Our Leadership

Safe Families founder, Dr. David Anderson, is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience in adolescent psychology. He has served as the Executive Director of since its founding in 2003.

Dave has experience in performing forensic clinical evaluations, providing administrative/clinical oversight to a 40-bed residential facility and foster care program, an 18-bed inpatient unit, professional foster homes, a counseling center, and a respite program. He has also taught at Wheaton College in the doctoral program in Clinical Psychology (Parenting Evaluation Course), Trinity International University in undergraduate and graduate programs, and the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology.

Cheri joined Safe Families for Children (SFFC) in 2019 and brings a wealth of wisdom with over 25 years of experience in strategic communications, volunteer engagement, and public policy work. She has previously worked with other non-profit organizations such as Concerned Women for America, Proverbs 31 Ministry, and the North Carolina Family Policy Council to motivate change and transform communities through shared responsibility and collaborative efforts. Cheri is passionate about giving a voice to the underserved and supporting vulnerable parents so children can thrive and families can stay together. Cheri has a BA in Communications and graduate work in Organizational Leadership. She is the wife to Paul Jimenez and has two children, Emma Grace and Harrison.

Mr. Ortiz has extensive expertise in public agency program development, implementation, budgeting, and organizational change management. Mr. Ortiz served in Utah’s Human Service system and as Senior Policy Advisor for Governor Perdue of Georgia. After leaving public service, he joined the Annie E. Casey Foundation as Evidence-Based Practice Group Director. In 2013, Mr. Ortiz relocated to Moscow, Russia, where he developed and implemented a small business incubation project. He returned to the US in 2019 and began work at Safe Families for Children.