Jane Stapleton, President and Co-Founder

Stapleton is the co-founder and President of Soteria Solutions, where she directs curriculum development, technical assistance and training that creates lasting change by building safe and respectful workplaces and learning environments. 

She is internationally recognized for her work to develop and implement effective bystander intervention prevention strategies in workplaces, education institutions and the U.S. Military. She has provided direct services to survivors, technical assistance to states on the implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies in communities, consultation to colleges, universities and high schools on comprehensive bystander intervention prevention, subject matter expertise to the US Army on sexual harassment, assault, response and prevention, and collaborations to create culture change that supports safe and respectful workplaces.

Her work focuses on translating research to practice and working with customers to make sure prevention strategies meet their population’s specific needs and characteristics. Jane co-authored Bringing in the Bystander®, a scientifically evaluated and proven effective, prevention program for workplaces, colleges and universities and high schools. Jane has also co-developed the Know Your Power® Bystander Intervention Social Marketing Campaign.

Jane is known globally as an innovative leader in the sexual and interpersonal violence and harassment prevention field. Her solutions-focused approach creates an inclusive environment where everyone has a role to play in creating safe and respectful environments. Jane has testified in front of the US Senate and Congressional Committees on best practices and what we know works in prevention. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, National Public Radio, and Huffington Post.

Dr. Sharyn Potter, Co-Founder

Potter is the Co-founder of Soteria Solutions. She is also the Co-founder and Executive Director of Research at the Prevention Innovations Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, and Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at UNH.

Dr. Potter’s research focuses on engaging community members to work collaboratively to reduce sexual and relationship violence, stalking and harassment. She has been a leader in the development, dissemination and evaluation and of the theory- and research-based bystander intervention prevention strategies including the uSafeUS mobile app and the Know Your Power® Bystander Social Marketing Campaign that models pro-social bystander behaviors that has been shown to be effective for both campus and military audiences. She has been awarded research funding from competitive sources including the US Department of Justice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Defense, National Institute of Justice, National Science Foundation and Verizon Foundation.

Her research has been cited in international and national news media including the Guardian, New York Times, National Public Radio, Vox, Glamour Magazine, Teen Vogue and Chronicle of Higher Education.  Dr. Potter is the lead researcher on a study identified in the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault examining the delivery methods of campus sexual misconduct policies. She is also the Principal Investigator on a National Institute of Justice Award to develop and evaluate a video game to teach college students how to safely intervene when they see problematic situations occurring.

Potter has led two research studies that examined the prevalence of sexual assault among women and men ages 18 and over in New Hampshire. Dr. Potter completed a study examining the prevalence of sexual violence among working women and has co-authored papers using data from the NH Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) database. Dr. Potter has conducted research for the US Army in Europe and advised different US Military Branches on prevention strategies. She is the lead researcher and project director on the development and evaluation of uSafeUS®app, an anonymous sexual assault prevention and response platform for colleges and universities. Dr. Potter is also leading a national study to examine how campus sexual assault impacts survivors’ educational and career attainment and future financial earnings.

As the director of the research division of the Prevention Innovations Research Center (PIRC), Dr. Potter represents PIRC's research in academic, government, and practitioner forums and with scholarly and research communities. She oversees the development of new researcher-practitioner collaborations as well as development and application of new and existing theories.