Changing the World, One Person at a Time
Tom Lottman is the Deputy Executive Director of Children, Inc. in Northern Kentucky. He is also Director of the Devereux Regional Early Childhood Center. Children, Inc. is a non-profit  agency that provides early education and care to the children of Northern Kentucky families. It also provides school age services; support to young at-risk mothers; and is also focused on the dissemination of the new brain research implications to parents, practitioners and the community-at large. Mr. Lottman has been the Deputy Executive Director of CI for the past ten years. Prior to that, he was with the University Affiliated Cincinnati Center for Developmental Disorders at Children’s Hospital Medical Center and he has been a full-time faculty member at Loyola University in Chicago and at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He is an active member of the American Evaluators Association. Special interests include emotional development in young children and training in the implications of the developmental brain research. For the past six years he has chaired an annual conference on early brain development that brings in the leading practitioners and researchers from across the nation.
Chris Kelleyhas enjoyed working with young children, their families and teachers for over  30 years. From classroom teacher to center director to agency executive to public school administrator to teacher trainer, her early childhood work has invited her into rewarding and innovative partnerships. In her current position at Children, Inc., Chris mentors teachers in partnering with families, trains mental health and early childhood professionals in the Devereux Early Childhood Program, teaches CDA scholars and works with programs to align curriculum with Early Childhood Standards. Chris is a TIPP Master Trainer, providing Beyond Fundamentals of Effective Training modules to credentialed trainers. She holds a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Leadership from Bank Street College, which she thanks for providing rich perspective about adult learners.
Bob Welker has an MA in Early Childhood Education and has worked in the early childhood field  for over 20 years. In addition to teaching young children for 17 of those years; Bob has had experience as the director of a before and after school program, worked as an assistant director for preschool programs, taught college courses and supervised student teaching experiences. Bob is employed by Children, Inc. in Northern Kentucky, a non-profit agency that provides developmental experiences for children and the location of a Devereux Regional Training Center.
Recently, Bob's journey has included opporunities for training, coaching, mentoring, and collaborating with teachers and administrators of early childhood programs in the area of social emotional development through the Consortium for Resilient Young Children in Cincinnati, Ohio. His work with various schools provides opportunities to use the DECA Program for assessing and planing for the social emotional development of young children.
Bob Wilcher has been a Certified DECI trainer since 2004. He serves as Executive  Director of the Kentucky Head Start Association and as Business Manager of the Kentucky’s NAEYC Affiliate. He is the national Chair of the Executive Director’s Consortium, a network of 22 state and regional Head Start Associations and their Executive Directors. He is a Cornell University certified Trainer and State Coordinator for Family Development Training.
Bob attended Cornell University and University of Cincinnati where he received his undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education. He received graduate degrees in law (Loyola Chicago Law School) and theology (Ashland Theological Seminary). Bob has trained across the country for DECI and at a variety of state and regional Head Start conferences and events.
David Kisor is a composer, performer, and teacher who lives and works in Covington,  Kentucky. Over the past twenty years he has written extensively for the classroom and the stage, including works for The Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati, The Children’s Theater of Cincinnati, The University of Cincinnati Preparatory Department and dozens of school residencies from preschool to high school. He is presently the Music Specialist for Children, Inc.
One of his latest products are the Songs of Resilience, a four CD set featuring Songs of Attachment, Initiative and Self-Control. The CDs come with a Teacher’s Manual and it has been distributed across the nation to help teachers promote resilience in young children. A bi-lingual version will be out this fall. He has performed these songs at the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Head Start Association. |
