National Advisory Council
Joan Lombardi, PhD
Chair, Director
Early Opportunities Initiative | International expert on child development and social policy
Barbara Chow, MPP
Director - Education Program
Heising-Simons Foundation
Megan Gunnar, PhD
Regents Professor, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, University of Minnesota
Director
Institute of Child Development
Brenda Jones Harden, PhD
Professor
Columbia University School of Social Work
Nat Kendall-Taylor, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
FrameWorks Institute
Portia Kennel, MSW
Director
Thriving Families Thriving Children
Julie Mendez Smith, PhD
Professor of Psychology
University of North Carolina Greensboro
Sharon Neilson
Director
Woodland Academy
Deborah Phillips, PhD
Professor of Psychology and Associated Faculty in the Public Policy Institute
Georgetown University
Anthony Queen
Parent & Community Leader
Kent County, Michigan
Kathrine Stohr, MPP
Project Manager
Pritzker Children’s Initiative
Natalie Renew, MPA
Director
Home Grown Child Care
Policy Working Group
Jammie Albert
Program Manager, Early Childhood
National League of Cities
Meghan Salas Atwell
Senior Director of Applied Research
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Leah Austin
President & CEO
National Black Child Development Institute
Jenna Bannon
Associate Director, Children & Families
National Conference of State Legislatures
Miriam Calderón
Chief Policy Officer
ZERO TO THREE
Patricia Cole
Senior Director of Federal Policy
Zero to Three
Dionne Dobbins
Vice President of Research and Evaluation
Start Early
Diane Girouard
State Policy Senior Analyst
Child Care Aware of America
Erica Greenberg
Principal Research Associate
Urban Institute
Amanda Guarino
Managing Director, Policy & National Partnerships
First Five Years Fund
Jordan Hynes
Program Director, Children and Families
National Governors Association
Kim Keating
Research Director
National Black Child Development Institute
Christina Koch
Federal Policy Analyst
Child Care Aware of America
Javier Martínez
Managing Director of National Policy
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors
Elisa Minoff
Senior Policy Analyst
Center for the Study of Social Policy
Alexandra Patterson
Director for Policy & Strategy
Home Grown Child Care
Adrián Pedroza
National Executive Director
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors
Yesenia Robles-Brown
Chief of Staff
National Association for Family Child Care
Tonja Rucker
Director - Early Childhood Success
National League of Cities
Shiela Smith
Co-Director
National Center for Children in Poverty
Arabella Pluta-Ehlers
Senior Program Manager - Children & Families
National Association of Counties
Lindsay Turner Trammell
Director for Policy
Society for Research in Child Development
Albert Wat
Senior Policy Director
The Alliance for Early Success
Latine Working Group
Julie Mendez Smith, PhD
Chair, Latine Working Group
Professor of Psychology
University of North Carolina Greensboro
Rebecca Bulotsky Shearer, PhD
Professor of Psychology
University of Miami
Natasha Cabrera, PhD
Professor of Human Development
University of Maryland
Esther Calzada, PhD
Norma and Clay Leben Professor in Child and Family Behavioral Health
Steve Hicks School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin
Kevin Ferreira van Leer, PhD
Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Development
University of California, Sacramento
Doré LaForett, PhD
Senior Research Scientist in Early Childhood Development
Child Trends
Lisa López, PhD
Professor of Educational Psychology
University of South Florida
Gigliana Melzi, PhD
Professor of Applied Psychology
New York University
Colleen Vesely, PhD
Professor of Human Development and Family Science
George Mason University