Rick Hulefeld, Executive Director
Rick holds a Bachelor of Science in International Affairs from Georgetown University, a Master of Arts in Humanities from the University of Chicago, and a Masters in Education from Xavier University. He has studied at the University of Madrid and was an exchange student in Peru. Along with his wife he began Children, Inc. in 1979. He has served as Children, Inc.’s executive director since its beginning. Over the past three years Rick has built the Children, Inc. Service Learning Project to 25,000 participants. Rick and his wife, Mary, have reared their five children in an inner city Covington neighborhood.
Tom Lottman, Deputy Executive Director
Tom Lottman is the Deputy Executive Director of Children, Inc. in Northern Kentucky. He is also Director of the Devereux Regional Early Childhood Center. Children, Inc. is a non-profit agency that provides early education and care to the children of Northern Kentucky families. It also provides school age services; supports to young at-risk mothers; and is also focused on the dissemination of the new brain research implications to parents, practitioners and the community-at large. Mr. Lottman has been the Deputy Executive Director of CI for the past ten years. Prior to that, he was with the University Affiliated Cincinnati Center for Developmental Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and he has been a full-time faculty member at Loyola University in Chicago and at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He is an active member of the American Evaluators Association. Special interests include emotional development in young children and training in the implications of the developmental brain research. For the past six years he has chaired an annual conference on early brain development that brings in the leading practitioners and researchers from across the nation.
Phyllis Berry, Associate Executive Director
Phyllis has been the Associate Executive Director at Children, Inc. since 1995. She provides administrative support to the 11 early education and care programs, the family child care program, and the school age services program. She is responsible for the recruitment of new staff, and coordinates all activities to open new early childhood programs, from initial design to full implementation. She serves on several community collaboratives including three Success By Six committees and is on the STARS Advisory Committee, the Partnership for a Fit Kentucky and is the Chair of the Kenton Early Childhood Council. She heads up the Health Initiative for center-based care and works with local universities to recruit nursing student volunteers to support the health curriculum. Past responsibilities include marketing, human resources, organizing volunteers and other administrative duties. Phyllis’ educational background includes a Master Degree in Public Administration with an emphasis on non-profits; a Master Degree in Social Work with state certification, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and she is also Registered Nurse. She is a Level 5 Early Childhood Trainer and provides a variety trainings to early childhood professionals.
Jim Epping, VP of Finance
Jim is responsible for all financial record keeping and reporting of Children, Inc. Jim has been with Children, Inc as Director of Finance in June of 2000. With a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting, Associate of Arts in Computer Technology from Thomas More College and a Master of Divinity from Christ The King School of Theology in East Aurora, NY. Jim has held controllership positions with numerous organizations prior to joining Children, Inc., including five years as President of Novus Debut, Inc., publisher of Minkus Stamp Albums and Catalogs. The past 10 years Jim and his wife have been Foster Parents for Kentucky Cabinet for Children and Families and have recently adopted three children to add to their own three children.
Josh Hatton - Director of Special Projects
Josh has been an employee of Children, Inc since August 2003. In December of 2006 he began working as a supervisor in School Age Services and completed his Master of Public Administration at NKU. He then began marketing our grassroots advocacy website, parentvoice.org and was able to take on a research project that taught preschool teachers how to use positive psychology in their classrooms. More recently he has been recruiting nonprofits for a state of the art volunteering website called nkyhelps.org. Last summer he worked on the opening of new preschool classrooms at Walton Verona, Kenton County, and Campbell County. Josh is currently the Venture Champion of a team of Children, Inc staff who are participating in a year long process that will develop a business plan for their social venture Growing Sound.
Sheila Hughes - HR Director
Sheila serves as Director of Human Resources and Program Coordinator for the Devereux Regional Early Childhood Center and Growing Sound. Sheila began her career in Customer Service at the local Blue Cross insurance office which makes her uniquely qualified to handle employee insurance benefits while simultaneously providing customer care for Children, Inc. training and products. After 15 years in the insurance industry, she accepted an Office Manager position at the Cincinnati Center for Developmental Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. In 1999, Tom Lottman recruited Sheila to work at Children, Inc. She says it’s the best decision she ever made.
Jordan Huizenga - Director of Development
Jordan has been with Children, Inc. since June 2008 initially as a marketing and multimedia assistant. After graduating with a B.A. from the University of Dayton he was able to find a rewarding position at Children, Inc. Now responsible for fund development to support Children, Inc. programs, Jordan fosters relationships with individuals, the community and foundations in an effort to support Children, Inc. programs. If you are interested in supporting Children, Inc. contact Jordan at jhuizenga@childreninc.org.
Chris Kelley - Director of Training Programs
Chris has enjoyed working with young children, their families and teachers for over 30 years. From classroom teacher to center director to agency executive to public school administrator to teacher trainer, her early childhood work has invited her into rewarding and innovative partnerships. In her current position at Children, Inc., Chris mentors teachers in partnering with families, trains mental health and early childhood professionals in the Devereux Early Childhood Program, teaches CDA scholars and works with programs to align curriculum with Early Childhood Standards. Chris is a TIPP Master Trainer, providing Beyond Fundamentals of Effective Training modules to credentialed trainers. She holds a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Leadership from Bank Street College, which she thanks for providing rich perspective about adult learners.
Sharon King - Director of Marketing
Sharon has been with Children, Inc. since 2004 as the Director of Marketing, Outreach and Volunteers. Sharon has experience working as a classroom teacher for sixteen years in the Cincinnati Archdiocese and the Diocese of Covington. She received her Bachelor’s in political science and her masters in secondary education from Northern Kentucky University. She has extensive experience developing arts integration education programs for the academic world. Sharon also performs event planning for Children, Inc.
Megan Newberry - Director of Communications
Megan has been with Children, Inc. since 2001 as the Director of Communications, overseeing marketing, layout and graphic design, and multiple websites. Megan holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has been working in early childhood United Way agencies since 1998.
Jennifer Zimmerman - Director of Evaluation
Jennifer is the Director of Evaluation and Advocacy Initiatives for Children, Inc. Her primary responsibilities include managing the evaluation of child care programs serving children from infancy to school age and leading Children, Inc.’s grassroots advocacy initiatives. She is also the primary evaluator for two regional collaborative projects focusing on early childhood social and emotional development: the Covington Resilience Project and Promoting Resilient Children, a project of the Consortium for Resilient Young Children. Jennifer Zimmerman earned her Master’s degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis.
Crystal Dahlmeier, Director of Children, Inc.'s Montessori Training Program
Crystal, M.Ed., Greater Cincinnati Center for Montessori Education Program Director, has over 20 years of experience as a Montessori teacher. She was teacher and principal of the Xavier University Montessori Lab School for 17 years, where she also taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the Montessori Teacher Education Program. She has taught Montessori programs in Australia, England, and S. Korea. She is currently Associate Executive Director at Children, Inc. in Covington, Kentucky.
Foundation
