Jennifer Pfau has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and has worked in the nonprofit sector for 28 years, including 18 years as a self-employed Nonprofit Consultant and Grant Writer.  She has facilitated the creation of several new nonprofit organizations from the ground up, helped numerous operations expand their operating budgets and services offered, organized several multi-million capital campaigns, and secured millions of dollars in support for economic and community development projects, with a focus on education/youth and rural communities.  She is regarded as one of the best grant writers in the state due to her high success rates and scoring evaluations.   For five years she worked as a Rural Development Specialist in 14 western states, providing technical assistance to nonprofits, businesses, and governments to build leadership, as well as entrepreneurial and economic development networks.  For the last 20 years, Jennifer has actively worked to improve the capacity of local youth programs including the Boys & Girls Club of Lewistown, Central Montana Head Start, and Fergus High School.  Jennifer has served on numerous local, state, and western-region nonprofit boards. 

Charrisse brings a thorough background knowledge of early childhood systems, skills, resources, and child development from birth to five. Charrisse holds a BS in Early Childhood Education from the University of Montana Western. She began her career as an infant and toddler teacher in a high-needs setting at an Early Head Start, then spent several memorable years teaching preschool for ages 3-5 in a private program. Charrisse gained rich supervisory experience in administration of two, large 4-star child care centers. She gained understanding and knowledge of the inner workings of early childhood systems in my time serving as Executive Director of the MTAEYC Montana Affiliate and role on Montana Advocates for Children. She has served childcare providers as a Provider Services Specialist in a Child Care and Resource and Referral office, providing professional development, sound business support, and technical assistance. She has frontline perspective and connections with providers and community partners from all types of service deliveries

Charrisse Jennings considers the early childhood field to be her “occu-passion”! With over 17 years of experience she has a rich scope of knowledge in teaching, administrative, systems, and advocacy roles. Cbarrisse loves to help other early childhood professionals achieve their best possible outcomes!

Julie has a Bachelor of Science: Business Administration with an Accounting Emphasis degree, a Bachelor of Science: Business Information Systems degree, and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Montana.  She is owner, partner, and/or founder of multiple business in Montana including, Allied Steel, Central Electric, Townsend Electric, Billings Electric, Central Feed Grilling Co, and The Calvert Hotel.  Julie’s expertise is in financial performance and system implementation. 

Katie is the President and CEO of Spika Design & Manufacturing, Inc. She's committed to building a company that improves outcomes for its customers, team members, suppliers, and community. Katie is a believer in values-driven business, with people and purpose at the core. She has experience in accounting, marketing, quality assurance, human resources, operations management, and strategy, among others. Katie graduated with honors from the University of Montana College of Business with dual degrees in Finance and Marketing. Outside of work, Katie is passionate about connecting and building the Central Montana community. She is an active member of several local boards, a City Commissioner for the City of Lewistown, and the cofounder of Hidden Montana, an online media and community platform for the socioeconomic development of the Central Montana Region. An aspiring craft cocktail mixologist, Katie spends her free time trying new food recipes, snuggling her cats and dogs, and practicing medication. She lives in Lewistown with her husband Ben.

Pam has a Master’s Degree in Human Resources with a focus on Organizational Development.   She has 13 years of Early Childhood experience as Director (6 years) and Fiscal Officer (7 years) of Central Montana Head Start providing oversight of the program for 122 children and 30 staff in a five-county area of Central Montana.  She served as a state and regional board member for Head Start programs and on the National Advisory Committee for Rural Health & Human Services ensuring quality and continuity of services for rural areas.  She has 20 plus years of experience with Accounting (NFP and for profit) including oversight of Federal and state grants ($1.5 million annually).  Her current role is as Human Resource Director for Sports, Inc.   Pam has served as a Board Member on the Roy School Board (12 years) and Fergus County Council of Aging Board (< 1 yr).

Joanie obtained her bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Development with a minor of Family Science from Montana State University.  She then worked in the field of social work for 2 years in Child Protective Services.  Upon moving to Bozeman in 2005, Joanie took a job in Early Childhood with Gallatin, Park, and Meagher county’s state funded Child Care Resource and Referral Agency. She worked the next 7 years for Child Care Connections is several different leadership roles: first, as an Early Childhood Provider Services Coordinator/ Educator managing all educational programs and requirements for a 3-county area – including all aspects of coordinating entry level educational opportunities, business requirements and licensing startups for new early childhood programs, up to teaching college level courses for Early Childhood Educators in the region.  She was also responsible for the STARS to Quality program implementation in the region and worked as a partner with the MT Early Childhood Services Bureau to support statewide Early Childhood initiatives.  She also helped oversee the Child and Adult Care Food Program and worked with Early Childhood Providers in their home on compliance and access to resources and funding through this program.  She also has experience with the Child Care Scholarship program processing requirements and applications for independent care givers and managed the childcare special needs subsidy program.  In all, she worked at Child Care Connections for 7 years before leaving to become a small business owner, offering high-end children’s consignment and sales.  Since moving to Lewistown in 2014, Joanie has worked at the Central Montana Medical Center in the state funded Developmental Disabilities Grant as a Case Manager and then advanced to being the facility-wide Hospital Social Worker and Care Coordinator.  She was an active part of the initial grants bringing care coordinator to the community and CMMC.  In 2019, she took on the role of Director of Human Resources where serves on the Senior Leadership team as a member of the Executive Team. 

Sheridan grew up on a farm east of Conrad, MT where she developed her love for agriculture and the strength of rural communities. She is a graduate of MSU where she earned degrees in both Political Science and Ag Education. After a short stint in D.C., she returned to the Big Sky in Nov. 2022 to work as the Government Relations Specialist for the Montana Chamber of Commerce, where she works on policy to support the business community with a focus on workforce development.