As former Development Chair for ARCQE, it is my pleasure to introduce to you the Board of Directors for 2009-2010. Members of the Board represent a number of geographic regions in Alberta as well as national level representation. Additionally, board members have a combination of experience and education specific to child care but representative of the broad range of services offered in the early childhood sector.
Recently, we engaged in a strategic planning session that we hope will help us to set a platform for ARCQE’s future endeavours. It is our goal to continue to provide leadership and services so that a professional workforce can support children and families in Alberta in high quality programs. The Board remains committed to ARCQE’s mission of Building Capacity and Supporting Quality. In the coming years, ARCQE will continue to develop and deliver services that excite and inspire leadership and capacity in programs and services for children and families. Our focus over the next years will be on sustainability, excellence and leadership, certainly for ARCQE but especially for the professionals we serve.
Sherrill Brown, Co-Chair
Cathy Smey Carston, Co-Chair
Debi Pagee, Treasurer
Ilene Fleming, Member-at-Large
Marilyn Boisvert, Member-at-Large
Sherry Chichenko, Member-at-Large
Sherrill Brown, Co-Chair
Sherrill Brown, is likely best known and respected for her former role as chair person of the Alberta Child Care Network Association where she supported a number of new initiatives rolling out in Alberta including the development of a child care accreditation model for Alberta, and the formation of the first ever provincial technical support agency known today as ARCQE. She is also on the faculty of the Early Childhood Development Program and College Research Officer at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton. She has been a strong advocate for children, professional child care staff and parents and on early childhood issues in Alberta since the early 1980’s.
Sherrill has a B.Ed (with a diploma in Early Childhood), a M.Ed. and a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta. Recent research interests include: a study funded by HRDC with Jane Hewes titled Full Day Headstart: Early Intervention in Centre-based Child Care; Supporting Speech and Language with Judith Meinzter for Capital Health in Edmonton; Supervising with Style ( 2001) , a video to support professional development in the area of practicum supervision in early childhood; and Co-ordination of ECD, Grant MacEwan college for revision of self study Orientation course
Cathy Smey Carston, Co-Chair
Cathy Smey Carston is the Program Coordinator for the Early Learning and Child Care Program at Mount Royal College. She has been a supporter and advocate for the ECE field for over 25 years within the province of Alberta and is currently completing a Phd in educational research. Her research interests include the promotion of mentoring experienmces in the workforce in order to encourage retention and create leadership opportunities for ELCC educators. Cathy lives in Calgary with her husband and is the proud mom of three sons.
Debi Pagee, Treasurer
Debi Pagee is starting her 1st term as Treasurer for Arcqe. She has always been a very strong advocate for quality child care and is pleased to see the many changes that have occurred in the field in the past 5 years. She believes organizations like Arcqe have been instrumental in those changes.
Debi attended Grant MacEwan and went directly from her last field placement into her 1st child care job at Alex Taylor Community Playschool. In 1983 Debi opened a Day Home with a newly formed child care program, North Edmonton Family Day Home Agency. Over the years she has seen the agency grow to one of the largest child care programs in the province. She is presently the Owner and Director of NEFDH and was thrilled to celebrate the agencies 25th anniversary in 2008.
During Debi’s 27-year career in child care she has served on a number of committees and professional associations including Chair of the Alberta Family Child Care Association. Most recently she was involved in the development of the provincial Family Child Care Consultant Training Manual and is a Mentor for the course.
Debi’s interests outside of child care include traveling with her family, improving her golf score, and winning big at the casino!
Ilene Fleming, Member-at-Large
Ilene Fleming is the Director of the Success By 6®, a community initiative dedicated to the well-being of Edmonton’s children and their families, which strives to create nurturing environments where all children have the opportunity to reach their unique potential. Under the direction of a Council of Partners, Success By 6® works with citizens, business leaders, government and other agencies and organizations to raise awareness of the importance of the early years for children’s learning and development as well as increasing public support for the early years as a community priority.
Ilene has more than 10 years of experience working as an Early Childhood Professional in the human service sector including working in centre based child care, a women’s emergency shelter and coordinating a mobile early intervention program.
She has been a volunteer Board Member for both provincial and local associations aligned with her passion for supporting young children and their families, as well as professionals working in the early childhood sector.
Marilyn Boisvert, Member-at-Large
Marilyn represents Northern Alberta with true passion, as this is where she was born and raised in a little French rural community of 300 people!! Her background in Early Childhood provided many opportunities for various positions in Early Learning Programs and Family Supports over the past 25 years. As an Executive Director of Child Care Centres, Marilyn soon realized the importance of including the family as a whole and to provide supports for the parents and caregivers. This lead to another project which she was instrumental in establishing, the development of the Early Childhood Resource Centre – “Parent Link” in Grande Prairie.
As Chairperson of the Alliance of Child Care Agencies for the Northwest Region, she continues to advocate for quality child care programs and has organized several training opportunities for caregivers including the Annual Early Childhood Conference for the past 8 years. Her new venture as a Regional Early Learning Consultant is to establish the “Alliance of Early Learning Programs – NW Regional Board”.
Sherry Chichenko, Member-at-Large
Sherry lives in Medicine Hat, Alberta where she owns and operates Mother Nature’s Preschool Inc. She holds an Associate of Arts Diploma in Early Childhood Education and participated in the Leading for Tomorrow Institute as well as Validator Training for the child care accreditation program. Mother Nature’s Preschool Inc. has successfully completed the re-accreditation process and has had the benefit of using ARCQE resources to accomplish this journey.
Sherry has been involved with the Early Childhood community for the past 25 years. During this time she has served the community in the delivery of child care services for the city of Medicine Hat. She has also served on numerous local and provincial boards and committees including past Chair of the Medicine Hat & District Child Care Association (MHDCCA), and past co-chair of the Alberta Child Care Association (ACCA).
As a mother of two grown children and a grand-mother to six beautiful grand-children, she continues to strive to impassion those who work with children that we all can make a difference.
Anne Maxwell (Ottawa), board member, has been a member of the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF) team for the last 17.5 years. She has strong organizational skills, a commitment to excellence and extensive experience in project, financial and human resource management of numerous large national projects. She was co-manager of the project that developed the child care accreditation model in Alberta, and represented CCCF as a founding partner in establishing the ARCQE agency.
Anne has a degree in modern languages and credentials in education and library technology. Although she did not begin her career in early childhood education, her experiences in this sector and the commitment of the early childhood educators she has worked with have have become her greatest source of inspiration. Her years of working with Alberta colleagues on the first accreditation program in Canada have made her feel that Alberta is her second home! She is honoured to have been invited to serve on the Board of Directors of the Alberta Resource Centre for Quality Enhancement.