Members, Colleagues, Partners and Friends,
While I didn’t seek it out, I was recruited to an executive directorship with a not-for-profit organization in my home community of Beloit, Wisconsin. Their work to provide housing assistance, pre- and post purchase education, foreclosure prevention and more provides an opportunity for me to bring Head Start’s vital core values into being within a new arena of vital interest to this community.
The friendship and confidence of the association’s board leadership and member organizations over my twelve years as the association’s executive director has been unparalleled in my professional experience and is one I will value always.
There is greatness ahead for Head Start and the Wisconsin Head Start Association. The dedicated leadership, under Board President Mary Anne Wieland, and that of the members of the board of directors assure it.
I’ve appreciated the opportunity to serve with you and for you. I am forever changed and strengthened through the experiences this role provided me.
I will remain always a member of the Head Start family; for this I know such gratitude.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Fondly, Shelley Cousin
Ongoing Leadership…
Two independent consultants have been contracted to support Wisconsin Head Start Association on an interim basis, up to six months. Their work has begun last week; my last day in the association office is Friday, September 7th. The months of their contract allow the WHSA Board of Directors to determine, with its membership, the best ways to staff and operate the association in the future.
The consultants, Dan Stickler and Vickey Angeles (introduced below), will assure continuity of the affairs of the association, including, but not limited to the day to day office operations; the management of the relationships with the WHSA partners within and outside of the Madison community; the management of Board-approved projects; planning, promotion, design and implementation of the professional development efforts of the association and support of the association advocacy efforts.
Dan Stickler – stick628@charter.net, 715/210-5629
Dan Stickler has over 30 years experience working with child and family development programming. He is currently working as an independent consultant providing training and technical assistance to Head Start /Early Head Start grantees and their early childhood partners in the areas of program design and management, fiscal services, and fatherhood/male involvement. He worked as a consultant with the Early Head Start National Resource Center ARRA Project and as a Head Start Specialist with the Wisconsin State-Based Training and Technical Assistance Office. He has also worked as a Head Start Monitoring Reviewer.
Dan served as Head Start Director for Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council, Inc. from 1999 – 2009. Dan was an active and loyal member of the Wisconsin Head Start Association where he served on the board of directors and chaired the association’s personnel committee.
Prior to Head Start, Dan served the field of child and family development services as a speech and language pathologist in public schools, at a university clinic and through early intervention programs. He is a former director of home-based intervention programming for infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities and their families. Dan earned a B.A. and a M.S. in Communication Disorders from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. He is a 2005 graduate of the Johnson & Johnson Head Start Management Fellows program at University of California – Los Angeles.
I’m looking forward to reconnecting with colleagues and meeting WHSA members who are new to me. I am both pleased and honored to be part of a team parents, staff, and directors to help advance the important work of the association during this time of transition.
Vickey Angeles – vicangeles@excite.com, 414/232-0339
Vickey Angeles has been working in the Early Childhood field for over 35 years. Her experience has spanned work with both nonprofit and profit Child Development programs. She has spent a majority of her career working as an Associate Director for National Centers for Learning Excellence (Waukesha Head Start) and Child and Family Centers of Excellence. Over the years she has had responsibility for Child Development, Family Services, Human Resource Development and variety of other agency operations. This has given her the opportunity to work directly with children, their families, agency staff and community partners.
Vickey has been an active member in many community social service and education partnerships. She has brought her passion for child and families to her work with the Strengthening Families Project in Waukesha, Born Learning – a United Way National Initiative, the Governor’s Center for Early Childhood Excellence, and the Waukesha County Child Care Work Group. Vickey has also actively participated in another national initiative – Special Quest. Her career with Special Quest spanned a decade and grew from participant to Learning Coach to Ambassador.
Another of Vickey’s passions is human resource and professional development. Over the last 20+ years she has been involved with the design and delivery of numerous successful regional, statewide and local training events. She consults and trains on a variety of topics…from Compassionate Partnering to Human Resource Excellence, from Building Resilience to SOARING – for personal and professional success.
Currently, Vickey is working as an independent consultant providing technical assistance, training and management services to a variety of early childhood programs such as Head Start, child care centers and 4K programs. Vickey holds a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, a Master’s degree in Education and is a Graduate of the University Associates Intern Program for Organizational and Human Resource Development.
I appreciate the opportunity to support the critical work of Wisconsin Head Start Association, its members and the greater Head Start community. I’m looking forward to the upcoming events and meetings where I will be able to connect with past friends and colleagues and develop many new relationships.
