Appendix A - Expert Meeting Participant List and Bios

Bureau programs include Boston’s Healthy Start and Healthy Baby/Healthy Child programs, along with early childhood mental health, school health, youth development, and community and dome

Promoting Optimal Child Development Expert Meeting

Appendix A Participant List and Bios

* Indicates member of Design Team

Juan Carlos Ferrufino

Elaine Fitzgerald (NICHQ)

Portia Kennel*

Brian Kilkelly Perri Klass Smith Guillaume Hilton Lamothe Rachel Levine (NICHQ)

Marisa Luse Lisa Mayberry Joe McCannon*

Matthew Melmed Marianne McPherson* (NICHQ) Mike Myers

Amanda Norton*

Flomen Nyambi Tendong Maureen O'Neill-Davis Quatia Osorio

Leigh O’Sullivan JacQúese Patterson Timeca Peters Cheryl Petersen Gary Pinkney Jr

Sean Pinnick Charles Purnell Tania Rivera Ayesha Rodriguez Bernadette Sangalang Phyllis Segal

Nancy Settle-Murphy Jonathan Small (NICHQ) Lauren Smith* (NICHQ) Eli Stefanski

Dana Suskind Kim Syman Jane Taylor Bonnie Thompson Nana Twum-Danso* Tassy Warren Martha Welch Josette Williams Renee Williams Beresford Wilson Karla Woodworth Cesarina Zabala Elaine Zimmerman Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham

Participant Bios

Doreen Abubakar, mother of 5, has been very active as a visionary in her

community She has worked in the medical field for over 25 years Her motto

is, if you build it, they will come Her passion is parent engagement She has founded various initiative such as: The West River Water Festival an annual event that connects the urban community that surrounds the city’s Urban Watershed This is a family event packed with watershed education, free canoe rides for families and a place where they learn about stewardship opportunities As a Parentii co-Parent Researcher, Doreen wanted to expand the initial question of what

do parents need to nurture their children to focus on one underserved neighborhood where she organized and developed parent leadership and parent engagement opportunities and created a network of agency, organizations and stakeholders This initiative was named CPEN (Community Parent Engagement Network) and has 5 components: Mentoring, Financial literacy, Health and Wellness, Entrepreneurship, and Education Over the past 4 years she was able to establish Family Fitness on the Farmington Canal

She registered the site as a Community-site with the Presidential Initiative, We Can! (Ways

to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition), a national movement designed to give curriculum and material

to parents, caregivers, and entire communities as way to help children 8 to 13 years old stay at a healthy weight For more information, visit https://familyfitness.shutterfly.com/

Deborah Allen, ScD, has been Director of the Bureau of Child, Adolescent and

Family Health at the Boston Public Health Commission since July, 2008 Bureau programs include Boston’s Healthy Start and Healthy Baby/Healthy Child programs, along with early childhood mental health, school health, youth development, and community and domestic violence prevention programs Bureau programs take a holistic approach, addressing mental as well as physical health Like all programs of the Boston Public Health Commission, they emphasize elimination of health disparities as a central goal Prior to coming to the Public Health Commission, Dr Allen was Associate Professor of Maternal and Child Health at the Boston University School of Public Health and Co-Principal Investigator for the national Catalyst Center on Financing of Care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Before BU, she worked for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Title V program for 13 years, overseeing state programs for children with special health care needs and adults with disabilities She has a doctorate in Maternal and Child Health and master’s degrees in MCH and Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health

Shikha Anand, MD, MPH, is responsible for strategic oversight of NICHQ's

programs and evaluation and guides NICHQ's content and business development strategies from a community health perspective Shikha is a pediatrician with expertise in community health and the patient centered medical home She has over 10 years of experience championing children’s health and creating innovative programs to integrate community supports with healthcare resources for underserved children to improve care for children with obesity, autism, asthma, behavioral health concerns and special healthcare needs She created the Healthy Weight Clinic, a community health model for multi-disciplinary obesity care, and the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program, a national program to provide healthy food access for underserved families She is a graduate of Union College, Albany Medical College and Boston University School of Public Health She completed her residency training at Yale New Haven Hospital and her fellowship in general academic pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine She

is a community health center pediatrician, having served for five years as the Pediatric Director at the Whittier Street Health Center in Roxbury, Mass Since 2011, she has been providing care for vulnerable families at the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, MA She serves on the Board of Directors of Healthcare Without Harm and Chairs the Advisory Board for Wholesome Wave's Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program

Sarah Berg has more than 20 years of experience innovating across sectors

and domains to improve outcomes for children and youth, with a focus on social emotional learning and technology She co-founded a digital learning company and produced a line of multi-award winning technology-delivered social-emotional learning, prevention, and health promotion tools that have reached more than one million students across the US and Canada, been proven effective in third party randomized controlled trials, and are included

on SAMHSA’s NREPP and the National Dropout Prevention Center model program lists She managed a series of HHS-funded RCTs in school settings, and co-authored two published articles looking at the impact of technology on child well-being and prevention She’s consulted with leading philanthropies, nonprofits, and school systems, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Aspire Public Schools She's currently consulting with Committee for Children, exploring possibilities for pediatric primary care-implemented, tech-delivered tools to build social-emotional skills for parents of young children She has a BA from Brown University

Renee D Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD, is a practicing primary care pediatrician

at Boston Medical Center and social epidemiologist and the founding director

of the Vital Village Community Engagement Network (www.vitalvillage.org) Her work focuses on the role of early-life adversities as life course social determinants of health She has a specific concentration on psychosocial stress and neuroendocrine and reproductive health outcomes, including obesity and early puberty She is interested in social ecology and the role of neighborhood attributes in influencing health trajectory Specifically, she has studied the intersection of community violence, intimate partner violence, and child abuse and neglect and neighborhood characteristics that influence these patterns Her current work is developing community-based strategies to promote child well-being and reduce child maltreatment using a collective impact approach in three Boston neighborhoods She joined the faculty at Boston University School of Medicine in 2007 and is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics She received her AB from Princeton University, her MD from Yale School of Medicine, ScD in Social Epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health, and completed residency in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital

Alma Carver is a Project Manager supporting the Texas Ten Step Star Achiever

Breastfeeding Learning Collaborative project Prior to joining NICHQ, she served as an intern in the Reproductive Health and Research Department of the World Health Organization Alma received her BA in Economics and Anthropology from Washington University in St Louis She graduated with a Masters in International Healthcare Management, Economics, and Policy from SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, Italy and completed a Global Health Delivery Intensive Certificate program at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School in July 2014

Charles Daniels, CEO and Founder of Fathers’ Uplift, witnessed his mother’s

struggles as a single parent So, why focus on supporting low-income fathers? When Daniels thought about his father, he took an unexpected approach: “I thought about the things he was going through that prevented him from remaining active in my life,” he says “Then I said to myself, ‘What if someone had been there to help him?’ It might have made a tremendous difference.” That’s exactly the sort of difference Fathers’ Uplift is designed to deliver In his words, “If we can identify the problems that are preventing men from being in their children’s lives, we can find ways to help them work through those problems and remain engaged.” Charles’ mentor, Dr Anthony Owens from Daytona Beach, Florida, dedicated his life to making sure Charles remained on the right track; “His commitment to making sure that the problems I had at home did not outweigh my success changed my life for the best I remember his words: ‘Don’t let your negative determine your future—keep pushing.’” This is the same message Fathers’ Uplift was created to relay—and this same support and therapeutic relationship-building—to fathers in low income communities Charles holds a Bachelor’s degree from Bethune-Cookman University and a Master’s of Social Work (MSW) from the Simmons School of Social Work Charles’s wife recently gave birth to a baby boy, Clayton Charles Daniels Charles is a proud a father and husband with a mission that is deeply rooted in love

Nicole DeCario is Director of Special Projects at the Bezos Family Foundation

and works closely with the leadership team and staff to develop and implement new projects and programs Guided by the belief that all children deserve an opportunity to achieve their full potential and make a meaningful contribution to society, the foundation supports rigorous, inspired learning environments for young people, from birth to high school, to put their education into action Prior to making the transition from the for profit sector

by joining BFF in 2011, Nicole spent seven years at Coach in New York City where she served as Manager and Advisor to the North American retail leadership Nicole received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and will graduate with a Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington in Spring 2016

Mia Doces is the Director of New Ventures at Committee for Children, where

she is responsible for identifying and supporting new avenues for broadening the organization’s mission of fostering the social-emotional development, safety and well-being of children Prior to this role, she developed and produced social-emotional learning and anti-bullying curriculum, media and adult training that is used in more than 26,000 schools worldwide She has worked on state- and national-level youth initiatives, serving on the Washington State legislative anti-bullying work group and has advised on SEL content for organizations such as Sesame Workshop, the Born This Way Foundation and Harvard GSE’s Making Caring Common initiative Ms Doces holds a BA from Vassar College and a Master’s of Education from Western Washington University She has 15 years of media production experience with an emphasis on educational media, and her work was recognized with a 2011 CINE Golden Eagle award Ms Doces worked for five years in Seattle Public Schools as a teacher and school counselor From 2007–2011, she co-chaired Prevention Works in Seattle, a Drug Free Communities coalition

Sarah Donohue-Rolfe is a Senior Project Manager at NICHQ (National

Institute for Children’s Health Quality) where she manages the New York State Breastfeeding Quality Improvement in Hospitals Learning Collaborative, working with 12 hospitals to improve their maternity care practices She previously supported NICHQ’s national Best Fed Beginnings Collaborative, providing assistance and guidance to 89 hospitals pursuing Baby-Friendly designation Before joining NICHQ, Sarah was a program assistant at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Sarah received her BA from Connecticut College and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude

Anne Douglass, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the College of Education and

Human Development at the University of Massachusetts at Boston where she directs the Bachelor’s degree program in Early Education and Care in Inclusive Settings, and a Post-Master’s Certificate Program in Early Education Research, Policy, and Practice Her research focuses on early childhood policy implementation, professional and leadership development, quality improvement and change process, and the role of early education and care

in supporting and strengthening families and preventing abuse and neglect Her current research includes a study of trauma-informed child care practices and systems in Boston, a study of informal child care providers involved with an urban school readiness initiative, and a study of early childhood educators returning to school to earn a Bachelor's degree Her other research includes an evaluation of Boston’s Thrive in Five school readiness initiative Dr Douglass received her PhD in social policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University, her master’s degree in education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and her bachelor’s degree in political science from Wellesley College

Steven Dow has served as Executive Director of Community Action Project

(CAP) Tulsa since 1992 CAP Tulsa embraces a two-generation anti-poverty strategy which focuses on providing high-quality early childhood education coupled with comprehensive family support services CAP Tulsa serves nearly 3,000 young children in center-based early education, an additional 400 families with home visiting and operates a sector-based workforce training effort which is preparing the parents of the young children it serves for careers in the health care sector CAP Tulsa was just named by the Non-Profit Times as one of the country’s best non-profits to work for, ranking 4th place among large non-profits Steven was an Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow He serves on numerous local, state, and national boards, including: Reach Out and Read, Center for Financial Services Innovation, Oklahoma Department of Human Services Citizens Advisory Panel, Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps, Tulsa Lighthouse Charter School, and Tulsa Housing Authority

Fabienne Eliacin

[Bio not provided]

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Carol Emig has spent her career working at the intersection of public policy,

programs, and research related to children and youth Since 2006, she has been President of Child Trends, an independent, nonpartisan research center Child Trends improves the lives and prospects of children and youth by conducting high-quality research and applying the resulting knowledge to public policies, programs, and systems From 2002 to 2006, Carol was Executive Director of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, a blue-ribbon panel of child welfare experts Many of the Commission’s recommendations were enacted by Congress or adopted by state agencies and state Supreme Courts Prior to this, she was Vice President for External Relations at Child Trends, where she built the organization’s public policy communications department Carol’s other professional experiences include Deputy Director of the National Commission on Children; Senior Associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy; director of a state children’s advocacy organization; and, research assistant to First Lady Rosalynn Carter Carol has an undergraduate degree in international relations from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University

Juan-Carlos Ferrufino is passionate about working on challenging projects

that have a long lasting impact on people’s lives and communities His professional background is in Business, Economic Development, Multicultural Affair and Macro & Micro Lending He is currently the East Boston Collaborative for Families Consultant at the East Boston Social Center Prior

to that he was the City Wide Community Based Strategies Consultant at Thrive

in 5 where he was responsible for coaching, mentoring and providing technical assistance to parent and agency leaders in the implementation of community projects In his position as the Business Development & Training Specialist for the Center for Woman & Enterprise, Juan-Carlos was responsible for the management of 28 programs, including outreach, logistics and achieving program goals Juan-Carlos was also the Chairman of the education committee for the FDIC’s initiative, the Alliance for Economic Inclusion’s Education Committee, whose mission is to enhance the economic well-being of low-and moderate-income immigrants Juan-Carlos holds a BA in Business Administration from de Universidad mayor de San Andres in Bolivia and a Certificate from Boston University - School of Management Juan-Carlos is originally from Bolivia, loves playing Zampona (a Bolivian pan-flute) and is the proud dad of two boys Randy and Yazi

Elaine Fitzgerald, DrPH, MIA joined NICHQ is 2012 and currently serves as the

Project Director for the Infant Mortality CoIIN expansion and was previously the team lead for the Texas Breastfeeding Learning Collaborative She came

to NICHQ with extensive experience in domestic and international settings working in operations, research, program design, grant management, and quality improvement Elaine completed her doctoral work at Boston University School of Public Health with a focus on infant and early childhood health Her dissertation utilized quality improvement methodology to improve the capacity of perinatal home visitors to promote and support nursing mothers Elaine was the clinical supervisor for randomized clinical studies testing a community-based, cognitive intervention to reduce maternal depression among mothers with young children with special needs In addition, she directed a SAMSHA funded initiative to develop and implement an early childhood system of care in Connecticut Prior to transitioning to domestic children's health, Elaine earned her Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University with a focus on children's rights and economic development, which led to her work with UNICEF Elaine is also a Veteran after serving as an officer in the

U S Coast Guard

Christina Flythe is the Senior Program Coordinator for the Parent Leadership

Initiative (PLI) and National Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI), Long Island Originally form Nassau County, Christina comes to PLI with a passion for community She is a Huntington PLI Graduate from 2011 and brings her personal love for the program along with her expertise Christina holds a Master’s in Education from Adelphi University and a Bachelors in Psychology from Lincoln University She has gained an extensive administrative background through research and development during undergrad and while employed by the Town of Hempstead and Winthrop University Hospital She has become active in Huntington community through PLI Christina is a NPLTI Phase I Facilitator and currently volunteers as a mentor for at risk youth Christina is a member of various organizations and initiatives throughout Long Island In her personal life she is wife and mother, as well as a licensed minister

Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, is a surgeon, writer, and public health researcher

He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is professor in both the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School He is Executive Director of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and Chairman of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization

making surgery safer globally Atul has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1998 and has written three New York Times bestsellers:

Complications, a finalist for the National Book Award in 2002; Better, one of

the 10 best books of 2007 by Amazon.com; and The Checklist Manifesto He has won two National

Magazine Awards, AcademyHealth’s Impact Award for highest research impact on healthcare, a

MacArthur Fellowship, and the Lewis Thomas Award for writing about science His latest book is Being

Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Keesha Hall is a highly engaged mother of four who has taken an active role

in advocating for early childhood and special education services because of the profound impact they have had on her family In recent years, Ms Hall has formalized her advocacy efforts by assuming a leadership role within an alumni network specifically formed to strengthen and amplify the social network of families whose children formerly attended Educare Early Learning Center in Chicago Although her children left the program operated by The Ounce of Prevention Fund several years ago, Keesha remains connected through the Educare Chicago Alumni Network (ECAN) to provide mentorship

to parents as their children enter the elementary education system, encourage families to share resources and knowledge throughout the network/city and to continue to evolve as a parent leader

Rebekka Henriksen is a graduate of Smith College, and after a varied career, is

now a stay at home mother to three young boys, ages 6, 5 and almost 2 In addition to acting as Mother Faculty for the Breastfeeding Quality Improvement in Hospitals initiative that NICHQ is overseeing for New York State, she volunteers as a La Leche League leader A long time meditation instructor in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, she has lead a mindful parenting group since the birth of her eldest son Mindful, positive parenting and transforming familial patterns of dysfunction and trauma are a source of daily inspiration and work for her

Ira Hillman leads the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust's parenting and early

childhood portfolio, working closely with current partners and identifying new partners who share the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust’s vision for building nurturing environments that foster social and emotional learning among young children and their families Through his career and personal volunteer activities, Ira has worked with organizations to transform their operations, develop new strategies, and build stronger collaborations among stakeholder groups Prior to joining the Trust, Ira spent a decade and a half in Washington DC where he was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff for the National Breast Cancer Coalition following his tenure as the Managing Director of Round House Theatre Ira has also worked for the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater, where he continues to serve as President of his undergraduate class and as a steering committee member for initiatives that promote multicultural outreach and engagement among Penn alumni Ira lives in New York City with his husband Jeremy and their two young children

Lisa Hirschhorn MD, MPH, is Director of the Implementation and Improvement

Science Platform at Ariadne Labs In this role, Lisa helps to scale-up and expand the implementation of the effective interventions developed by the programmatic research at Ariadne Labs and develop innovative approaches to measuring and improving care In addition, Lisa is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Associate Physician at the Division of Global Health Equity, and Visiting Scientist at Harvard School of Public Health Over the last 20 years, her work as focused on monitoring, evaluating, and improving access, utilization, and outcomes of care in the United States and internationally

Jennifer Hoos Rothberg, is the Executive Director of the Einhorn Family

Charitable Trust (EFCT) As the Trust’s Executive Director, Jenn leads the foundation’s efforts to fulfill its mission of helping people get along better Jenn oversees all aspects of the Trust, including setting its strategic priorities, monitoring progress towards goals, and building relationships with key partners to advance the foundation’s vision Jenn became the Trust’s first fulltime staff member in 2007, where she led the development of the foundation’s strategy and partnership approach to grant making Before joining the Trust, Jenn served as the development director at a nonprofit where she helped double the organization’s annual campaign and spearheaded efforts to build the organization’s development operations Jenn received her Masters Degree in Regional Planning, with a focus on community development and nonprofit management, and a B.S in Urban and Regional Studies with Honors, from Cornell University She currently serves on the board

of Repair the World, and previously served on the Family Philanthropy Committee for the Council on Foundations and the board of Cornell Hillel Jenn and her husband Jonathan live in New York City with their son Elliott

Emma Hopkinson is a Project Coordinator at NICHQ She is the Project

Coordinator for the Texas Breastfeeding Learning Collaborative as well as for the Programs Department Before NICHQ, Emma was the Social Media and Program Coordinator at The Newton Partnership, a nonprofit advocating for at-risk young adults She graduated from the University of Denver in Denver,

CO in June 2014 At Denver, Emma received a BA in International Studies, specializing in International Organizations, Security and Human Rights She also minored in Spanish and Marketing During her time in school, Emma spent a semester abroad in San Jose, Costa Rica, studying language, culture and human rights in Latin America While in school, Emma was a Project Management and Commerce intern for Softcard, a mobile technology company in NYC for two years At Softcard, she was able to file a provisional patent Before that, Emma worked for GE Capital as a marketing intern for two years

Shari Gold, MSW, LCSW is a graduate of Simmons College where she acquired

a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work Shari is a long time resident of Boston and provides critical services in the same community where she was born and raised Shari is currently the Director of Congregate and Co-Shelter Housing for Children’s Services of Roxbury (CSR) She oversees contracted services for 69 families and supervises 60 + Staff in six shelter buildings in the Boston area She also facilitates the Parenting Journey, a 12 week group which explores how one’s upbringing and messages received as a child impact how they parent their children Prior to her current position, she was the Social Worker for CSR’s Early Care and Education Center and monitored child care for up to 40 children with Department of Children and Families (DCF) involvement for CSR’s Family Child Care department Shari sits on the Round Table for Dudley Children Thrive (DCT), an initiative of Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative Shari has a vested interest in strengthening families and supports families in their efforts to conquer the underlying barriers such as poverty, homelessness, education, mental illness, substance abuse and other risk factors that prevent children and families from thriving

Moira Inkelas, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor in the Department of Health

Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and Assistant Director of the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, earned her doctorate in public policy at the Rand Graduate School Her research and policy studies examine how systems of care influence quality and performance of children’s services She has directed quality improvement in networks of family medicine and pediatric primary care practices to improve preventive and primary care for children She supports the introduction of cross-cutting functions in community systems aimed at improving the health and well-being for geographic populations of children and families, such as linkage, care planning, and care pathways Her research and practice focuses on practical methods of using measurement, dashboarding, and iterative learning processes to help diverse organizations and sectors including school districts, child care, health care, mental health, family resource centers, and others work as a system She teaches and mentors students in improvement in health care and population health, and co-leads the implementation, improvement & dissemination initiative of UCLA’s Clinical Translational Science Institute

Carmen James is a resident of Waterbury, CT She is married and has two

daughters, Daniela, 10 years old and Bria, 21 months old She has worked in the Social Services field for the last 13 years, both in the Non-Profit sector,

as well as State Government She is currently a Social Work Supervisor for the State of CT Dept of Children and Families She supervises diverse cases

of suspected child abuse and neglect She is also a co-researcher for Parentii (Parent Inquiry Initiative.) This initiative is funded by the Graunstein Memorial Fund and is administrated by the University of Hartford Parentii has two goals: (1)To build parents capacity to drive community-specific actions by: helping parents get the information they need, access resources and networks to support parents and by co-constructing and collaborating between communities and (2) To use parent leadership to transform systems by: providing transparency of the processes, value parent knowledge through co-production and by shared accountability

Meghan Johnson, MSc is a public health professional with expertise in

directing and managing programs in national multi-state nonprofit organizations She has special interest and experience in working with underserved populations, addressing disparities in health, and leadership development for healthcare professionals As Associate Director at NICHQ,

Ms Johnson is responsible for assuring consistent delivery of NICHQ programs

to achieve a high level of performance She has driven engagements of varying size and scope toward results, coordinating communication across stakeholders; managing data collection, reporting and synthesis; and providing technical assistance to healthcare professionals on improvement teams Prior to joining NICHQ, she served as the Boston Program Director and then the National Program Director for The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship in Boston, where she monitored performance and directed activities of all U.S.-based programming of this nonprofit organization that works to improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations by developing leaders in service Ms Johnson received her MSc in Maternal and Child Health from Harvard University School of Public Health and her BA in Human Development from Boston College Lynch School of Education She is blessed to be the mother of two wonderful boys, Jack (5) and Evan (4 months)

Margot Kaplan-Sanoff, Ed.D., is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston

University School of Medicine/Boston Medical Center where she provides child development training for the combined Boston pediatric residency program at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital and for the Fellowship in Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine She also provides training and supervision for both Project Dulce, funded by the Center for Social Policy, and Project Launch, funded by SAMHSA, both of which are based on Healthy Steps She is National Network Director of Healthy Steps now at ZERO TO THREE and is responsible for development of the curriculum and parent materials, and the on-going training and technical assistance to over 80 sites nationwide who are implementing the Healthy Steps Program in their pediatric practices She is a Fussy Baby Specialist and, for several years, she was the Infant Specialist for ACF Region 1 Early Head Start and Head Start

Rob Kaufold is the Executive Director of Hemera Foundation, a Bermuda

based private family foundation founded in 2007 Hemera is a contemplative philanthropic organization focusing on prenatal to three early childhood development, socially focused art and culture, the promotion of secular contemplative practice, homelessness and aging Prior to joining Hemera Regnant, Rob established Carriage Partners, LLC, an advisory firm focused on family offices and their related charitable entities In this role, he helped organizations review their operational, reporting, and decision making processes so to build efficient, sustainable infrastructure while maintaining strong internal controls and appropriate financial reporting Rob began his career in 1993 in public accounting with Coopers and Lybrand, LLP Since then, he has served in various senior accounting and financial advisory roles within the family office, insurance and financial services industries Rob is a New York CPA and have a BS in Accounting from Providence College

He lives in Broomfield, CO with wife, Erin, and two children, Emily and Molly

Portia Kennel serves as senior vice president, program innovation, at the

Ounce of Prevention Fund and executive director of the Educare Learning Network Kennel has more than 25 years of experience developing, implementing and scaling effective, research-based early childhood education and family support program models for low income children and their families

In 2000, she created the first Educare School to serve young children, ages birth to five As the executive director of the Educare Learning Network, Kennel led the national expansion of Educare and its model of early learning practices that close the achievement gap into a diverse range of communities Currently, Kennel leads the Ounce’s innovation efforts to create, demonstrate and adapt effective program models throughout the organization and in the broader early childhood field In this role, she engages, develops and leverages research and other external partnerships to generate new strategies, test promising practices and catalyze innovation in early childhood programs Kennel is a former Head Start director and has significant experience in the design, implementation and management of early childhood programs Kennel holds a master’s degree in social work form the University of Illinois and is a Zero to Three Fellow

Brian Kilkelly is a fellow at the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust and is involved

in programmatic, strategic and operational activities, working with all members of the EFCT team to support the Trust Before joining the Trust, Brian served as a City Year AmeriCorps member and senior corps member with City Year Washington, DC Brian earned his undergraduate degree in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University where he was involved in research studying parenting, early childhood education, and social information processing

Perri Klass, MD, is the National Medical Director of Reach Out and Read, a

national program through which 21,000 pediatric primary care providers provide children's books and guidance to 4.2 million children and their families every year at 5,500 clinical sites She has trained thousands of medical providers in exam room strategies for using books to promote language-rich interactive parenting strategies She co-authored the American Academy of Pediatrics 2014 Policy Statement on "Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice," and is on the Advisory Board

of the Bridging the Word Gap Research Network Dr Klass is Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics and Director of the Arthur L Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, where she practices pediatrics

at Bellevue Hospital She attended Harvard Medical School and completed her residency in pediatrics at Children's Hospital, Boston She has received numerous awards for her work as a pediatrician and educator; including the 2007 American Academy of Pediatrics Education Award, which recognizes educational contributions which have had a broad and positive impact on the health and well-being of children Dr Klass has published extensively about medicine and children's issues

Smith Guillaume Hilton Lamothe, is a student at Eastern Nazarene College

He works at Boston Medical Center Prior to that, he worked as a Public Relations, Clinical Health Educator and Program Coordinator in the Greater Boston Area He has worked as a Case Manager, Residential counselor, and in the health sector in different capacities He and his wife live in Boston and are the proud parents of three young boys Smith is active in the Haitian American Community of Boston where he is a board member of Haitian American United, Inc (www.HAUinc), he is also a member of Family Ministry in Action (http://www.famainc.org/) where he serves as an Assistant Executive Director He is a collaborator for Echo Evangelique (http://www.echoevangelique.org/) Aside from his personal and profession endeavors, Smith sees his faith as a conduit to serve others and as a social mandate, Glorifying God by serving others (A servant Leader Mindset) Smith is originally from Haiti, a place that gave him his first taste for community service and involvement through the work of his mother and his involvement in Christian Service Brigade (www.CSB.com) His passion is to be a change agent in the social justice, political and health field

Rachel Levine is a public health researcher and evaluator with a strong

interest in maternal and child health She designs and conducts qualitative and quantitative evaluation studies, including creating data collection tools such as surveys, interviews, and focus group protocols for process evaluation She is currently a Senior Analyst in the Department of Applied Research and Evaluation at NICHQ Among other projects, she is currently leading the evaluation of a national effort to reduce infant mortality She has past experience with both academic research studies and community based program evaluations In addition to conducting evaluations, Rachel has also coached and guided program staff in their own evaluation efforts Prior experience includes research on physical and mental health of low-income post-partum women and evaluating educational programs Rachel holds a Master’s Degree from the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Harvard School of Public Health and a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard College with a concentration in anthropology

Marisa Luse is the mother of an amazing 18-month old who loves jazz,

airplanes, wheels, laughing, apples and bananas Marisa has dedicated her personal life and professional career to social and economic justice, education and health equity, family engagement, violence prevention and intervention; and arts and culture for neighborhoods of Boston Utilizing her skills as a community connector and programming expert, Marisa has been effective in bridging neighborhoods within the city of Boston through social media and service learning opportunities, as well as developing effective systems and protocols for trauma response, city and state-wide Since becoming a first-time mother of an active and creative boy, she is committed to advocating for accessible and equitable early learning services, supports and spaces from birth to 5 Marisa is a proud parent-participant of Countdown to Kindergarten program

at the Trotter Elementary School in Roxbury, MA She is also a board member of Boston Association of Childbirth Education & Nursing Mother’s Council, and working with a group of visionaries to open a birth center in Roxbury, MA

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