Joan is a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at the Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, Georgetown University. She also serves on the governing board of the National Black Child Development Institute, the governing board of the Global Fund for Children, the Executive Leadership Council of the global Early Childhood Development Action Network, and is the Co-Chair of the Research Forum on Early Childhood in Emergencies, in collaboration with the Moving Minds Alliance.

Over the past 50 years Joan has made significant contributions in the areas of child and family policy as an innovative leader. She’s served as a policy advisor to national and international organizations, as well as making contributions as a public servant. She was the founding Chair of the Birth to Five Policy Alliance, now the Alliance for Early Success. In 2004, Joan founded Global Leaders for Young Children with the World Forum Foundation. Since that time the program has supported leadership development and mentoring to hundreds of people around the world dedicated to improving the lives of young children and families. She is the author of Time to Care: Redesigning Child Care to Promote Education, Support Families and Build Communities and co-editor of Beacon of Hope: The Promise of Early Head Start for America’s Youngest Children. Joan served as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood during the Obama Administration and the first Director of the Child Care Bureau during the Clinton Administration.

Early Opportunities Profile