Meet the two newest members of the CCTS team! Tyren Lucas, MBA, comes to the CCTS after a 17-year career with JP Morgan Chase. Tyren, who goes by Ty, spent most of his time at JP Morgan Chase in training and leadership roles, as a Learning & Development Specialist, Trainer, and as Underwriting Team Supervisor. He served on the company’s Executive Culture Council, an effort to boost employee morale, create career advancement pathways, engage the community through volunteerism, and improve employee relations. Ty also served as Director of the wellness committee, where he created a collaborative walking initiative called "The Leadership Walks." Ty graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Business Management from Concordia University-Wisconsin. He received his Master of Business Administration from Western Governor's University. He was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI, and moved to the Greater Birmingham area two years ago, a move that felt familiar after growing up visiting family members in Alabama.

Ty and his wife, Steffanie, are the proud parents of four adult children and have seven wonderful grandchildren. Ty has a serious passion for the culinary arts, a love that resulted in the opening of Heaven's Table BBQ in 2018, a top-ranked Milwaukee BBQ restaurant of which he was a co-owner and chef. Ty's ability to connect with people will be a major asset as he aims to collaborate with scholars, researchers, network partners, and colleagues to fortify the Training Academy domain and establish a level of trust that will boost CCTS efforts for excellence and innovation.

Cari Oliver, MPA, CIP, joins the CCTS as a Program Director of Special Projects. Cari spent 12 years as Assistant Director in the UAB Institutional Review Board and another year in the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology to help launch the Global and Rural Women's Health Program. Originally from Nebraska, Cari spent her formative years in Montgomery, Alabama. She moved to Birmingham for her undergraduate education at Birmingham-Southern College where she studied psychology and theatre. Shortly after college she joined CCTS Partner, Southern Research Institute, where she supervised the Preclinical Research Coordination department in the Life Sciences division. After 18 years at SR, she joined UAB, where she subsequently earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration. Cari is quite familiar to the CCTS; she has been a frequent speaker at the CCTS Lunch and Learn sessions where she provided practical guidance on IRB submissions, and other area-specific training to departments throughout UAB.

Cari currently serves as the Vice President on the Board of Trustees of Terrific New Theatre, where she has been involved as a board member, actor, and director since the theatre’s inception. She is passionate about the benefits of arts in communities. Cari is currently in her 19th year as a Girl Scout leader, leading both her daughter and great niece in that time. She has also served as a trainer of other Girl Scout leaders, who need mentors as they begin their journey serving the young women of the Birmingham community. She and her husband of 30 years, Bert, love to kayak, hike, and bird watch in their free time, and their two children, Frank and Hazel sometimes join them.

Drawing on deep expertise in clinical research and experience in adult learning, Cari will help CCTS investigators stay at the forefront of good clinical practice to conduct rigorous studies and trials. Working with all CCTS Domain Teams, she will shepherd innovative, cross-cutting initiatives and new collaborations for the CCTS. She will also partner in the continuous improvement and evaluation of success of these and other efforts throughout the Center.