Kimberly Manns, Early Matters Dallas, Managing Director Kim is a passionate leader with a real talent for bringing diverse stakeholders together to solve complex social problems. Prior to Early Matters Dallas, Kim served as the Program Director for the Baltimore Campaign for Grade Level Reading, where she led a strategy process, that included over 70 organization, to increase the City s 3rd grade reading scores by 100% by 2020. Prior to that, Kim was Deputy Director of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake s Office of Policy and Communications and Special Projects. In that role, she led the development of the City s Read to Succeed Plus program, a comprehensive summer program serving 2500 low-income children, by facilitating the collaboration of Baltimore City Schools, the City of Baltimore, and several other non-profit and private partners. She also led the design and project management of the 2012 US Conference of Mayors and developed an innovative communication strategy for the Baltimore City s 2010 Census campaign, which resulted in an unprecedented increase in participation rates. Kim began her career as an Assistant Brand Manager for Procter and Gamble s Covergirl and Wal-Mart accounts. In this role, she led multi-functional teams to design and launch consumer products nationwide. She also successfully developed and implemented multi-million dollar marketing plans. Kim is a Daily Record 2014 Leading Women Honoree and served as a part-time faculty member for Johns Hopkins Center for Leadership in Education, where she taught Principles of Marketing. Kim received her BA from Georgetown University and a Masters in Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University. 1
Regen Fearon Early Matters Dallas, Board Chair Regen Horchow Fearon is Chair of the Board for Early Matters Dallas, a county-wide initiative involving hundreds of organizations which have aligned around a strategic plan to reach the goals of 80% kindergarten ready and 60% 3 rd grade literacy by 2025. In this role, Regen assists in the work to facilitate communication; to attract new money to the early learning community in Dallas; and to encourage collaborations, where appropriate. For the last 10 years, Regen served as the Chair of the Zero to Five Funders Collaborative, a group of over 34 funders who pooled their money to support kindergarten readiness in the Bachman Lake neighborhood. The Bachman Lake Together Family Center is the physical building where numerous agencies collaborate to serve the needs of families of young children helping to insure that all children are ready for school. Regen began her career as an elementary school teacher advancing to the role of counselor following receipt of her M.Ed. As Executive Director of the Children s Learning Center (an early education center in Oak Cliff), Regen got her real education about the early education system and children living in poverty. Regen has held leadership positions on numerous education boards including The Hockaday School, Child Care Group, Education First Steps, The Dallas Assembly and many others focused on children, youth services and healthcare. She has served on the Regional Panel selecting White House Fellows. A graduate of Yale University with a M.Ed. in Counseling and Student Services from the University of North Texas, Regen currently serves on the boards of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, Commit!, Dallas County Community College Foundation and on the President s Advisory Board of UT Southwestern Medical School. 2
Susan Hoff Chief Strategy, Impact, and Operations Officer Susan Hoff is a native of Midland, Texas. She earned a degree in bilingual/bicultural education from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado and completed graduate work in early childhood education at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin and post graduate work in public administration and policy analysis at the University of Texas at Dallas. In early 2009 she joined United Way of Metropolitan Dallas where she currently serves as Chief Impact, Strategy, and Operations Officer. Prior to joining the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas team in 2009, Susan was the CEO and President of ChildCareGroup, a Dallas based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, delivering and expanding the best child care services available outside the home. She worked in several other nonprofit organizations including Educational First Steps, Good Shepherd Community Center, and Rainbow Days. Her professional experience includes the positions of teacher, child care center director, and parent educator in domestic violence and drug abuse prevention programs. She is a trainer and public speaker, has developed curricula and educational publications for children and adults, and is an accomplished fund developer. Susan is a well-known children's advocate at the local, state, and national levels. Susan serves on the Governing Board of Early Matters Dallas, is the immediate past Board Chair for First3Years, and serves on the boards of Essilor Vision Foundation Americas, Texas Partnership for Out of School Time (TXPOST) and Texans Care for Children, and is a past president of the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children. She was appointed by Mayor Mike Rawlings to the board of Workforce Solutions Dallas County in 2012 and 2015. She was the founding board chair of the Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition (TECEC) and served as a member of the advisory board of the Texas Early Care and Education Career Development System, served on the Board of the National Society for Collegiate Scholars, and is a past board chair of the Social Venture Partners Dallas and the Jr. League of Richardson. Susan and her husband Steve are the proud parents of three children, Dustin, Miranda, and Madeline. 3
J. Puckett Senior Partner and Managing Director, Dallas J. Puckett is a Senior Partner and Managing Director of BCG. He has been with BCG since 1989 and has held a number of key leadership roles in the firm. He is the global leader of BCG's Education Practice. Work profile 28 years of consulting experience Global Leader of BCG's Education Practice Member of World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Future Council for Education, Gender and Work Other current and past Board roles include: Dallas Regional Chamber, Dallas Citizens Council, Educate Texas, Teach for America, The Dallas Foundation In his role at BCG, J serves governments, school systems, universities, foundations and educational intermediaries all over the world. Some examples of his education-related client work include: Organizational design and effectiveness project for the U.S. Department of Education Merger support for the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Rebuilding and transformation effort for the New Orleans Public School system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina Initial launch plan for the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) Transformation plan development for the Delaware Public Schools (Vision 2015) Vocational education plan for Abu Dhabi Education Council Technology deployment plan for public schools in Malaysia Transition plan for the largest school merger in US history (Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools) He serves as Board Chair of The Hyde Foundation and Teach For America (DFW). He also serves on the boards of The Dallas Foundation, Educate Texas, and The Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives. He is a member of the Commit! Leadership Council and the Dallas Citizens Council. J. received a BS in Computer Science and Religion from Duke University and an MBA from The Wharton School. He has been married for over 30 years. He and his wife, Beth, have eight adult children and live in Dallas, TX. 4
Kelsey Clark Principal, Dallas Kelsey Clark is a Principal at The Boston Consulting Group. She joined the Dallas office in 2012 and is a core member of the BCG's Education Practice. Work profile Core member of BCG's Education Practice Vice President of the Board of Directors for Lumin Education Some examples of Kelsey's education-related client work include: Created a comprehensive fact base of data and awareness of strengths and gaps in the birth to three continuum for Dallas County to identify key issues and highest-priority needs Partnered with Dallas ISD to implement the Early Childhood strategy which includes providing analytics and advice to leadership on key infrastructure and system changes (ongoing) Organized a Dallas hosted full-day national Early Learning conference focused on driving impact at the local level by bringing together teams from nineteen cities to share best practices Supported a Dallas-based nonprofit education organization that has a novel early childhood education approach develop a strategic plan and growth strategy Worked with The Holdsworth Center to form and launch a Texas-based center for K-12 school leadership which focused on both individual leaders and leadership systems within a district Supported DCCCDdesign an expansion strategy for 'Rising Star' which could more than double the number of recipients from 1,600 to 3,700 receiving full coverage for tuition & books Developed the strategic plan, governance model, and funding strategy for an online platform to scale education innovations for World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council for Education Prior to joining BCG, Kelsey's work experience included FedEx Office and TXU Energy, where she held many roles across Finance, Strategy and Operations. Kelsey received her MBA from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania. She graduated with Highest Distinction from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her BA in Economics. 5