Davidson-Cornelius Child Development Center Announces New Leadership Team

We have some wonderful news to share regarding the Davidson-Cornelius Child Development Center! As many of you may know, Libby Johnston, former Executive Director of the DCCDC left in February to pursue an opportunity to start a child care center at Lake Forest Church in Huntersville…a block away from her home! We are so grateful for all Libby has done over the past five years to ensure that the children of our community have the highest-quality, nurturing early education and care.

The board of directors carefully considered where we are and where as aim to be as the only five-star, full-time early education and care center in the North Mecklenburg area that provides scholarships for children of working parent(s) who are unable to afford the full tuition. Over the near term, our goal is to raise the necessary funds to expand and renovate the DCCDC so that we can serve over 100 children — an increase of 40 children or 68 percent from where we are now. Longer term, we aim to continue expanding our services to meet the ever-increasing needs for early education and care for the children of our community.

In order to achieve our goals and vision, we must have a dedicated Executive Director whose focus is outward — ambassador to the community, fundraiser, networker, leader. And we also must have a dedicated Director of Operations whose focus is primarily internal — the children, parents, teachers and staff, curriculum, and five-star licensing requirements.

We are delighted to announce that we have found the “dynamic duo” of Anna Washington, Executive Director, and Ruth Schultes-Huth, Director of Operations.Together this new leadership team brings a wealth of experience in building and transforming centers for child education.According to Dr. Andrew O’Geen, President of the Board of Directors, the new team will lead the DCCDC growth and expansion plans to meet the ever-increasing needs for high-quality, full-time early child care and education in our community. “Anna and Ruth have the passion, expertise and track records to take the DCCDC to a higher level in terms of the number of children and families served and the depth and breadth of community support and involvement in the success of the center.”

For the past six years, Anna Washington has served as the Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Piedmont, based in Statesville, where she led efforts to build the program and a new facility to serve primarily disadvantaged children from the Statesville and Mooresville communities. With a Master of Public Administration, concentrating on Non-Profit Management from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Anna’s first goal is to successfully lead the DCCDC capital campaign to expand and renovate the center so that the DCCDC can serve more children.

Ruth Schultes-Huth has a wealth of experience serving as the Center Director for four diverse early child education and care centers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey over the past 14 years, including starting and leading the operations of a new child development center from the ground up. Prior to serving in Center Director positions, Ruth spent nearly 20 years as a teacher in the Montessori School system. Ruth recently moved to Mooresville to be closer to her children. With a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Moravian College, Ruth’s passions are to enhance the quality of and parental involvement in early child education in order to build our future generation.

Tom Bright, Board Member and Past President, has served as the Interim Executive Director during the transition, and led the recruitment and hiring process. Tom states: “We are so excited about having Anna and Ruth on board as our new leadership team and are confident that this ‘dynamic duo’ will transform the DCCDC to achieve our vision of growth and service to the children and families of our community. Please join me in welcoming Anna and Ruth to the DCCDC!”

For further information, please contact Tom Bright, Board Member and Interim Executive Director: Main Phone: 704-892-1228; Mobile: 704-491-4774; E-mail: [email protected]. Or you can visit our website.