We are pleased to announce that Brenda Potter has been named the Center’s Director, following the retirement of longtime leader Sue Washburn.

Brenda has served as a technical assistance specialist since the Center opened in 2014. For the past two years, she has led our technical assistance and quality improvement work with programs. She has extensive experience in higher education, center-based and home-visiting programs serving high-risk populations, public school inclusive early childhood classrooms, family engagement programming, and systems development.

Before joining the Center, Brenda was the Title I Program Officer of Early Childhood, Family Education, and Engagement and a Program Manager with the North Kingstown School Department Office of Family Learning for over 16 years. She is a Certified Family Life Educator, served as a professional development trainer and technical assistance consultant with the Rhode Island Department of Education for over 10 years, and was an instructor at the University of Rhode Island for 14 years.

Brenda holds an M.S. in Child Growth and Development and Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College.

In taking on this new role, Brenda is most excited about the Center’s distinction as the workforce development hub for the early care and education workforce in Rhode Island. She looks forward to working with the Center’s talented team of early childhood specialists as they continue to provide high-quality professional development and technical assistance to support our state’s early childhood administrators, teachers, and family child care providers. You can contact Brenda at 401-734-1282 or bpotter@edc.org.

We would like to thank Sue for her dedicated leadership over the past several years, and for her commitment throughout her career to improving early care and education for Rhode Island’s youngest and most vulnerable children. We wish her the best in her well-deserved retirement!