For more than a decade, I served as Director of Quality Assessment at the McCormick Institute for Early Childhood at National Louis University, where I had the privilege of working closely with — and being mentored by — the late Paula Jorde Bloom, a pioneer in early childhood leadership whose influence on the field, and on me personally, cannot be overstated. At McCormick, I led Illinois's QRIS quality assessment team and was trained to reliability in the Environment Rating Scales by Debby Cryer, Thelma Harms, and the team at the Environment Rating Scales Institute — a training experience that deepened my conviction that these tools, used well, are instruments of genuine professional growth rather than compliance checkboxes. That conviction carried into my work developing LearnERS, an innovative continuous quality improvement coaching framework that translated the FCCERS, ECERS, and ITERS into online professional development courses now used nationwide. Bridging the gap between what a score reveals and what a provider needs to grow has been the throughline of my career — and the direct inspiration for my newest books. Today I work as an independent consultant, author, and facilitator, with a focus on early childhood leadership development, reflective practice, quality improvement aligned with the Environment Rating Scales, and accreditation systems including NAEYC. I bring the same orientation to every engagement: deep respect for the people closest to children, and a commitment to support that is practical, grounded, and genuinely useful. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education from Ball State University and a Master of Education in Early Childhood Administration from National Louis University. Books I am the author of Using FCCERS to Improve Program Quality: A Guide for Family Child Care Providers (Teachers College Press, 2026) and the revised editions of Leadership in Action, Inspiring Peak Performance, and From the Inside Out from The Director's Toolbox Series (Everbloom Learning, 2025/2026). I am also the co-author of A Great Place to Work with Paula Jorde Bloom and Jill Bella. My Approach I don't come into a room with all the answers. I come in believing that the people in the room already hold most of what they need — and that my job is to help them find it, name it, and build on it together. That belief shapes everything I do, whether I am working with a family child care provider reflecting on her environment, a director examining her leadership practice, or a group of coaches deepening their skills in a professional learning community. Reflective practice is not a technique I apply — it is the foundation I work from. It is how I believe adults learn, grow, and sustain change over time. My facilitation approach is grounded in communities of practice and peer learning. I create conditions where participants learn as much from each other as they do from any resource or framework I bring to the table. The books, tools, and resources I have developed over four decades are designed with the same intention: not to tell practitioners what to do, but to invite them into a process of noticing, reflecting, and deciding for themselves. If you are looking for a keynote speaker who will deliver polished answers, I may not be your person. If you are looking for a facilitator who will help your team think more deeply, learn from each other, and leave with something that actually sticks — I'd love to talk.