Get to know this year’s fantastic lineup of speakers!
Keynote Speakers
TBA Soon
+ Bio Coming Soon
Keynote speaker to be announced soon...
TBA Soon
+ TBA Soon
Keynote speaker to be announced soon...
Main Stage Speakers
Kathy Ligon Founder & CEO of HINGE Advisors
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Kathy is the Founder and CEO of HINGE Early Education Advisors. Trained as a public accountant, Kathy has a unique 35+ year background in educational operations. Early on, she directed growth management for a growing educational organization helping the company multiply from five to 125 sites operating in several states in the Southeast. In 2003, Kathy formed the early education advisory firm now known as HINGE Advisors where she and her team have successfully aided the sale of more than 300 school transactions.
Phil Vaccaro Managing Director at EY-Parthenon
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A leader in EY-Parthenon’s Education consulting practice, Phil works across the global education sector with a focus on public K-12 education and early childhood. Phil has led numerous strategy and business planning projects for school districts, non-profits, service providers and private equity firms. He has also conducted market studies and strategic planning projects for some of the largest early childcare providers in the U.S. Phil has 15 years of experience as a teacher, district administrator and consultant to the K–12 education sector.
Fran McIntyre Founder of Pendulum Dependent Care Solutions
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Fran McIntyre founded Childrens’ Creative Learning Centers in 1992 motivated by her passion to provide working parents and employees with the best benefits possible to maintain a healthy work-life balance. In this role, she worked side-by-side with HR teams to develop long-term strategies to provide optimal benefits to their employees. Today, Fran remains dedicated to developing both corporate childcare programs and working alongside HR professionals, helping them create the most valuable benefits for their employees through her consulting firm, Pendulum Dependent Care Solutions.
Nick Williams Founder of Childcare Business Growth
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Nick Williams has worked in child care for more than 15 years alongside his partner Jenna Williams. Together, they've founded and owned their own childcare facilities as well as Childcare Business Growth (CBG) and trained thousands of childcare professionals. At CBG, Nick leads the marketing strategy and development of the company. His direct experience marketing and working in his childcare business has allowed him to use and share his own strategies to help thousands of childcare business owners worldwide.
Tom Wood Success Services Leader at HINGE Advisors
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As Success Services Leader for HINGE, Tom facilitates the execution and operations of all the company’s Success Services. These include Financial Coaching, Mastermind Groups, and his own Leadership Sprints. Tom’s job is to ensure that each service is delivered effectively and efficiently to clients and that HINGE is serving our clients to the best of our ability. Tom is also a Certified Leadership Coach with the International Coaching Federation, and has a consistent track record of success in leadership development, financial management, training, human resources leadership and strategic planning.
Breakout Speakers
Rachel Supalla Founder & CEO of Discovery KidZone
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Rachel Supalla is the Founder & CEO of Discovery KidZone, a multi-site childcare business in Montana. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood, a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education, is Montessori Certified and a certified National Business coach. With more than 25 years of childcare knowledge and experience, Rachel has been nationally recognized as a teacher and director trainer and is a certified professional development specialist that specializes in brain based creative teaching practices and leadership development.
Tymothy Smith President of Early Care and Education
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Tym Smith began working in the Early Education field in 1986. After spending several years in the classroom, he advanced to fill various positions including Education Specialist, Director and Regional Director. Over the past 20 years, Tym has spent thousands of hours training teachers and leaders across the country at local and national conferences. In 2007, Tym started "Tym the Trainer", a training company dedicated to quality and diversity for Early Education programs. Tym is the owner of six early education programs in Texas and is a two term past president of the Texas Licensed Child Care Association. Tym is a member of the Texas Trainers Registry and currently serves on the board of directors for the Association for Early Learning Leaders. Tym is also a Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor, A Jon Gordon Certified Instructor, and a Certified Life is Good Playmaker!
