their ideas with district administration and large community audiences. She advocates for students to have the tools, opportunities, and the confidence they need to lead both in and out of school.
Outside of work, Cassandra enjoys adventuring, hiking, and playing board games with her husband, Shaun, and their four kids. She enjoys reading, learning, and good-spirited arguing. She intentionally resets herself to being present by riding horses, taking on home projects, and hiking in the mountains
JEFF LINKENBACH & SHARON HIRSCH
Friday, January 29 @12:00CT | Winning, Learning, & Growing as a Science of the Positive team
Dr. Jeff Linkenbach, Founding Director and Research Scientist at The Montana Institute, has been an innovator in norms research and public health leadership for over three decades. He is the developer of the Science of the Positive and Positive Community Norms frameworks, which have been used by tribal, federal, international, state, and local organizations to achieve positive change and transformation on issues such as child maltreatment, substance abuse, mental health, and traffic safety.
Jeff holds a master's degree in counseling and a doctorate in education with a focus on community education. He has authored or co-authored numerous publications on norms change, public health, and transformative community leadership, and has delivered more than 500 keynotes, trainings, and presentations.
He founded the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University and was a Fellow at the Mansfield Academy for Global Leadership at The University of Montana, where he currently serves as a faculty affiliate at the Center for the Advancement of Positive Education (CAPE).
He was a co-investigator of the HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) study and a member of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s Knowledge-to-Action (K2A) think tank on Essentials for Childhood. He has worked with organizations such as the U.S. White House (Office of National Drug Control Policy), the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, the U.S. Department of Education, the Ontario Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, Harvard University, the American Medical Association, the National Football League, and many others.
Jeff is passionate about turning social science into measurable social action. His pioneering work has transformed how organizations and media communicate about health. In all his work, he challenges himself, his colleagues, and his audiences to ask: “Are we being busy, or are we being effective? And how do we know?”
Sharon Hirsch has been the CEO of Positive Childhood Alliance North Carolina (PCANC) for over 10 years. She is the recipient of the Triangle Business Journal’s 2024 Women in Business Award for her work in using the Science of the Positive to rebrand the organization from Prevent Child Abuse NC to its current focus on flourishing for all children. Sharon has also lead the team at PCANC to embrace the Science of the Positive and Positive Community Norms as frameworks to guide their work as a team and in their leadership of statewide teams and coalitions.