Aligning Systems Promising Practices Panel

Barry Keppard is the Director of the Public Health Department at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). Previously, he was a Senior Regional Planner with MAPC and leading work for the implementation of the MetroFuture Plan through a combination of public health, land use, environmental, and transportation planning projects.

As the department director, Barry supervises and provides technical assistance on MAPC’s Health in All Policies and healthy community design projects, including the recent Community Transformation Grant for Middlesex County. MAPC’s work focuses on increasing the accessibility and affordability of healthful foods, assisting cities and towns with adoption of comprehensive community design approaches to enhance walking, bicycling, and active transportation, and increasing tobacco- and smoke-free settings. He also manages the department’s health impact assessment practice which aims to strengthen the connection between physical and environmental factors and health, and to look at how policies and programs can reduce health inequities. MAPC has used health impact assessments to positively influence policies affecting public transit, speed limits, school building, and funding for community development as well as to shape a private equity fund.

Additionally, Barry is leading MAPC’s internal Health in All Policies initiative to integrate approaches, findings, and recommendations into the organization’s practice areas, including Clean Energy, Housing, Transit Oriented Development, and Climate Change Adaptation.

Barry’s background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Masters in Regional Planning, and he has over 12 years of planning experience in the public and private sectors.

Sarah Schanck works for Crisis Line & Safe House as the Director of One Safe Place Macon, one of Georgia’s first family justice centers, opening in 2025. A native of DeLand, Florida, Sarah has lived in her adopted hometown of Macon for over two decades. She is passionate about community transformation through addressing big issues with big solutions. Sarah has over 18 years of experience in community relations, fundraising, strategic planning, and project implementation. Prior to joining Crisis Line & Safe House, Sarah worked at Mercer University School of Medicine in the areas of student research and career counseling and at Wesleyan College leading the institution’s quality enhancement plan. She obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration in Non-Profit Management and Marketing from Mercer University and a Master of Education in Higher Education Administration from Georgia Southern University. Sarah is married to Justin who works for Peach County School District and has two kids, Audrey and Connor.

Richard Sheward is the Director of System Implementation Strategies at Children’s HealthWatch. In this role, Richard leads the cross-sector policy work and initiatives of the organization. In close coordination with the Children’s HealthWatch Principal Investigators and Executive Director, he identifies and executes a wide range of projects grounded in research, policy analysis, and advocacy to inform and influence policy decisions that improve children’s health. Richard’s multi-pronged portfolio includes leadership of the Children’s Health Watch Social Vital Signs™ Communities of Practice, as well as strategic and innovative partnerships with other national organizations, researchers, and policy makers to advance the mission of Children’s HealthWatch.


Before joining Children’s HealthWatch, he completed an Education Pioneers Fellowship at Jobs for the Future, where he contributed directly to the organization’s policy research and analysis, and supported the Vice President in scoping out organizational strategy, resource development and external relations. Richard has also focused on organizational development and fundraising as the Grants Manager for the Boston affiliate of the national youth development nonprofit, America SCORES, and as an AmeriCorps*VISTA member in New York to develop the startup operations and fundraising strategy for an eco-civic environmental justice program serving urban youth.


Mr. Sheward received his BA from the University at Albany (SUNY) in English. He received his Master’s of Public Policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University.