Elena Engle
Head Start T/TA Network
Region 1 T&TA
Elena Engle has over 25 years of experience across government and non-profit organizations and currently serves as a Grantee Specialist with the New England Head Start Training and Technical Assistance Network. Her career has been focused on child welfare and early childhood care and education and has included direct care service, program management, quality improvement and training and technical assistance. Prior to her role as a Grantee Specialist, she held the role of the Child and Family Services Director for a Community Action Agency, overseeing Head Start, Early Head Start, Home Visiting and Child Care.
Ms. Engle received a bachelor's of arts in sociology from the University of Central Florida and her master's degree in public administration from Troy University.
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Head Start T/TA Network
Region 1 T&TA
Winique Green
Region 1
T&TA
Winique A. Green is a Grantee Specialist for the Region 1 Head Start TTA Network. Winique has over twelve years of experience in Head Start in the areas of ERSEA (Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment and Attendance), Family Engagement, Quality Assurance, Compliance, and Program Operations. She has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Bentley University and a master’s in organizational leadership from Southern New Hampshire University. Winique is also the mother of two teenage boys.
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Region 1
T&TA
Heather Peasley
MSW
National Center on Head Start Program Management and Fiscal Operations (PMFO)
Heather Peasley, MSW, brings years of leadership, knowledge, and expertise in HS/EHS programs from her time as a Program Director and Regional Head Start Training and Technical Assistance Grantee Specialist and Manager. Heather is dedicated to building capacity in programs to thrive through her excitement for data-driven decision-making, organizational design, and management systems that strengthen services to children and families based on community needs.
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MSW
National Center on Head Start Program Management and Fiscal Operations (PMFO)
Mark Mazon
Leadership
National Center on Head Start Program Management and Fiscal Operations (PMFO)
Mark Mazon has over 30 years of experience serving in various leadership positions in local government and the nonprofit sector. His city management experience included oversight in the areas of court administration, human services administration, human resources, budget, finance, and audit. Mark also served as President & CEO of one of the longest-standing nonprofit organizations in Arizona offering services in charter school education and workforce development. As an Executive Coach, Mark worked with nonprofits on leadership development, board governance and fiscal management oversight. Mark holds a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Arizona State University.
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Leadership
National Center on Head Start Program Management and Fiscal Operations (PMFO)
Donna Brown
Leadership
Office of Head Start
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Leadership
Office of Head Start
Marina Winkler
Regional Program Manager
Office of Head Start
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Regional Program Manager
Office of Head Start
Amanda Bryans
Leadership
Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families
Amanda began her Head Start career over 30 years ago as a Disabilities Services and Education Coordinator for five years and then five years as the Director of the Head Start program in Albany, NY. She arrived in Washington as a National Head Start Fellow in 1998 and never left the Office of Head Start OHS), Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services. During this time, she has led efforts to improve the quality and effectiveness of program services through regulations, research, program monitoring, and training and technical assistance. She currently leads OHS’s work on education and research to practice. In addition to early childhood education and research, expertise includes program leadership, inclusion, and
transportation services. Amanda has a B.S. from Cornell University in Human
Development and Family Studies and an M.S. from the State University of New York at Albany in Educational Psychology, Measurement, and Statistics. She has a husband, an 18-year-old daughter, 13-year-old son, and multiple four-legged family members.
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Leadership
Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families
Gladys Rivera
Leadership
Head Start T/TA Network
Gladys Rivera has 17 years of experience working with Head Start/Early Head Start and Migrant Head Start in varying management roles. She served as director of education, program development, and migrant programming for a Head Start Program in Massachusetts. Currently, she serves as one of five Grantee Specialists with the New England Head Start Training and Technical Assistance Network. Her training and expertise are in the areas of program management systems and early childhood education. Ms. Rivera earned her bachelor’s in social science from American International College and her master’s in educational studies from Springfield College.
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Leadership
Head Start T/TA Network
Nena Cunningham
Ed.D.
Region 1 T&TA
Nena Cunningham Ed.D. is a Grantee Specialist for the UMass Head Start TTA Network. Dr. Cunningham has over 20 years of experience working with Head Start and Early Head Start programs throughout Maine and New England.
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Ed.D.
Region 1 T&TA
Cory David Santos
Administrative Coordinator
Citizens for Citizens, Inc. - Head Start and Early Head Start
Cory’s focus is on Organizational Change and Systems Development. He has been an administrator for center-based child care in Southeastern Massachusetts for nearly 20 years. He has also worked for the Massachusetts Dept. of Health and Dept. of Early Education and Care as a Program Coordinator, Coach, and Consultant, with significant work on quality improvement and assurance.
He is an IMIL (I am Moving, I am Learning) Ambassador promoting healthy opportunities for children, families, and staff, including physical activities through music and movement. Cory is also a SpecialQuest Champion; he has been on the National Leadership Team, integrating a sense of belonging and inclusion in programs.
He has attended the University of Theatre studying Arts Education and Management and finished his bachelor’s degree at the University of Lesley. His Master’s Degree will be in Creative Arts Therapy and Educational Leadership, and will continue to work on staff morale and productivity in workforce development through coaching and mentoring.
When not working, Cory can also be seen on and off stage as he partakes in community theater as an actor, director, choreographer, and producer; and enjoys directing live-arts shows for children and families. His other favorite hobbies include hiking, traveling, and napping with his dog Meghan.
“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!” ~ Dr. Seuss
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Administrative Coordinator
Citizens for Citizens, Inc. - Head Start and Early Head Start
Michelle Haimowitz
Executive Director
Massachusettes Head Start Association
Michelle Haimowitz, serves as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Head Start Association (MHSA), leading the organization’s work in supporting Massachusetts’ 29 Head Start and Early Head Start grantees. The Association represents Head Start and Early Head Start at the Massachusetts State House and with state and federal partners.
Prior to MHSA, Michelle worked in Policy and Government Relations at Jumpstart for Young Children, helping to found Jumpstart’s early childhood and higher education policy and advocacy work in Massachusetts and on Capitol Hill. Michelle joined Jumpstart when she moved to Massachusetts from Washington, DC, where she worked on education and healthcare policy for U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. She earned a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Michelle lives in Boston with her husband Danny and children Jonah and Lila.
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Executive Director
Massachusettes Head Start Association
Katie Hughes
Leadership
Educare Central Maine/Maine State Parent Ambassadors
Katie Hughes is a KVCAP Family Services Coordinator at Educare Central Maine. Before joining the Educare staff, Katie was a Home Visitor with The Maine Families Home Visiting Program for six years.
She has been working in Social Services for almost 15 years.
Katie graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work, where she fell in love with working with children and families. In Katie’s current role, she also helps support the Maine State Parent Ambassador Program working with families to make change and have their voices heard.
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Leadership
Educare Central Maine/Maine State Parent Ambassadors
Shawna Pinckney
Associate Deputy Director
OHS, NEHSA Board of Directors
Shawna Pinckney is a longtime Head Start leader, both in and out of government. As grants division director, Ms. Pinckney led the strategic execution of all discretionary, competitive grant programs. Most notably, she was responsible for implementing the Designation Renewal System, the Early Head Start Expansion and Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships initiative, and other Head Start and Early Head Start expansion efforts.
Ms. Pinckney deeply understands the needs of grant recipients in designing strong systems at OHS, having also partnered to equip grant recipients during Head Start grant transitions.
Ms. Pinckney has also worked locally in county government and at the National Head Start Association to advance early care and education. As associate deputy director of OHS, she focuses on supporting operations and staff in OHS and high-impact projects.
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Associate Deputy Director
OHS, NEHSA Board of Directors
Paul Behrman
Principal Consultant, Walnut Leadership
From Supervisor to SuperVIBER: The Supervision Boot Camp
Paul Behrman is a national consultant, trainer, coach and keynote speaker with expertise in leadership and management, and a passion for social justice. For 22+ years, he served as Director for Champlain Valley Head Start, and as Chair for Vermont Head Start Association. Paul has participated in national workgroups convened by the Office of Head Start in Washington, D.C., the Head Start National T&TA Center for Program Management and Fiscal Operations, and NHSA. He was a Gubernatorial Appointee to the Vermont Blue Ribbon Commission on Financing High Quality, Affordable Child Care, and worked as an attorney on behalf of low-income clients. Paul was a Johnson & Johnson Management Fellow at UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Paul received a Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law, and B.A. in English and Communication from State University of New York at Albany. He lives in the Brave Little State of Vermont.
https://walnutleadership.com/
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Principal Consultant, Walnut Leadership
From Supervisor to SuperVIBER: The Supervision Boot Camp
Kristen Hayes
Independent Management Consultant, Kristen Hayes Consulting
Change Management and Next-Generation Leadership
Kristen Hayes is an independent management consultant, supporting organizations with the management of federal and state grant-funded programs that provide critical education, health, and family support services. Kristen's clients include more than 120 education and social services organizations nationwide. More than 450 organizations have participated in Kristen's training on impact and outcomes management, organizational culture, and grants administration. Specialties include strategic planning facilitation, federal grants administration, and improving and creating management systems in support of programmatic and financial outcomes. As a competitive grant planner and writer, Kristen has successfully written for more than $350 million in Federal and State education and social service grants.
Kristen holds a Masters of Public Management in Social Policy from the University of Maryland at College Park, a Certificate in Data Analytics from Cornell University, and has completed continuing education programs in nonprofit leadership and family engagement. She is an active volunteer in her community and a proud member of the Massachusetts Head Start Association (MHSA) Board of Directors.
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Independent Management Consultant, Kristen Hayes Consulting
Change Management and Next-Generation Leadership
David Jacobson
Director, First 10, Education Development Center (EDC)
How Head Start Programs Can Drive Community-wide Change: First 10 School-Community Partnerships
David Jacobson designed and leads EDC’s First 10 initiative, which supports a national network of school-early childhood-community partnerships. These partnerships work to improve outcomes for children ages birth through 10 and their families. Jacobson brings deep experience in early childhood education, school improvement, applied research, strategic planning, and a commitment to addressing inequality to his work leading First 10.
Jacobson is the author of All Children Learn and Thrive: Building First 10 Schools and Communities, a 2019 report funded by the Heising-Simons Foundation, which presents findings on coordinated efforts to improve teaching, learning, and care during the first decade of children’s lives. He serves as a consultant and adviser on the First 10 model.
A widely published author, Jacobson has advanced the knowledge of community-school partnerships, bipartisan education priorities, building state P–3 systems, and professional learning communities.
Jacobson holds a BA in History and an MA in Philosophy from Brown University and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago.
https://first10.org/
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Director, First 10, Education Development Center (EDC)
How Head Start Programs Can Drive Community-wide Change: First 10 School-Community Partnerships
Erica Palmer
Education Manager, Educare Central Maine/ Kennebec Valley Community Action Program
Acknowledge the Need, Be the Solution - Creating Alternative Pathways into the ECE Workforce
Erica Palmer holds a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Maine at Farmington. She has been working in the field of Early Childhood for over 13 years. Her experience in the field consists of direct service with infants and toddlers as a teacher, an early childhood coach, and supervision of comprehensive education services for children ages’ birth-5 years old. Currently she serves as Education Manager for Educare Central Maine where she supports a program of 60 staff dedicated to providing an integrated approach to early childhood programming and parent, family, and community engagement.
As Coordinator of Educare’s Lab School and Learning Hub, Erica has delivered numerous professional development trainings to Educare staff and providers Beyond the Walls at local, state and national levels. She has previously co-presented at the National Head Start Conference with Start Early and The Educare Learning Network on The Essential Practices of Educare as well as Engaging Rural Families. Erica is trained in facilitating professional development offerings that include Touchpoints training, Data Utilization, High Quality Teaching Practices, Reflective Practice, Workforce Development, Nature Based Education and more.
https://www.educarecentralmaine.org
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Education Manager, Educare Central Maine/ Kennebec Valley Community Action Program
Acknowledge the Need, Be the Solution - Creating Alternative Pathways into the ECE Workforce
Mark Rains, PhD
Consultant, Vienna Mtn Consulting
"Resilience Stretches" to Prepare for and Repair from Stress
Mark Rains, PhD, is an early childhood mental health consultant with the Southern Kennebec Child Development Corporation Head Start program and a child psychologist with over 40 years experience. He helped found the Maine Resilience Building Network and is a board member of the Maine Association for Infant Mental Health. He specializes in child trauma, resilience, and integrated care, serving centers within the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
https://www.markrains.org
About Mark Rains, PhD
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Consultant, Vienna Mtn Consulting
"Resilience Stretches" to Prepare for and Repair from Stress
Joni Sprague
Parent Ambassador Coordinator, Educare Central Maine/Maine State Parent Ambassadors
Empowering Parents: Strategies for Successful Parent Engagement; Hear from a panel of Parents
Joni Sprague is the Parent Ambassador Coordinator for the Maine State Parent Ambassadors program through KVCAP Child & Family Services. Prior to this position, Joni was the family services supervisor at Educare Central Maine and a preschool teacher for many years. She holds a master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Maine at Orono. She was also a Head Start parent from the time her children were 10 weeks old until they went to Kindergarten. Joni is passionate about working with families and encouraging them to share their experiences and advocate for early care and education throughout Maine.
https://www.educarecentralmaine.org/
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Parent Ambassador Coordinator, Educare Central Maine/Maine State Parent Ambassadors
Empowering Parents: Strategies for Successful Parent Engagement; Hear from a panel of Parents
Cara Tyrrell
Vermont based Early Childhood Educator, Core4Parenting
Raising the COVID Generation: The Top 5 Executive Functioning Skills for Recovering Lost Milestones
Cara Tyrrell, M.Ed is a Vermont based Early Childhood Educator, Collaborative Parenting Coach, and the founder of Core4Parenting™,. She is the passionate mastermind behind the Collaborative Parenting Methodology™, a birth-to-five, soul and science based framework that empowers parents to maximize their child’s early learning while raising fantastic human beings who succeed in school and life.
Cara has Bachelor degrees in American Sign Language (ASL) and Linguistics and a Master’s degree in Education. Through keynotes, teacher training, and her podcast, Transforming the Toddler Years, she’s embraced her role as thought leader and fierce advocate for the COVID Generation (GEN-C), teaching the 5 Executive Functioning Skills kids need to navigate our ever-changing world.
https://www.core4parenting.com, https://www.caratyrrell.com/bio
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Vermont based Early Childhood Educator, Core4Parenting
Raising the COVID Generation: The Top 5 Executive Functioning Skills for Recovering Lost Milestones
Anat Weisenfreund
Director, Community Action Pioneer Valley’s Head Start and Early Learning Programs
How you are is as important as what you do: Building Relational, Reflective, & Resilient HS Programs
Anat has worked in leadership roles with high-risk infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their caregivers in diverse settings for the past 30 years. She is the Director of Community Action Pioneer Valley’s Head Start and Early Learning Programs in Western Massachusetts, where she and her colleagues provide high quality services in a reflective, relational and trauma informed manner. Prior to her work in Massachusetts, Anat developed and implemented a NICU-based intervention and developmental follow-up program for substance-exposed infants and their mothers at a NYC teaching hospital; oversaw the NYC Early Intervention Program for the borough of Brooklyn, and worked as the Assistant Commissioner for Child Care Contracts for the NYC Administration for Children’s Services.
Anat holds a Master’s degree in Infant-Parent Development and Early Intervention from Bank Street College of Education. She is a National Touchpoints Facilitator, the President of MassAIMH, and holds Endorsement® as an Infant Mental Health Mentor (Policy).
https://www.communityaction.us
About Anat Weisenfreund
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Director, Community Action Pioneer Valley’s Head Start and Early Learning Programs
How you are is as important as what you do: Building Relational, Reflective, & Resilient HS Programs
