Our People

Cay Shea-Hellervik, Chief Executive Officer

Cay Shea-Hellervik, the Foundation’s CEO, is dedicated to perfecting a change program and process for potential and serious juvenile offenders and assuring that they have opportunities to learn and transform their lives. Supporting and empowering parents and professionals in the criminal justice system are essential in that process.

Cay was born in Norwood, Ohio, a city completely surrounded by Cincinnati. She learned the importance of serving others while watching her father serve as a public official for 27 years. He had also served in World War II, with his brothers, during her childhood.

After graduating from College at the University of Dayton, she and her husband became parents of two beautiful children. They moved to Minneapolis and later divorced. Cay studied psychology and before completing her Master’s degree, was hired by Hennepin County (the greater Minneapolis area). Her boss, the Superintendent of the Home School, ordered her to develop a program for offender’s that worked. She did, and remained there for a total of almost fifteen years.

Cay remarried in the early 80’s, and in 1990 her husband, Lowell Hellervik, asked her to work for his company, Personnel Decisions, Inc. which became Personnel Decisions International. They opened some thirty offices globally, employing over 700 people. PDI assessed and developed managers and executives in Fortune 100 and Global 1000 companies.

In 2012, Lowell sold PDI. Having watching her philanthropist husband contribute so many gifts and talents to non-profit organizations, she joined him in his philanthropic work. Of note was her work as Chair of the State of Minnesota Sesquicentennial, a state-wide celebration of Minnesota’s 150th year as a state. Her work and support of the Red Cross, The Cathedral Heritage Foundation in Saint Paul, and many others is exemplary.

She also published the book she had dreamed of for so long – It’s Not Your Fault – a Workbook for Parents of Juvenile Offenders. Although written for parents, it is also written for any professional working in criminal justice, especially those working in institutions and in-patient residential care with young offenders.

Cay feels it took her four years to really understand criminal thinking, and she wants to help prevent other professionals from that long learning curve.

Cay started a Foundation in 2017 to spread the word about the book, endow scholarships, fund research, and sponsor conferences, among other endeavors.

She plans for the foundation to survive her as a legacy for her children and grandchildren. Many family members have been inspired to serve. In the “About Us” section of this web site, Lowell and Cay’s son says, “We exist to improve lives.”

Carrie Heckman, Chief Financial Officer and Board Member

Carrie Heckman brings broad operational skills honed in a range of industries to her role as the Foundation’s chief financial officer.

“I take a careful, strategic look at what we’re doing and apply common sense to how it can be most effective,” said Heckman, who is chief operating officer at Bestor Architecture in Los Angeles.

Previously, as an independent business consultant, she advised companies on many issues related to profitability and growth, including sales, marketing, operations, finance and employee retention. “I look at ways companies can be more effective and efficient,” she explains.

Earlier in her career, she worked for Manhattan Toy Company in Minneapolis, where she rose from a sales position to become vice president of operations. During that time, she helped the company attain multi-fold growth in revenues.

Yet of all her achievements, Heckman points to her volunteer role as co-president of the Board at the Third Street Elementary School in Los Angeles as among the most meaningful. In that position, she raised money to help cover important school expenses, including the library, the computer science lab, and playground personnel.

In a varied business career, those efforts to support the school community stand out as extremely rewarding, she recalls.

RJ Heckman, Board Secretary and Board Member

Board Secretary RJ Heckman is a national leader in the field of leadership solutions and talent development. “I’ve always thought of myself more as a business person than a psychologist,” says Heckman, who holds a doctoral degree in psychology. “I’m in the business of improving lives.”

Heckman is vice chairman of Korn Ferry. Previously, he was CEO of Personnel Decisions International, a leading global firm in talent management. He also has held executive roles at Honeywell and AT&T.

A published author and in-demand speaker, he has adapted principles of psychology to create practical methods that help individuals achieve personal goals. “I believe that what we know can be applied to the improving of any life, anytime,” he says.

Heckman maintains that by repeating three steps over and over, people can solve problems and overcome habits that stand in their way:

1. Have a clear goal of how you want life to be better.
2. Take a baseline measurement of how you’re doing today.
3. Come up with practical ways to close the gap between the life goal

and where you currently stand, such as by gaining new skills and practicing new behaviors.

To succeed, individuals must stick to their plan over time and hold themselves accountable.
The process can apply to many aspects of life and personal circumstances. “In my business of industrial psychology, I call it the talent waltz,” he says, alluding to the repetitive, three-step pattern of waltzing.

Speaking of the Foundation, he says: “We exist to improve lives.”

The Foundation’s Advisory Council: