Keynote Speakers

Keynote Speakers at the 2012 National Smart Start Conference

Opening Keynote May 1, 10:00 – Noon

Lisbeth B. (Lee) Schorr is a Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of Social Policy, where she works with colleagues on efforts to broaden the understanding of evidence as applied to the design and evaluation of complex initiatives.

She is also Lecturer in Social Medicine at Harvard University, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Aspen Institute’s Roundtable on Community Change, of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, and of the Board of the SEED Foundation.

Ms. Schorr founded and directed the Pathways Mapping Initiative (PMI), to develop new approaches to building a stronger knowledge base about “what works” to improve outcomes for vulnerable children, youth, families, and neighborhoods. She is the author of two books, WITHIN OUR REACH: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage and COMMON PURPOSE: Strengthening Families and Neighborhoods to Rebuild America.

 

Celebration Lunch May 3, 12:15 – 2:15

Major General Charles D. Luckey Assistant to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff for Reserve Matters/Joint Staff Lead Iraq Transition

Major General Luckey was commissioned as an Infantry officer in the Regular Army after graduating from the University of Virginia in 1977 with a Bachelors of Arts (with Distinction) in English. He was initially assigned to the 1st Battalion, 52nd Infantry, in the Federal Republic of Germany as a Rifle Platoon Leader, with follow-on service as a Weapons Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer and Battalion Adjutant.

In April of 2008, MG Luckey was selected by the Chairman, Joint Chiefs-of-Staff to head the Office of Security Cooperation for the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq, in Baghdad, where he led a Joint Team in implementing key aspects of the US Security Assistance program, to include dramatically increasing the Iraqi-funded acquisition of major weapon systems in support of internal security.

Upon returning to the United States in 2009, MG Luckey was selected to serve as the Assistant to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs-of-Staff for Reserve Matters in Washington DC. He reports directly to the Chairman, while also coordinating with other members of the Joint Staff, on key issues involving the Reserve Components of the US Armed Forces. He is also the Joint Staff Lead for all matters pertaining to the transition in Iraq from the Department of Defense to the Department of State.

MG Luckey’s awards and decorations are typical of an officer of his years of service who has had the good fortune to return safely from a variety of worldwide deployments and operations. They include the Legion of Merit w/OLC, Bronze Star Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Operation Iraqi Freedom Campaign Medal, Special Forces Tab, Combat Action Badge, Expert Infantry Badge, Pathfinder Badge and Parachutist Badge.  He is blissfully married to a Tar Heel, the former Julie Marie Fisher, of Greensboro, North Carolina. His three children, Lissa (28), Max (25) and Tim (22) will all be serving in the US Army, soon.

Linda K. Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Linda K. Smith is the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role she provides overall policy coordination for the Head Start and Early Head Start Program and the Child Care and Development Fund, as well as serving as the liaison with the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies. Her office serves as a focal point for early childhood policy at the federal level.
Smith previously served as the executive director for the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), where she represented more than 650 community-based agencies concerned with the care of children in their earliest years. Linda Smith led the organization through significant growth and transformation- she was the driving force behind NACCRRA’s national policy agenda and strategic plan to improve the quality of child care nationwide. Key components of NACCRRA’s advocacy efforts included strengthening child care licensing and oversight, requiring comprehensive background checks, and establishing minimum training requirements for all child care workers.
Prior to joining NACCRRA, Smith served as a legislative fellow and professional staffer on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee under the Chairmanship of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Prior to this work, she was the director of the Office of Family Policy for the Secretary of Defense, where she was one of the primary architects of the military’s child care program. Additionally, Linda Smith has held positions with both the United States Army and United States Air Force.

Smith began her career in early childhood education on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in her native state of Montana. She is a graduate of the University of Montana.

 Bill Shore, Chairman of the Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) Board of Directors at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keynote Lecturers:

May 2, 10:30 – Noon

Margaret J. Wheatley, Ed.D., is a well-respected writer, speaker, and teacher for how we can accomplish our work, sustain our relationships, and willingly step forward to serve in this troubling time. She has written six books: Walk Out Walk On (with Deborah Frieze, 2011); Perseverance (2010); Leadership and the New Science; Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future; A Simpler Way (with Myron Rogers); and Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. Each of her books has been translated into several languages; Leadership and the New Science appears in 18 languages. She is co-founder and President emerita of The Berkana Institute, which works in partnership with a rich diversity of people and communities around the world, especially in the Global South. These communities find their health and resilience by discovering the wisdom and wealth already present in their people, traditions and environment (www.berkana.org). Her numerous articles appear in both professional and popular journals and may be downloaded free from her website: www.margaretwheatley.com. Wheatley received her doctorate in Organizational Behavior and Change from Harvard University, and a Masters in Media Ecology from New York University. She’s been an organizational consultant since 1973, a global citizen since her youth, a professor in two graduate business programs, a prolific writer, and a happy mother and grandmother. She has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates.

May 2, 1:30 – 3:00

Judith Palfrey is the T. Berry Brazelton Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a Senior Associate in Medicine at Children’s Hospital, Boston. Dr. Palfrey received her MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She did her residency training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and was a fellow in Community Child Health at Children’s Hospital. From 1986 to 2008, she served as the Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital. She was the National Director of Building Bright Futures, the Director of the National Program Office of the Anne E. Dyson Pediatric Training in the Community Initiative and is a Past President of the APA and the AAP. She is currently the Director of the Global Pediatrics Program at Children’s Hospital, Boston; and is working to establish training and service programs in international sites based on her experiences in the United States.

 

Keynote Pre-conference Presenters

Pennie G. Foster-Fishman is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and a Senior Outreach Fellow with University Outreach and Engagement at Michigan State University. She received her Ph.D. in organizational/community psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research interests primarily emphasize systems change, particularly how organizational, inter-organizational, and community systems can improve to better meet the needs of children, youth, and families. Towards this end, she has investigated human service delivery reform, multiple stakeholder collaboration, comprehensive community initiatives, coalition development, community organizing, and youth and adult empowerment as vehicles for systems change. She has also worked with a variety of public sector agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and community and state-wide coalitions, aiming to improve their effectiveness, strategic alignment, and collaborative capacity. In her evaluation practice, she has conducted process and outcome evaluations of systems change efforts, comprehensive community initiatives, and coalitions. She often incorporates innovative (e.g., GIS mapping, social network analysis) and participatory (e.g., Photovoice) approaches in her research and evaluation efforts.

Joan Blough is a social worker who has spent her 25 year career creating innovative family-centered, inclusive programs and building comprehensive systems to improve outcomes for young children and their parents. Ms. Blough was instrumental in the creation of the Early On, Part C of IDEA, early intervention system in Michigan. A key component of that system was the Parent Leadership Training Program, of which Ms. Blough was a founder, which engaged hundreds of parent leaders in governance, planning and advocacy at the state and local levels.

Since 2002, Ms. Blough has served as Michigan’s Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) Coordinator. Her leadership helped to create the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, a public non-profit corporation dedicated to assuring a Great Start for every child in Michigan.

Ms. Blough joined the ECIC in 2005 as the Manager of Technical Assistance for Great Start Collaboratives and became the Vice-President for Great Start System Development and Evaluation in February of 2008. At ECIC, Ms. Blough leads the Great Start Division which funds and supports the Great Start Network, manages Great Start to Quality – the state’s tiered quality rating and improvement system, and supports innovative programming in health, development, early learning and parenting leadership.

Ms. Blough has a Master’s Degree in public policy, planning and administration from the School of Social Work at Western Michigan University. She is the author of numerous training curricula, guidebooks, manuals and other materials which provide information and guidance to parents and professionals. She has designed and facilitated hundreds of group learning and planning processes for the state government and non-profit organizations over the course of her career.

Alissa K. Parks, MPA, is the Senior Director of Great Start Consultation and Technical Assistance at the Michigan Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC). In this role, she provides oversight to the funding, training, and technical assistance for Michigan’s 54 Great Start Collaboratives and 70 Great Start Parent Coalitions. Alissa has over 12 years of experience working on system change initiatives at both the local and state level focused on the issues of housing and homelessness, child abuse and neglect prevention, substance abuse, children’s mental health, senior issues, and early childhood. She has extensive experience facilitating and managing system change initiatives as well as administering statewide initiatives. Alissa received her undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from Saginaw Valley State University and her Masters of Public Policy and Administration from Michigan State University with a focus on leadership and evaluation.