Jessica DeViney has had nearly 20 years experience working in the early care and education field as a teacher, art director, atelierista, business manager, and administrator. Her Bachelor’s degree is from Indiana Wesleyan University, and she has done additional graduate work in Early Childhood Education at the University of Toledo. Jessica is on the board for the University of Toledo Center for Family Business, and is a graduate of Leadership Toledo. Currently, she is the Vice President of Marketing for Children’s Discovery Center and Project Coordinator for Creative Environments Design Collaborative. She is a co-author and photographer for 12 children’s books, as well as Inspiring Spaces for Young Children, andRating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments (ROSIE). Jessica has two young children and lives in Maumee, Ohio.
Sandra Duncan, Ed.D has had over 40 years of experience in the early care and education field teaching at the university level, designing professional development programs, publishing curricula and teacher resources, and creating educational sponsored programs with Fortune 500 companies such as General Mills and Proctor and Gamble.
After teaching kindergarten for several years, Duncan’s entrepreneurial spirit kicked in and she eventually owned 11 early childhood programs including private preschools, child care centers, well baby clinics, park and recreation programs, reading diagnostic clinics, and facilities for special needs children. In addition to these early childhood programs, her consulting and management firm worked with companies to develop employer sponsored childcare centers and programs, primarily in the health care industry. Also, she consulted with hundreds of centers helping them to grow their programs into financially successful businesses.
Duncan’s extensive educational publishing background includes Publisher of Early Childhood News and Scholastic’s Early Childhood Today magazines, where she spearheaded many innovative projects and programs such as Director’s Choice Awards, Early Childhood Professional Awards, Children’s World of Reading Program, and a Professional Development Program in association with the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Duncan was the charter president of LakePorte Association for the Education of Young Children (a chapter of National Association for the Education of Young Children) and served on the Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children’s Board of Directors as the Northwest representative, treasurer, and president. She has served on many boards including the National AfterSchool Association, Primrose Schools, Early Childhood Program Committee/University of Wisconsin, Book It!/Book It! Beginners (Pizza Hut’s reading initiative), Chime Time International, Society for Executive Professional Trainers, and Northwest Family Services. She is the author of several preschool curriculums, teacher resource books, sponsored educational programs, and journal articles and is a frequent speaker at local, state, and national conferences. Dr. Duncan is co-author ofInspiring Spaces for Young Children and Rating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments(ROSIE). Currently, she is an adjunct professor at Ivy Tech Community College, dissertation chair for doctoral students at Nova Southeastern University, and educational consultant with Creative Environments Design Collaborative.
Sara Mitten Harris has over 10 years experience working directly with child care centers. She has served as an art studio teacher, creative director, administrator, project coordinator, and design consultant. As her knowledge of child-related environments has grown, so has her ability to design creative and inspiring spaces. She has designed for churches, conference booths, and childcare centers-both remodels and new builds. As part of the design and consulting team, Creative Environments Design Collaborative, Sara’s repertoire of clients now includes Kaplan and the U.S. Military. Ms. Harris is on the board of the University of Toledo Center for Family Business, and has co-authored the innovative book Inspiring Spaces for Young Children and Rating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments. In addition to a focus on aesthetics, Ms. Harris has co-authored 12 children’s books, and has a Bachelor’s Degree from Bowling Green State University and a Masters Degree from the University of Kentucky. She has two children and is expecting her third in December, 2010.
Lois Mitten Rosenberry is the owner and founder of Children’s Discovery Center, a child care company with eight locations serving 1500 children. Since the company’s inception in 1982, Ms. Rosenberry has been honored as Ohio and Toledo Child Care Administrator of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year for Northwest Ohio, Cleveland and Toledo Small Business Person of the Year, Milestones for Women Recipient, Sun Oil Manager of the Year, Recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Enterprise, Messiah College Distinguished Alumnus, and Recipient of the Toledo Chamber’s Athena Award.
She has been chairman of the Ohio Daycare Advisory Council, a member of Governor Taft’s Small Business Advisory Council, chairman of the Ohio Small Business Council, chairman of the Toledo Area Small Business Council, and a member of the Toledo Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
She currently serves on the Boards of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, AAA Northwest Ohio, Promedica/Advocacy, 5/3 Bank, Ohio Small Business Council, Missio International, and Ohio Association of Child Care Providers.
Her company has been featured in various national publications including Inc., Entrepreneur Almanac 2008-2009, Executive Female, and Child Care Information Exchange. She has lectured at national conferences, co- authored Inspiring Spaces for Young Children, and worked as a child care consultant for several private and public organizations. In addition, Children’s Discovery Center currently ranks 42 on Child Care Information Exchange’s Top 50 Largest For-Profit Child Care Organizations.
She is the mother of three grown daughters (two of whom work for the family business) and the grandmother of four.
Mary Ann Rody is currently Chief Operating Officer for Children’s Discovery Center, Inc., a local child care company with eight locations serving 1,500 children in the Greater Toledo area. Mrs. Rody has been with the company over 24 years serving as Kindergarten Teacher, Administator, and Human Resource Manager prior to her current position. Mrs. Rody has a Bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio and has almost completed her Masters in Early Childhood Education from the University of Toledo. She was instrumental in introducing the Reggio Emilia philosophy to CDC in 1995 after she and Mrs. Rosenberry studied the model in Italy as part of the U.S. delegation in 1994. Mrs. Rody has served on the board for Penta Career Center ECE Program, ProMedica Health System, the EC3 Committee for Help Me Grow, and is past-President of ToledoAEYC, the local affiliate for the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Mrs. Rody has advocated at the state level for child care issues, and was selected as part of the writing team to redevelop all state regulations for child care in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Education in 2010. Mrs. Rody is a co- author ofInspiring Spaces for Young Children and Rating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments, as well as co-founder of Creative Environments Design Collaborative. Mrs. Rody has two grown daughters and one son who is attending the University of Toledo.
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