Joan Lombardi

Joan Lombardi is a leading expert in early childhood development and child and family policy. Through her work as the Director of The Children’s Project, she serves as an advisor to a number of foundations and policy initiatives and helps create innovative projects with a wide variety of national and international organizations. She is currently a Research Professor at the Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University.

Dr. Lombardi served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the first Director of the Child Care Bureau. She is the author of Time to Care: Redesigning Child Care to Promote Education, Support Families and Build Communities (Temple University Press, 2003) and co-editor of A Beacon of Hope: The Promise of Early Head Start for America’s Youngest Children (Zero To Three Press, 2004).

In 2004, Dr. Lombardi launched the Global Leaders for Young Children program in partnership with The World Forum Foundation which has provided leadership support to 19 early education leaders from 8 countries. In addition, in 2004 she served as a Senior Fellow with The Global Fund for Children in Washington D.C. She serves on the Education Leadership Council of Save the Children, participates in Global Action for Children and the US Chapter of the Global Campaign for Education.