Children's Forum Biographies
- Leadership
- Training and Program Development
- Management Information Systems
- Research and Development
- Communications Department
- T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Scholarship Program &
Child Care WAGE$® Program
- Lori Stegmeyer - Director of Child Care and Early Learning Workforce Initiatives
- Florida Directory of Early Childhood Services
- Lou Ann Long - Director of the Disabilities and Special Health Care Needs Unit
Phyllis Kalifeh oversees all of the programs and services of the Children's Forum
including the Child Care Training Information Center, Florida T.E.A.C.H. Early
Childhood® Scholarship Program, Child Care WAGE$® FLORIDA Project, Florida
Directory of Early Childhood Services/Central Directory, training and technical
assistance services, research, consulting, special projects, as well as
administrative and fiscal functions since June 2000. Ms. Kalifeh holds a master's
degree in Educational Leadership and bachelor's degree in Early Childhood /
Elementary Education. Prior to coming to the Forum, she was the Executive Director
for Early Childhood Services, Inc. in Panama City, a nonprofit organization providing
child care resource and referral services, training, technical assistance, subsidy
management, Head Start, Early Head Start, and pre-K programs for a seven county
region for 22 years. She is also a former owner of a private child development center.
Training and consulting interests include: board development, governance, policy,
advocacy, professional development, child care and early childhood program operations,
parent and provider leadership, organizational and systems management. She also
provides motivational and keynote speeches for conferences and workshops.
Ms. Kalifeh was privileged to serve on the National Association of Child Care
Resource and Referral (CCR&R) Agencies board of directors as secretary from
2000 - 2002 and State CCR&R Network Representative through 2005. She received a
gubernatorial appointment to the State Coordinating Council for Early Childhood
Services in 1996. She has served on numerous boards, advisory committees, and
task forces promoting quality care and early education and is currently a Fellow
on the Policy Group for Florida's Families and Children. She was the recipient of
the Advocacy Award from the Early Childhood Association of Florida, the state
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) affiliate for
her work on universal prekindergarten and the Children's Champion award from Kids
Incorporated in Tallahassee in 2004.
Contact Phyllis Kalifeh at
pkalifeh@thechildrensforum.com.
Bonnie Baker supervises and manages all aspects of the day-to-day operations of
the Children's Forum including fiscal, human resources, program services and
development, contract negotiation, management and legal compliance. Ms. Baker also
serves as the Director of the statewide Florida Child Care Training Information
Center (CCTIC) operated by the Forum for the Department of Children and Families.
The CCTIC team assists early childhood professionals seeking information about
training requirements in Florida. For 12 years Ms. Baker served the Forum as the
administrator of the statewide Child Care Resource and Referral Network.
Prior to joining the Forum Ms. Baker was employed by the Department of Health and
Rehabilitative Services and the Florida Department of Labor and Employment Security
as an Operations Manager specializing in child care services. Prior to her tenure
at the state, Ms. Baker was employed in the rehabilitation field at the Leon Center
for Independent Living and as an instructor and vocational counselor at the Easter
Seal Society. Ms. Baker receive her master's and bachelor's degrees in Vocational
Rehabilitations Services from the Department of Education at Florida State University.
Contact Bonnie Baker at
bbaker@thechildrensforum.com.
Beverly Esposito is responsible for leadership in program development, implementation,
and evaluation with regard to child care and early education services at the
Children's Forum. She holds a doctorate in Early Childhood Special Education, a
master's degree in Special Education, and a bachelor's degree in Psychology, and has
been a member of the Forum staff since 2001. Dr. Esposito has more than 30 years of
experience in early childhood education and early childhood special education in both
the public and private non-profit sectors as a classroom teacher, program director,
consultant, researcher, instructor, and member of management. Before coming to the
Forum, she was a center director of a full inclusion program and an adjunct instructor
at the community college level.
Dr. Esposito brings leadership experience in program development, contract management,
and administrative operations to her position. She currently oversees training and
technical assistance services and the continuing education unit (CEU) program at the
Forum and builds innovative opportunities for expansion of those activities.
Dr. Esposito has been an advocate for the inclusion of children with disabilities in
early childhood programs, with proven ability to coordinate and facilitate inclusion
programs and practices. She has made contributions to professional literature as an author
and reviewer for refereed journals in early childhood special education. She currently
serves on the state board of the Department of Education Technical Assistance and
Training System (TATS).
Contact Beverly Esposito at
besposito@thechildrensforum.com.
Elise M. Ray
Continuing Education Unit Coordinator
Elise Ray manages the Children's Forum's Continuing Education Unit (CEU)
process approving, distributing and assisting instructors and students.
She answers questions, reviews course content, applications and participant
coursework. Ms. Ray creates CEU certificates and distributes them to
participants.
Ms. Ray has her bachelor's degree in Humanities from the Florida State
University. She is currently completing her master's thesis in Art History
from the Pennsylvania State University. She believes that providing
children with qualified, trained teachers is essential to children's success.
She has four years of teaching experience, which she draws from daily to
ensure that the trainings for which the Children's Forum provides CEU are top
notch educational opportunities for providers. Aside from education and
art, she has also worked as a professional actress at various theaters across
the country.
Contact Elise Ray at
eray@thechildrensforum.com.
Jennifer Faber
Director of School-Age Services and Development
Jenn Faber is the Director of School-Age Services and Development at the
Children's Forum and has held this position since its inception in 1999.
Ms. Faber holds a bachelor of science in Business Administration/Sport
Management and has worked in the profession of After School Services for more
than 20 years. Early in her career, she held the positions of after school
counselor, site director and elementary services director for the city of Cape
Coral. Ms. Faber also worked for a special events company specializing in
corporate child care in addition to owning a children's event company. Prior
to coming to the Forum, Jenn worked at Child Care of Southwest Florida, a child
care resource and referral agency, serving as a S.A.F.E. (School-Age
Facilitated Education) grant coordinator and after school coordinator.
Ms. Faber has been presenting professionally for 10 years, and currently offers
more than 17 workshops, as well as motivational speeches. She personally trains
more than 2000 after school providers per year through her extensive training schedule.
Ms. Faber is recognized as a leader in the field of after school care in Florida and
at the national level. During the past decade, she has served on the boards of the
Florida After School Alliance and, locally, the Lee County YMCA. In 2005, Ms. Faber
was a founding member of the Florida After School Network, and currently serves as
their secretary. She was elected as an After School Alliance Ambassador to Florida from
2002-2004 and she continues to volunteer as an accreditation endorser for the National
AfterSchool Association.
Contact Jenn Faber at
jfaber@thechildrensforum.com.
Bill Kirchoff manages all technical, Web-based and network systems
for the Children's Forum. With 22 years experience working in
various capacities in the Information Technology field, he is
well-versed in Networking, Security, Application and Web development,
Remote computer access, and server and workstation support. He
is proficient in the Windows, Sun, Cisco and Macintosh environments,
as well as the routers, switches and firewalls that stitch networks
together.
Mr. Kirchhoff's networking and systems background, combined with his business training
and experience gives him a big picture view of how technology can be used to an
organization's advantage, as well as how to keep up with and take advantage of the
latest technical innovations. He earned his bachelor's in finance from the University
of Florida, and a Master of Business Administration Management from Florida State
University.
Contact William Kirchhoff at
wkirchhoff@thechildrensforum.com.
Kelly Fountain assists in all technical, Web-based and network systems for the
Children's Forum. She is highly skilled in Web page programming including
JavaScript, Perl, PHP and MySQL technologies. Mrs. Fountain supports day-to-day
datacenter operations for the Forum, such as server backups, user administration,
workstation and client application support. She is knowledgeable in Microsoft's
server products and various thin-client solutions employed by the Forum.
Prior to joining the Forum team, Mrs. Fountain worked as a programmer for the
Florida Department of Education and a technical support specialist for the
Florida Department of Transportation.
Contact Kelly Fountain at
kfountain@thechildrensforum.com.
Saralynn Grass
Director of Research and Development
Saralyn Grass joined the Children's Forum in 2006 as Research
Director, and is responsible for the coordination of research
and policy work for the Forum's programs and services. Saralyn
also serves as Research Coordinator for the
Florida PERKS (Partners in Education and Research for
Kindergarten Success) program, a three-year project funded under
the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development grant
(ECEPD) of the U.S. Department of Education which is designed to
improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood teachers
working in "high-need" communities.
Mrs. Grass holds a Master's degree in Human Development and
Bachelor's degree in Psychology. She has been involved in a
number of research projects with Head Start, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute, and the Department of Defense. In
addition, she has extensive experience working with children
and youth with disabilities. Through her doctoral studies at
Florida State University (FSU) in the Department of
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Mrs. Grass is
specializing in Program Evaluation with interests in early
childhood, program management, and universal pre-kindergarten.
She has presented at both statewide and national conferences
in addition to being published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Contact Saralynn Grass at
sgrass@thechildrensforum.com.
Joy Stover designs creative marketing pieces, multimedia tools and organizes
conferences and trainings. Ms. Stover has a great deal of experience with the
Forum's mission and goals and has worked in the field of early education and
care since 1998. She has planned meetings and conferences of all sizes from
board meetings of 20 people, to regional trainings of 100-150 people, to the
Children's Forum Annual Leadership Conference, to the planning and coordination
of two consecutive Voluntary Universal Pre-Kindergarten Conferences with
attendance over 1,000 for each. Ms. Stover is a member of the Society of
Governmental Meeting Planners which enables her to access the most up-to-date
practices, an inside line to excellent hotel and venue deals, special speaker
insights, meeting planning tools and more. In addition to her creative and event
planning talents, Ms. Stover serves as the Interim Director of Human Resources
for the Forum, a position she previously held. Prior to joining the Forum team,
Ms. Stover served as HR Coordinator for Early Childhood Services in Panama City.
Her long list of skills and talents make her the go-to person for everything
helping the Forum achieve its goals.
Contact Joy Stover at
jstover@thechildrensforum.com.
Lori Stegmeyer
Director of Child Care and Early Learning Workforce Initiatives
Lori Stegmeyer oversees both the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Scholarship Program
and the Child Care WAGE$® Program in Florida. She develops appropriate strategies,
procedures and materials for the programs. Ms. Stegmeyer maintains collaborative
relationships with community colleges and other providers of related, higher education
services. Ms. Stegmeyer coordinates outreach activities statewide and nationally
including the dissemination of materials, presentations and technical assistance. She
manages all day-to-day operations of the statewide T.E.A.C.H. and WAGE$ programs.
Ms. Stegmeyer has a bachelor's in elementary education with an emphasis on early
childhood from Ashland College in Ohio. She serves on the T.E.A.C.H. Early
Childhood® National Advisory Committee. Ms. Stegmeyer has over 20 years experience
in the early childhood field and has been with the Forum for seven of those years.
Contact Lori Stegmeyer at
lstegmeyer@thechildrensforum.com.
Lou Ann Long
Director of the Disabilities and Special Health Care Needs Unit
Lou Ann Long supervises, manages and implements the Florida Directory of
Early Childhood Services, Florida Central Directory (CD) and Florida
Diagnostic and Learning Resources System (FDLRS) information and referral
contracts for disabilities and special health care needs.
Ms. Long has advocated for children with disabilities and special health
care needs for the past 20 years. Prior to joining the Forum, Ms. Long
graduated from Elmira Business School, was the founder of Collier County’s
Parent to Parent Support Network, worked as an Inclusive Family Child
Care Provider, served as Collier County School District Family Service
Coordinator, and is mother of two sons with disabilities and special
health care needs.
Ms. Long brings leadership and experience in system design across
multiple national, state and local agencies. Her leadership roles
include: Department of Health - Family Support Plan Protocol, Department
of Health -Transition Committee including Department of Education
Florida’s State Transition Project, Florida Interagency Coordinating
Council for Infants and Toddlers Outcomes Committee and Technical
Assistance Committee, Florida’s State Level Inclusion Team, Florida’s
Inclusion Alliance, Florida’s Birth To Three Standards Workgroup, TEAM
Florida Partnership - Parent Materials Reviewer, Technical Assistance and
Training System (TATS) Inclusion Committee. Ms. Long serves as the chair
for the Central Directory Advisory Council, Florida’s Inclusive Child
Care Advisory Council and Florida’s Inclusive Child Care Strategic Plan.
Currently, Ms. Long coordinates and assists with multiple regional and
state level conferences/trainings; provides training and technical
assistance on family centeredness, inclusion, parenting children with
disabilities and special health care needs; writes and reviews training
materials; meeting facilitator; Authored the publication Understanding
Inclusion and the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Contact Lou Ann Long at
lalong@centraldirectory.org.
