Amy Crease, President

I work for Palm Beach County School Board in the Department of Educational Alternatives. I am the manager of the Teenage Parent Program for Palm Beach County Schools. I counsel young parents to remain in school or to return to school. I work with alternative middle and high schools, as well as comprehensive high schools to be sure pregnant and parenting students have access to health care, child care, and remain in school to complete their high school diploma. Although my job is often stressful and sometimes very sad, I enjoy my work with young people very much.

I have been president, secretary, and treasurer of my local affiliate and at one time in my life I was the Children Care Training Coordinator in Palm Beach County from 1989 - 2000. Before my work with the Palm Beach County School Board, I worked for our local resource and referral agency and have been both a teacher and a director of a local preschool program.

I have been married to Mr. Crease (Tony) for 25 years and have two children age 23 and 21. My hobbies are scuba diving, deep sea fishing, quilting, needlework of various types and antique hunting. I love to travel and have never passed up an antique shop that was open.

As President of the Early Childhood Association of Florida, I am responsible for guiding the organization, keeping in mind the goals of the association's strategic plan while providing the best services we can for our members. My duties include scheduling, preparing and facilitating all the ECA board meetings, personnel commission and finance commission meetings. As president I also participate in the NAEYC Affiliate Council, along with the past president or president elect. The president is a link between NAEYC, SECA and the ECA board and is also responsible for supervision of the Executive Director of ECA and the activities of the ECA office.

Charlene Gross: Vice President of Professional Development

I work for the Jacksonville Housing Authority in Jacksonville, as a director of an NAEYC accredited center in a public housing community. I enjoy my work very much although it can be stressful and challenging at times. Although I have also worked in other early childhood education capacities and in a Children's agency, I truly feel that working directly with the families, children, and staff puts me in a place where "I can (and do) make a difference."

I am married to my best friend Brian, have four children (ages 15-23) and one granddaughter. In my spare time (which I really don't have) I like to travel, work on restoring my Victorian-era home, and treasure hunting for antiques.

As the Vice President of Professional Development I oversee all educational related activities of the asssociation, including workshops, conferences, training opportunities, and publications. I also act as an advisor to the Publications, Professional Development, and Scholarship & Awards committees. One of the fun components of my job also include giving money away to our members in the form of mini-grants, edcuational scholarships, NAEYC accreditation fees, and conference scholarships. I also have the pleassure of partcipating in the recognition of our members by distributung and collecting applications for our outstanding local member awards and our prestegious Barbara Finck award.

ECA of FL is a professional organization, and I feel that the VP of Professional Development has a vital role in listening to what the member's professional needs are, and meeting those needs in the most efficient and effective way possible.

Janice Sean: Southern Early Childhood (SECA) Representative

Real life: Janice earned her Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in Curriculum and Instruction, and worked for 32 years in early childhood as a preschool teacher, center director, adjunct professor, and vocational trainer. In real life, Janice is retired and enjoys leisurely days playing tennis, painting watercolors, raising English bulldogs, conducting CDA verification meetings, and teaching the Child Care Center Management course online through the Sarasota County Technical Institute.

SECA Rep: Janice is the representative from Florida to the Southern Early Childhood Association (SECA) Board and works on the SECA Membership committee, reviews children's books, and promotes the SECA 2007 conference in Jacksonville, FL. Recently, Janice has been assigned by the ECA of Florida Board to work with the Accrediation Committee, and to design and maintain our new member benefit on-line workshops for CEU credit.

Barbara Backus, Central Regional Representative

I work for Pinellas County Schools at Pinellas Technical Education Center. I have been teaching in an approved CDAE program since 1994, an approved School Age Certificate program since 2003 and an approved director's credential program (Child Care Center Operations) since 2006. In the first two programs in addition to teaching the classes I also go out to do on-the-job training visits. In my job I find out what the real world of child care is like. This is why I believe in the mission of ECA of FL.

I have held the following positions in my local organization (Pinellas Early Childhood Association): Past President, President, President-Elect, and Newsletter Editor. I have been involved with my local affiliate since 1996. This is the second year of my 2 year term as Central Regional Representative for ECA of FL. I have been attending the conference for over 10 years. As Central Regional Representative my job is to keep the lines of communication open between local affiliates, member-at-large groups and the ECA of FL Board. I give technical support to local affiliate groups and member-at-large groups as needed. All members of this region can contact me with concerns: my email address is: rbackus@tampabay.rr.com

I have been married to my husband (Ray) for 36 years. We have two wonderful boys, David - 26 and a zookeeper at the Knoxville Zoo, Tim - 21 who is finishing up a physics degree at FSU and a new daughter-in-law, Traci (married to David) who is also a zookeeper at the zoo. I have a BS degree from State University of New York at Plattsburg and a MS degree from Florida State University both degrees are in Family and Consumer Science. I am certified to teach Family and Consumer Science and Elementary Education. I am currently working on adding a reading endorsement to my certificate. When I have time I love to read, do various needlework, and enjoy my pool in the summer.

Dr. Elizabeth Elliott

Dr. Elizabeth Elliott is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee and a MA and BA from the University of South Florida. She has been involved in the field of early childhood for over fifteen years in a variety of capacities that range from classroom teacher to a center director. She directed the Family Resource Center (FRC) an on-campus early care and education center with NAEYC accreditation for five years. Dr. Elliott publishes in the field and presents at the international, national, state and local levels on a number of early childhood issues; consequently, she maintains national recognition as an expert in the field of early childhood education.

Dr. Elliott represents the Southwest region of Florida as Regional Representative on the ECA of FL Board. She helps the Charlotte, Sarasota, Lee, and Manatee affiliate chapters. She serves as the public policy chair for the LEE AEYC.

Joan Bell

Currently "retired" Joan is an adjunct professor at University of Central Florida, a CDA representative and instructor, and an early childhood trainer. Joan has over 44 years in the field of early childhood education. She started as a parent volunteer in a New York City Head Start program. After completing her degree, she became an education supervisor in the same Head Start program. Later she became a teacher and Early Education supervisor for New York City Public schools. There she helped write the Early Childhood math and Science curriculum After relocating to Orlando, Joan was a public school teacher and trainer. Returning to her first love Head Start, she became an administrator for the local program. Her work as a consultant with the Early Learning Coalition has allowed her to further pursue her passion in the field of early education.

Taking all of these things in consideration Joan's first passion is her family. She is married, the mother of 2 children, the grandmother of 5, and the great grandmother of a 2 year old little boy!

Joan served as President and Public Policy chairperson for the Central Florida AEYC. She initiated sending online minutes to all board members. She was responsible for bringing valuable information, to the board and members, on current legislation, studies and articles that impacted early childhood in our state. Joan is the Vice President of Public Policy for ECA of FL and plans to continue this practice.

Suzanne Gellens, Executive Director

I am in my 11^th year as Executive Director of ECA of FL. I became active in 1975 in my local affiliate, Hillsborough Association on Children Under Six and later in the Sarasota Association on Children Under Six. I was a director of an NAEYC accredited center, where I remained for 17 years. I became president of the Sarasota affiliate in 1983, went on to become President of Florida Association on Children Under Six in 1988 and in 1997 had the honor of serving as President of SECA. I first began working on the ECA of FL annual conference in the early 80's and have never stopped. Volunteering for this fantastic organization changed who I am, increased my desire for professional knowledge, and gave me a statewide circle of friends.

During my time in the ECA office, my duties have changed a great deal. I began mostly doing membership processing. The evolution in the 11 years has been phenomenal. Now, with NAEYC doing the actual data input for membership, I am able to devote time to membership and affiliate services as well as running the day to day aspects of the organization. I spend about 1/3 of my time on the Conference, working on conferences 2 and 3 years in the future at the same time as planning for the upcoming event. I travel around the state in a variety of capacities, sometimes visiting affiliates or putting on workshops; sometimes working on statewide educational or advocacy committees. I guess the best thing about the job is the diversity of tasks. No two days are ever the same.

In my personal life, I have a dog named Babette, who is a very spoiled poodle. After living in Sarasota for 28 years, I moved to Tampa 3 years ago. I spend a lot of time with my two daughters, Stephanie and Lisa Beth and my three grandchildren, Solon, 13, Addison 10, and Tanner 8. I am active in the nearby Temple and am a substitute Sunday School teacher. I volunteer at Metropolitan Ministries and participate in other community service projects. I love to read and cook, and have taken up knitting, sewing, and playing computer word games as hobbies.

Susan Verzone, Administrative Assistant

I am the new voice to the ECA of FL office and yes, it is a little bit southern.

After working 21 years as assistant director and then director in a morning preschool/kindergarten program, I have moved to a great new position in the ECA of FL office. I am learning so much about what a wonderful organization of people are working to inform, improve, empower, and involve childcare professionals. I still have a long way to go to learn all I need to know, so please be patient when you call for help.

As a mother of three married children and four "outstanding" grandchildren (Just ask me!) my life is still very busy with a wonderful husband, church activities, sewing, gardening, and reading.

Thanks for the wonderful welcome to ECA of FL. Hope to meet many of you very soon.