Ginger Bandeen ’00

Over the years of her social work career, Ginger Bandeen ’00 has worked with several software and data companies. But she noticed one trend: “Most of them were started by technical people who don’t have direct experience working with people,” she says.

When she moved back to Oregon in 2003 with a degree in Social Work from McDaniel, her career in social work began with case management services and then evolved into quality improvement, compliance, and program development. “Over the course of that time, I became passionate about how our data systems could help us improve and transform the system. I wanted to bring my social work perspective to this field and build data tools that are driven by the missions of the organizations that I serve,” Bandeen says. “That led to me founding Mission Driven Data in 2019. It’s been my full-time project since July 2020.”

Currently, Bandeen provides consulting services to mental health, substance abuse, and family service organizations that want to use data to improve their services. “It can be hard for people with a background in providing services to get excited about numbers and data analysis,” she says. “But it helps when you see the stories that data can hold. Data tools can help us find people who are falling through the cracks, reveal unintended consequences of our decisions, or shine a light on improvements we might otherwise miss.”

Through a software program called Janet™ that extracts and organizes data from a common electronic health record system and a free online community called Transforming Mental Health, Bandeen is helping create a new conversation about community services. “I want people in the industry to be able to recognize the true value of the work that is being done, with metrics that leaders can use to measure and increase that value,” she says. “As the founder and CEO of Mission Driven Data, I am determined to bring our tools to as many organizations and leaders as possible."