Jay F. Hein

Jay Hein is President of the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, an Indianapolis-based think tank that he helped found in 2004. He was Deputy Assistant to the President and director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives from August 2006-August 2008. Hein is also Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for the Study of Religion.  Earlier in his career, Hein was a welfare reform policy advisor to Governor Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin from 1994 to 1997 and director of civil society programs at the Hudson Institute from 1997 to 2004. He was also chief executive officer from 2002-2006 of the Foundation for American Renewal, a charity founded by former Sen. Daniel Coats that provides grants and other support to community-based nonprofits. Hein began his career in Illinois government and he received his Bachelors of Arts degree from Eureka College, where he was an inaugural member of the Ronald Reagan Fellowships.

Amy Adair Horton

Amy Adair Horton returned to her home state in August 2009 to join the team at Sagamore Institute after living and working in Washington, D.C. for nearly 15 years.  She started her career in Washington on Capitol Hill, where she worked for six and a half years for a member of the Indiana congressional delegation as a legislative assistant, legislative director, and as deputy staff director of a subcommittee.  Her Hill work concentrated on education and civil society policy.  Amy left the Hill to serve as chief of staff to an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education.  In this capacity, Amy worked to improve education at America’s community colleges, high schools, career and technical, and adult education programs.  From 2006 to 2009, Amy served on the senior staff of the U.S. Peace Corps, leading the agency’s domestic programs for K-12, undergraduate, and graduate education programs.  Most recently, she directed the agency’s overseas programming and training for Peace Corps volunteers and staff around the world. 

Amy was born in Bloomington and raised in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  She received her B.A. in Political Science from Denison University and a J.D. from Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington.

Barbara A. Rush

Barbara Rush is the Chief Financial Officer of Sagamore Institute. In this capacity, she oversees all accounting matters, including maintaining financial records, budgeting, cost allocation and financial reporting, as well as human resources.

Rush has a wealth of experience in financial administration. She has served as Director of Fiscal Operations at the Community Centers of Indianapolis, adjunct accounting faculty at Manchester College, Chief Financial Officer at USA Track and Field, Inc., and Supervising Senior at KPMG Certified Public Accountants.

During her tenure at USA Track and Field, Rush directed the organization’s accounting functions and controls, supervised and designed a national volunteer services and training program for nearly 1,000 individuals, and implemented financial support programs for athletes training for the Olympic Games.

Rush holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Mathematics from Manchester College.

Susan Stinn

Susan Stinn is a project manager and events coordinator at Sagamore Institute. Stinn plays important roles in assisting the Institute's president, event planning, board communicaiton, and ensuring information flow among Sagamore staff. In addition, she manages Sagamore's website material. Stinn has experience as a small-business owner and an office manager.

Zoe Sandvig Erler

Zoe came on board as the Director of Communications in May 2010. Prior to joining the staff at Sagamore, Zoe developed her passion for storytelling in Washington, DC, where she served as a writer for Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministries and as a freelance writer for The Washington Times and World Magazine. Before her stint on the East coast, Zoe earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Grove City College (Pennsylvania).

An “Aussie” by birth and a “Hoosier” since high school, Zoe is excited to be back in the Midwest and starting life with her new husband Michael.

Donald Cassell

Donald Cassell is a Liberian native examining efforts made by the President of the Republic of Liberia to strengthen philanthropist-sponsored contributions to the country. Primarily, this project aims to determine the quality and quantity of Indiana's involvement in Africa.

Larry Ingraham

Larry Ingraham brings to the team at Sagamore 30 years’ experience in Indiana’s trade relationship with Japan. After falling in love with Japanese culture while serving in the Air Force from 1969-1971, Larry returned to Japan as a delegate for Indiana’s East Asian Office in Tokyo where he helped bring many Japanese companies to Indiana’s soil—including a Subaru-Isuzu plant in Lafayette. In 1990, he started his own consulting firm, Ingraham & Associates, Inc., to offer professional consulting services to U.S. and Japanese companies. He has served as a senior fellow for Sagamore since 2006.

Wesley Cate

Wesley Cate grew up on the Northeast side of Indianapolis. From there he made his way to Anderson University and graduated with a degree in Music. He then decided to pursue a Masters degree in International Relations at the University of Indianapolis. There, he learned about and began working with Sagamore Institute as an intern. A performer from birth, his first appearance on the stage was at age 3 in a traveling company of Sesame Street Live.

Dr. Amy Sherman

Rose Merritt

Rose Merritt serves as a research assistant at the Center on Faith in Communities. She is the point person for the financial literacy program, Economis, and assists with research on other CFIC projects. After graduating from the College of William and Mary, Rose participated in the Trinity Fellows Program in Charlottesville, VA. She joined the CFIC staff in the fall of 2008.