It is with mixed emotions that we announce Donna Jacobson will be leaving the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership on January 31, 2023. This news comes with gratitude for her service and sadness for her departure, as well as hope and excitement for Donna. Please join in wishing her the best as she moves on to new opportunities.

When Donna joined the McCormick Center six years ago, she envisioned a workplace and organization that is and does good. Taking time to review and renew our mission, vision, DEI practices, and operations as a center, she approached her leadership with determination and an open heart, working to ensure her staff’s voices were heard and respected. Advancing the number of partnerships and philanthropic support for the center, Donna led us through the Aim4Excellence™ 2.0 update, a major relocation, a pandemic, and the resulting staffing crisis and did so with grace and professionalism, stewarding the center to our most fiscally successful performance last year. She is leaving on a high note, as we are already exceeding our performance from last year and are poised for even greater success and impact.

We extend our gratitude to Donna for her intentionality, steadfast support, and mindful leadership. She has advanced our culture of adaptiveness and prepared us to charge ahead in order to continue to meet the vital needs of early childhood education leaders. One of the most valuable teachings she has engrained is to keep moving forward – unified in our goals and focused on our mission to empower leaders and advance the field to promote excellence in early childhood education.

Our future is bright, and we appreciate Donna’s leadership in guiding us to a position of stability and success. Thank you for your myriad of contributions, Donna. You will be missed.