Biographies
Ronald D. Herndon, Chairman of the Board, National Head Start Association
Ron Herndon has served as chairman of the National Head Start Association since July 1993. As chairman, he serves as an ambassador representing the needs of the Head Start community to members of Congress, the administration, and the general public. He also provides guidance and leadership to the 49-member board that sets policy and determines direction for the association.Under his leadership, NHSA has progressed immensely. Major accomplishments include: major legislative gains; improvements in technology for Head Start children, parents, and staff; creation of the NHSA Academy; establishment of important business partnerships; and maintenance of a sound financial base.
Since 1975, Ron Herndon has been director of the Albina Head Start program in Portland, Oregon. Under his direction, the program is the recipient of numerous federal grants in support of local Head Start projects. These grants have been used for major building projects and the development of programming for Head Start parents and staff in Portland and surrounding communities. The program Mr. Herndon oversees provides comprehensive full-day service to more than 400 Head Start children from the areas surrounding Portland.
Yasmina S. Vinci, Executive Director, National Head Start Association
A seasoned leader in both executive and policy roles, Yasmina Vinci's professional experience and capabilities have delivered improvements in the lives of children at the national, state, and local levels. Yasmina comes to the National Head Start Association after several years as principal and founder of EDGE Consulting Partners. At EDGE, Yasmina pursued local, national and global projects that utilized the knowledge, experience, and connections of her years in human services and early education, to enhance the capacity of organizations to thrive as competent, strategic entities capable of influencing policy. Yasmina founded EDGE after receiving her Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Yasmina brings to her new role over ten years of executive director experience at national organizations. As the first Executive Director of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), she led NACCRRA's transition from an all-volunteer association of less than 200 child care resource and referral agencies to a powerful national network of 860+ community-based organizations. In this role, she worked with affiliate organizations, other national advocacy and research organizations, the press, federal and state governments, and the US Congress to implement NACCRRA's system-building public policy agenda on early care and education. Under her leadership, NACCRRA organized the national grassroots campaign that was instrumental to securing the funding for child care in the welfare reform legislation.
A deep understanding of child care issues and challenges at the most local level informs Yasmina's experiences. She began her career as the Executive Director of an inner city child care center and, prior to joining NACCRRA, Yasmina was the Manager of Special Projects in the New Jersey Department of Human Services where she managed the Dependent Care Grant, coordinated the development New Jersey's initial plan for the implementation of the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and supervised a number of research, immunization and Head Start-related projects.
Yasmina's board impact has also been substantial and varied. In addition to holding leadership positions on the governing Boards of the National School Age Care Alliance, the Interfaith Council for the Homeless, United Way, YWCA, Alliance for Work Life Progress, ARC and others, she has also served on numerous advisory boards and task forces, and for nine years was Commissioner on the National Head Start Fellowship Commission.
Currently, Yasmina serves on the Governing Board of the Council for Professional Recognition, the Board of the Children's Investment Fund, the Advisory Board of Boston EQUIP, and the National Advisory Board for the Family Initiative of Legal Momentum and the Advisory Board for Bright Horizons Family Solutions.
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