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Representative Ruth Kagi, Washington is a small-business owner and represents the 32nd District, of Washington State.  She chairs the House Early Learning & Human Services Committee.  During her ten plus years in the legislature, she has focused on improving early learning and child care, strengthening foster care, and reforming the state’s drug sentencing and truck safety laws.  Nationally, she is the past-chair of the National Conference of State Legislature’s Human Services Committee.  She received her B.A. from the University of Washington and M.P.A from Syracuse University.  Representative Kagi is also one of the Early Learning Fellows program faculty members. 

Senator Peggy Lehner, Senate Education Chair and Ohio Children's Caucus Co-chair.  Senator Lehner is currently serving her first term as the state senator for the 6th Ohio Senate District, which encompasses portions of Montgomery County. She is no stranger to public service, having served one term in the Ohio House of Representatives as well as 10 years as a member of Kettering City Council, during which she was chosen as vice mayor. During that time she also founded and chaired the Dayton First Suburbs Consortium.

Senator Lehner’s committee assignments will put her interests in health care, aging and local government to work on behalf of her constituents this General Assembly. She has been named chair of the Senate Education Committee and will play a major role in the development of the state’s two-year operating budget as a member of the Finance Committee. Lehner has also been assigned to the State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee and the Health, Human Services and Aging Committee.

Stephanie Siddens, Ph. D.,  serves as the director of the Office of Early Learning and School Readiness in the Ohio Department of Education and has been with the department for five years.  Under her leadership, the office is responsible for funding, administering, and monitoring Ohio’s publicly funded pre-kindergarten and preschool special education programs, as well as administering the statewide kindergarten readiness assessment. The office will also be responsible for implementing initiatives as part of Ohio’s recently awarded Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant.  Dr. Siddens has 17 years of experience in the field of pre-kindergarten through grade 12 education.  She has worked as an administrator for the College of Wooster, Prince William County Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, and The University of Iowa where she was responsible for educational program evaluation, research, assessment, and accountability.  She received her Ph.D. in educational psychology from The University of Iowa and a B.A. in psychology from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

Rolf Grafwallner, Ph. D.,  currently is the Assistant State Superintendent of the Division of Early Childhood Development at the Maryland State Department of Education.  The Division is responsible for the technical support to local school systems regarding prekindergarten and kindergarten.  It also includes the responsibility for licensing, monitoring, and enforcement of child care programs.  It provides funding under the quality improvement portion of the Child Care Development Fund, the state’s Child Care Resource and Referral Network and the Family Support Centers Network.  In addition it offers a number of initiatives to improve the quality of early care and education in Maryland, such as the Maryland Model of School Readiness (MMSR), MSDE Standards for Implementing Quality Early Learning Programs, Judy Centers, Early Childhood Accreditation Project, Child Care Credentialing Project, and prekindergarten and kindergarten content standards as well guidelines for early care and learning (birth to age 3).  Mr. Grafwallner has more than 20 years of experience in early childhood education as a teacher, education supervisor, program director, and state administrator.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in the area of Education policy, Planning, and Administration. Rolf is also one of the Early Learning Fellows program faculty members.