Board of Directors – Programs For Parents

Beverly Lynn, Ed.D
CEO, Programs for Parents

Saigeetha (Sai) Jambunathan, Ph.D
Secretary

Nakeicha Adams
Natasha C. Edwards, MBA
Keith Green
Diane Hill, Ph.D
Barbara A. Litwinka, CPA
Reinaldo Santiago, MBA
Kevin Michael Slater, MBA
Larry Tamburri, MBA
Pamela Taylor, MBA

Beverly Lynn, Ed.D

CEO, Programs for Parents

Dr. Beverly Lynn was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Programs for Parents, Inc. in January 2008. Programs for Parents (PfP) is the largest child care and resource and referral agency in the state of New Jersey. It provides services to over 1200 child care providers in Essex County and financial assistance to over 10,000 children monthly to help pay for child care services. PfP also provides professional development opportunities for individuals working in the field of Early Care and Education and training and support services for parents of young children.

Prior to joining PfP Dr. Lynn served as the Executive Director of Newark Preschool Council, Inc. (NPC) Head Start Program. As Executive Director, she had the responsibility of implementing a comprehensive early childhood education program for approximately 2,500 children in the city of Newark with over 750 employees. Preschool and family based services were offered in 40 Newark Preschool Council, Head Start centers throughout the city with extended services in 9 Newark Public School facilities. Prior to leaving NPC, Ms Lynn planned and implemented a $10 million facilities plan which included construction, renovation and acquisition of property.

She also served as the State Child Care Administrator for the New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS) for six years. As Child Care Administrator, Ms. Lynn was responsible for the oversight of all federal and state dollars allocated for child care services under the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF). The CCDF provided funding for New Jersey’s child care subsidy programs; state child care quality initiatives; and state contracted centers which served over 90,000 children. Dr. Lynn, in this capacity, spoke on a national, state, and local level to audiences interested in the cutting edge and innovative programs offered in New Jersey. As the Child Care Administrator, she worked with the Governor’s Policy staff and the Department of Education (DOE) officials to design the nationally recognized and state mandated Abbott Preschool Program which included the participation of child care and Head Start programs.

She holds a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education from Rutgers University and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Baruch College, CUNY, where she was a National Urban Fellow. She recently obtained her EdD degree from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education where she defended her doctoral dissertation, Child Care Directors: Gatekeepers to Quality. Dr. Lynn is certified in elementary and early childhood education and has worked in the field of early care and education for the last 40 years.

Dr. Lynn has and continues to serve as a volunteer in the New Jersey community having served as a former Board member of the Hillside Public Schools for five years; former district leader, former member of the Department of Human Services Commissioner’s Executive Advisory Council; and currently a member of the Essex County Human Services Advisory Council, appointed by County Executive, Joe Divincenzo.

Dr. Lynn is a member of the Omicron Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, Montclair, New Jersey. She is also a faithful member and ministry leader at the Greater Abyssinian Baptist Church in Newark. She has received numerous awards and citations for her outstanding work in the community, county and state. She has two sons, Al-Tariq and Na’im and five grandchildren, Damon, Ymani, Ibn, Amir and Naledi.

One of her favorite quotes is by Denzel Washington. “Don’t aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference.”

Lance LaVergne, MBA

President

Lance LaVergne, senior vice president and head of the Enterprise Talent Acquisition’s Strategy and Practice group joined Wells Fargo in July 2014. LaVergne is responsible for leading and developing strategic plans, and ensuring the strategies for the delivery of talent acquisition services are aligned to current trends, practices, costs, and regulations. He provides oversight for full cycle talent acquisition strategies, from candidate sourcing, including social media

and branding, to selection and assessment.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, LaVergne was the director of talent acquisition for Alcoa, where he led all of the talent acquisition activity for the company. He had oversight for the North America Recruiting Center of Expertise as well as the identification and sharing of global best practices in sourcing, hiring, and on-boarding top talent.

Stacie J. Newton

Vice-President

Stacie J. Newton is Director of Marketing and Public Relations for RWJBarnabas Health, the largest integrated healthcare delivery system in New Jersey that provides treatment and services to more than 3 million patients annually.

As director, Newton oversees the public relations and communication strategies for Clara Maass Medical Center, a 472-bed state-of-the-art community medical center located in Belleville, New Jersey. She is also responsible for raising community awareness of the quality and scope of services and a wide variety of medical conditions.

Prior to joining the RWJBarnabas Team in 2017, Newton was Interim Executive Director of Public Affairs, Director of Marketing Communications and Special Assistant to the Board of Directors at Newark’s University Hospital, where she was acted as key interface between executive management and the Board of Directors. She was also directly responsible for establishing policy and had oversight of all public relations activities and external communications including media relations, social media and community outreach.

Currently an Adjunct Professor of English, Newton conducts in-class lectures for junior college students at Passaic County Community College in Public Speaking, and as a consultant in public affairs, she has helped to establish strategic partnerships with community agencies to develop sustainable initiatives for addressing public policy issues within the greater Newark community.

A native of Newark, New Jersey, Newton earned a graduate degree in Public Administration from Kean University and an undergraduate degree in Marketing, also from Kean University, and an Associate of Science degree in Business Administration from Essex County College.

Newton is affiliated with a variety of civic organizations including the Montclair Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, where she served as President, Vice President, and Secretary, and she is a graduate of the prestigious Leadership Newark and Leadership New Jersey programs. An active member of the Junior League of Montclair-Newark, Newton was previously the Vice President of Newark Preschool Council, Inc. Head Start Program from 2004 to 2011. Newton was an elected member of the Essex County Democratic Committee and was appointed by the Mayor of Irvington Township as a member of the Environmental Commission for the Township of Irvington, New Jersey.

Robert Patrick

Treasurer

Saigeetha (Sai) Jambunathan

Secretary

Dr. Saigeetha Jambunathan is a Co-chair and Professor in the department of Early Childhood Education at New Jersey City University. Her research interest is in the areas of developmentally appropriate practices, teacher beliefs about the use of developmentally appropriate practices, cross-cultural comparisons of parenting attitudes and children’s perception of self-competence. Dr. Jambunathan has presented papers in many international and national conferences in this area. She has also published in many refereed journals.

Dr. Jambunathan has carved a niche for herself in the area of developmentally appropriate practices and teacher beliefs about DAP. She has been invited by leading refereed journals and conferences to review research articles and conference presentations. More recently, Dr. Jambunathan has started researching in the areas of financial literacy, ethical decision making among early childhood teachers, leadership skills among children and development of culturally relevant assessments for the identification of gifted and talented children in India. She has conducted many workshops for teachers in India and the US.