Stephen Shimshock, PhD
Dr. Stephen Shimshock is an evaluation, analytics, and human-services leader with more than two decades of experience helping organizations translate complex data into actionable strategies, policies, and practices. He is Managing Director of Analytic Solutions at BCT Partners, where he leads artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, research, and evaluation initiatives designed to improve outcomes in child- and family-serving systems and other human-services settings.
At BCT Partners, Dr. Shimshock provides strategic and technical leadership for multidisciplinary teams applying advanced analytics to complex organizational and societal challenges. His work brings together artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, program evaluation, data visualization, stakeholder engagement, and change management. He is skilled at helping diverse groups develop a shared understanding of evidence, identify opportunities for improvement, and move from analytical insights to informed action.
Dr. Shimshock plays a central role in the continued development and application of BCT’s Precision Causal Modeling™ capabilities. His work focuses on using administrative and program data to determine what works, for whom, and under what conditions. This approach moves beyond broad population averages to identify meaningful subgroups, evaluate the services and interventions associated with better outcomes, and translate findings into evidence that organizational leaders and frontline practitioners can use.
Among his representative engagements, Dr. Shimshock led analytical work for Gemma Services’ residential treatment program, applying predictive analytics and machine learning that identified eight matched subgroups of children, treatment features associated with post-discharge hospitalization, and more precise measures of program success. He has also led or supported major analytics and evaluation initiatives for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Science Foundation, workforce-development organizations, and other public and nonprofit institutions.
For the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living, Dr. Shimshock helped lead an initiative using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and multiple data sources to investigate risk and protective factors associated with elder and adult maltreatment. For the National Science Foundation, he applied natural language processing to extract insights from extensive collections of proposals, reports, and evaluation materials. The analytical process produced meaningful findings in approximately 15 percent of the time required for manual human coding, demonstrating the potential for AI to strengthen institutional learning while reducing the time and cost of analysis.
Before joining BCT Partners, Dr. Shimshock served as an assistant professor in biostatistics at the University of Kentucky, where his work focused on person-centered research and statewide implementation of the Transformational Collaborative Outcomes Management framework. He supported implementations across multiple states and helped organizations build learning cultures that use data to improve practice, policy, and equitable outcomes. He also established a multistate data repository containing demographic, service, assessment, and Medicaid information on more than two million people, including the legal, contractual, data-cleaning, validation, and security processes necessary to create research-ready datasets.
Dr. Shimshock previously served as a policy fellow and Precision Analytics lead at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. In that role, he led the implementation of advanced analytics across a network of public and private agencies serving children, youth, and families. He developed a multifaceted modeling framework for identifying what works for distinct populations in human-services settings and helped organizations use data to identify which clients benefited from existing services and which required new strategies or innovations.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Shimshock spent more than 15 years at Casey Family Programs, where he held leadership roles in systems, data, reporting, practice technology, continuous quality improvement, and change management. He led cross-functional teams responsible for engaging staff in the full cycle of inquiry, from generating insights to taking informed action on behalf of children and families. He also guided the development of technology solutions designed to align organizational priorities with the day-to-day needs of frontline practitioners.
Dr. Shimshock earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Social Science from Tilburg University, a Master of Arts in Psychology from Chapman University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Texas at El Paso. His interdisciplinary background supports an approach that combines analytical rigor, systems thinking, human-centered design, and an understanding of the organizational and interpersonal dynamics required to convert evidence into practice.
Across his career, Dr. Shimshock has focused on ensuring that data and technology produce meaningful improvements for the people and communities that human-service systems are intended to support. His expertise in evaluation, AI, machine learning, child welfare, behavioral health, learning systems, and practitioner engagement provides an important foundation for the continued development, validation, and scaling of BCT’s responsible AI and Precision Causal Modeling™ portfolio.