Our Team

Michael Quinn Patton is the Founder and CEO of Utilization-Focused Evaluation, an independent organizational development and program evaluation organization.

After receiving his doctorate in sociology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he spent 18 years on the faculty of the University of Minnesota (1973-1991), including five years as Director of the Minnesota Center for Social Research and ten years with the Minnesota Extension Service.

He has authored numerous books on evaluation, including Blue Marble Evaluation (2019), Principles-Focused Evaluation (2018), Facilitating Evaluation (2018), Developmental Evaluation (2010) and Utilization-Focused Evaluation (2008). He has also edited or contributed articles to numerous books and journals, including several volumes of New Directions in Program Evaluation, on subjects as diverse as culture and evaluation, how and why language matters, HIV/AIDS research and evaluation systems, extension methods, feminist evaluation, teaching using the case method, evaluating strategy, utilization of evaluation, and valuing. His creative nonfiction book, Grand Canyon Celebration: A Father–Son Journey of Discovery, was a finalist for Minnesota Book of the Year.

Patton has received both the Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Award for “outstanding contributions to evaluation use and practice” and the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award for lifetime contributions to evaluation theory awarded by the American Evaluation Association. The Society for Applied Sociology honored him with the 2001 Lester F. Ward Award for Outstanding Contributions to Applied Sociology. He was President of the American Evaluation Association in 1988 and Co-Chair of the 2005 International Evaluation Conference in Toronto sponsored jointly by the American and Canadian evaluation associations. He sits on the Editorial Advisory Board for The Foundation Review. 

Michael has three children—a musician, an engineer, and an evaluator—and four grandchildren. When not evaluating, he enjoys exploring the woods and rivers of Minnesota —kayaking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing—and occasionally hiking in the Grand Canyon. He enjoys watching the seasons change from his office overlooking the Mississippi River in Saint Paul. Contact Michael.

Charmagne Campbell-Patton is the Director of Organizational Learning and Evaluation at Utilization-Focused Evaluation. In this role, Charmagne supports organizations working for social justice by embedding evaluative thinking across programs and operations. She brings a decade of program design, implementation and evaluation experience to this work from across a range of fields, including youth civic engagement, education, environmental justice, youth homelessness and philanthropy. She specializes in qualitative research methods and utilization-focused developmental evaluation. She holds a BA in Political Science from Grinnell College and an MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University’s School of International Service. She has authored several articles and blog posts, including “Conceptualizing and Evaluating the Complexities of Youth Civic Engagement” in the Handbook of Research on Civic Engagement in Youth. Charmagne has lived, worked and traveled in North and Central America, the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, West and East Africa, and South Asia. She lives in Minneapolis, MN with her husband, two children, cat and dog. Contact Charmagne.

As a small team, we frequently partner with other consultants and collaborators on projects. Meet our collaborators.