Alliance board members bring a diverse set of skills and experience to the organization’s governance, and they ensure that the Alliance stays organizationally strong and that its work is aligned with its mission and theory of change.
Michael Burke
Vice President, Buffett Early Childhood Fund
Michael Burke is Vice President of the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, an organization that invests in public education where America is most under-invested: the first five years of life. Prior to joining Buffett in 2007, Burke spent more than two decades advancing the causes that help young children thrive, including communications leadership roles at the Educare Learning Network, the Ounce of Prevention Fund (now Start Early), Voices for Illinois Children, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Mario Cardona
Partner, EducationCounsel
Mario Cardona is a partner at EducationCounsel. Previously, Cardona served as a senior education advisor at the White House Domestic Policy Council for President Obama and President Biden. He also served as the policy director for the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University and the Chief of Policy, Practice, and Research for Child Care Aware of America. Earlier in his career, Mario was a senior aide in the United States Senate. Mario is a Pahara Fellow and a Senior Advisor to the Stanford Center for Early Childhood.
Carl Hairston
Area Executive Vice President, First Citizens Bank
Carl L. Hairston is area executive vice president for First Citizens Bank (FCB) where he is responsible for the local operations in the DC/Virginia markets. He has oversight of FCB’s business, commercial, and consumer loan and deposit portfolios where services are delivered online, through branches and business offices. Hairston possesses more than 35 years of financial services experience, holding various roles over the span of his banking career. In 2023, he completed FCB’s highest level leadership development program in partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership. In addition to the Alliance, Hairston serves on many other business and community-oriented boards.
Patricia Kempthorne
Founder and Executive Director, Twiga Foundation
Patricia Kempthorne has dedicated her work life and her life’s work to building a family-consciousness in her family, workplace, and community. A champion for families and children, she was able to shine a spotlight on the issues closest to her while serving as Idaho’s first lady from 1999 to 2006. In 2005, Kempthorne created the Twiga Foundation, Inc.—a nonprofit that focuses on parent engagement and early learning opportunities that impact strengthening families and the workforce. Kempthorne is a lifetime board member of both Parents as Teachers and Boise’s St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital. In 2016 she was honored by American Mothers, Inc. as a National Mother of Achievement.
Michael Laracy
Director of Policy Reform and Advocacy (retired), The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Michael Laracy served the Annie E. Casey Foundation for 25 years—the last 13 as the Foundation’s first director of policy reform and advocacy, fostering and supporting the Foundation’s efforts to inform, guide, and influence public policy at the federal and state levels. Prior to that he was a senior associate at the Foundation, responsible for initiatives and grantmaking agenda in reducing poverty and promoting opportunity. Before joining the Foundation in 1994, Laracy was assistant commissioner for policy, planning and program evaluation in the New Jersey Department of Human Services, where he served for seventeen years.
C. Lynn McNair (Board Chair)
President, Windward Fund
C. Lynn McNair is the inaugural president of the Windward Fund, an independent 501(c)(3) with a mission to build a more impactful environmental movement by connecting people across diverse geographies, sectors, and communities. McNair has more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit world. She has served as the chief advancement officer for Georgetown Day School, vice president of philanthropic partnerships for the Alliance for Excellent Education, and in leadership roles at the National Governors Association and The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, among others.
Nisha G. Patel
Philanthropic Advisor, Powered by Shakti
Nisha G. Patel leads a national philanthropic advising consultancy, Powered by Shakti, drawing on her more than two decades of experience designing and implementing initiatives to create community-centered economic opportunity in the United States. Her past leadership roles include executive director of the U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty at the Urban Institute, director of the Office of Family Assistance within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and deputy director of Ascend at the Aspen Institute. Previously, she managed grantmaking portfolios at the Gates Foundation, Robin Hood Foundation, and Washington Area Women’s Foundation.
Helene Stebbins (Non-Voting)
Executive Director, Alliance for Early Success
