Bringing nearly 34 years of municipal and higher education policing experience, Kristen joined the Healy+ team in 2023. As Senior Associate, Kristen has worked with Organizational Assessment clients to address staffing, operations, training, policy, recruitment, retention, incident review, and leadership development.

Named National Woman Law Enforcement Executive of the Year in 2023, Kristen served as the Chief of Police and Associate Vice Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department (UWPD) from 2017-2024. Serving a population of approximately 60,000 students, faculty, and staff, the UWPD is comprised of 65 sworn police officers, 28 security officers, 10 dispatchers, and 30 civilian support staff as well as 33 limited term employees for a total of 166 department members. During her tenure, which included leading through the COVID 19 pandemic, the first campus homicide in decades, and significant unrest following the murder of George Floyd, Kristen worked to move the department forward and build trust with the community. She led campus efforts to establish protest and demonstration guidelines, established the first Police Advisory Council comprised of a diverse cross-section of campus stakeholders, and expanded campus emergency notifications to include off-campus emergency alerts. With a particular focus on building trust with marginalized communities, Kristen created and implemented a first-of-its-kind position within policing by installing UWPD’s first Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Wellness in 2019. In 2020 she launched the Racial Equity Initiative to engage the community and to work collaboratively to develop UWPD’s Equity Dashboard – a co-defined accountability metric. A progressive and innovative leader, Kristen increased transparency, established formal and informal engagement opportunities inside and outside the department, improved communication, and cultivated community trust.

Prior to her appointment as Chief, Kristen served for 27 years with the City of Madison Police Department. Throughout her career there, she held a variety of positions including Police Officer, Recruiting Officer, Community Relations Sergeant, Professional Standards & Internal Affairs Lieutenant, Detective/Sensitive Crimes Lieutenant, Patrol Operations Lieutenant, Special Events Team Commander, Crisis Negotiation Team Commander, and Community Outreach Captain. In addition, she coordinated the department Critical Incident Stress Management efforts and developed and supervised the department’s Peer Support Program.

A defining feature of Kristen’s career is her extensive work to improve police services to people with mental illness. She developed and led mental health/crisis management response training for the Madison Police Department and created the department’s nationally recognized Mental Health Liaison Officer/Mental Health Officer collaborative response programs. She has conducted multiple local, statewide, and national trainings/presentations on police-mental health response and collaboration, including courses for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA). In addition to her work as a trainer/presenter for IACLEA, Kristen has presented on various topics throughout her career including leadership, police officer wellness and resiliency, and campus response to protests and demonstrations.

Kristen served as Vice President of Finance and Director at Large for the IACLEA Board of Directors as well as a board member for Dane County, WI National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). A graduate of the Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command, PERF’s Senior Management Institute for Police, and IACLEA’s Executive Development Institute, Kristen holds a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While a student at UW-Madison, she was a member of the UW Women’s Volleyball team. Kristen has proven success in building collaborative approaches to ensuring safety and is committed to the practice of always reaching higher.