Kimberlee Hendricks is the Managing Director of the Center for Early Childhood Leadership. A respected and passionate leader in the Early Childhood Education field, Kimberlee owned and operated a child care center in Chicago’s South Loop community for the past 21 years.

Prior to joining the Center for Early Childhood Leadership, Kimberlee was a faculty member and former Early Childhood Department Chair in the Undergraduate College at National Louis University. Kimberlee has worked in both local and national contexts as a presenter, professional development specialist and child care business subject matter expert.

Kimberlee earned a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education, Curriculum and Instruction from Howard University and is currently working on a Doctor of Education degree in Curriculum, Advocacy and Policy at National Louis University.

She has been featured in Crain’s Chicago Business, Black Enterprise Magazine, The Chicago Tribune and Ebony Magazine to name a few. She’s also been a guest on NBC, and WCIU as an early childhood thought leader.

Kimberlee served on the City of Chicago’s “Minimum Wage Increase Task Force,” which advocated for wage increases locally and nationally.

She is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program and engages with numerous child care business and development organizations across the country. Kimberlee is a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Workforce Commision and the National Black Child Development Institute.

Kimberlee is passionate about parent engagement and developing teacher leaders who are “Educational Entrepreneurs”. She counts being the Mommy of 2-year-old Elijah and 7-month-old Emmanual as her greatest accomplishment and joy thus far!