Next Steps - Panelists

Discussion Leader: Bob Babbage

Babbage Cofounder – National Managing Partner

Bob Babbage is the national managing partner of Babbage Cofounder, a government relations and corporate business development firm.  In 2005, the Lexington Herald-Leader ranked Bob first among Kentucky lobbyists based on public records, just as Kentucky Roll Call placed him first for the 2006 and 2007 legislatures. The Louisville Courier-Journal ranked Bob first among lobbyists for the 2008 session, again based on public records.

Bob served as Kentucky's Secretary of State, 1992-96 and State Auditor, 1988-92. He served as Lexington City Council at-large member, 1981-87.  A charter class member of Leadership Lexington, he is the originator of Leadership Kentucky and helped start the Lexington Forum, the Louisville Forum and the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership program.

President Clinton appointed Bob to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice chaired by Attorney General Janet Reno and later by Attorney General John Ashcroft. Secretary of State Colin Powell named Bob to the Advisory Committee for Cultural Diplomacy.

Married 29 years, Bob and Laura Babbage live in Lexington and are the parents of Robert (20), Julie (16) and Brian (14).  Bob is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and the Patterson School of Diplomacy (M.A.) at U.K.  Bob completed the Senior Executives Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Baretta Casey

Centering Pregnancy

Janie Miller

Health and Human Services Cabinet - Secretary

Janie Miller was appointed secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Gov. Steve Beshear in January 2008.

Miller brings more than 30 years of experience to the position, including 21 years developing and administering health care programs. Her career also includes more than 15 years of service in the former state Cabinet for Human Resources. Prior to her appointment as secretary, Miller held the position of deputy director of budget review for the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. In this role, she was responsible for assisting legislators in developing budget bills for all three branches of government.

Under Governor Paul Patton, Miller served as Public Protection Cabinet Secretary from May 2002 to November 2003, continuing in the role of commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Insurance while serving as cabinet secretary. She also has served as commissioner of the Department of Insurance and as deputy commissioner of Health Insurance in the Department of Insurance. Miller has an undergraduate degree in social work from Eastern Kentucky University.

Helen Mountjoy

Education and Workforce Development Cabinet - Secretary

Helen W. Mountjoy’s passion and commitment to education and workforce development in Kentucky are evident through her long career of public service.

Immediately prior to her appointment as Cabinet Secretary, Mountjoy was vice-president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation, where she worked primarily in the areas of workforce development and education. She served on the Daviess County School Board and was founding chair of the Daviess County Education Foundation. In addition, she served as a member of The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

Secretary Mountjoy also has served on the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce's Postsecondary Education Task Force, the Partnership for Successful Schools Board of Directors and the Kentucky Legislature’s Taskforce on Teacher Quality. In addition to serving as secretary, Mountjoy serves on the Steering Committee for the Education Commission of the States, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Kentucky YMCA and is on the Champions Board of the KY Girls STEM Collaborative.

Among many awards Mountjoy has received are a Leadership in Education Award from the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of State Boards of Education, an honorary doctorate from Kentucky Wesleyan College and Brescia University. In addition, she was the inaugural recipient of the The Prichard Committee Award of Excellence.

A native of Chattanooga, Secretary Mountjoy graduated from Vanderbilt University with a double major in history and English and has done post-baccalaureate work at the University of Cincinnati and at Kentucky Wesleyan College. She has been married for 40 years to Owensboro attorney Jesse Mountjoy. They have three sons and one grandson.

Miriam Shark

Annie E. Casey Foundation – Associate Director

Miriam Shark is an Associate Director at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private philanthropy dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States. Ms. Shark manages the Philanthropic Partnerships initiative to deepen and diversify Casey’s relationships with philanthropies, philanthropists and philanthropic networks. She created and leads the initiative to Strengthen Rural Families, extending Casey’s reach to vulnerable children and families in rural communities. She was one of the architects of the Foundation’s family-strengthening agenda and established a variety of partnerships and award programs designed to promote family-strengthening and family economic success strategies.

Miriam serves as Vice Chair of Kids In Distressed Situations, a national nonprofit organization that facilitates donations to low-income families by manufacturers and retailers of children’s products.

Prior to joining the Foundation, she was a Director of the Massachusetts Rate Setting Commission and served as the director of a community-based mental health center.

Miriam holds an A.B. degree from Washington University, a Ph.D. in Clinical Child Psychology from St. Louis University and an M.P.A. from Harvard University. She resides in Baltimore City.

Stephanie Rubin

Pew Center on the States, Pew Charitable Trusts - Senior officer, Campaigns

Stephanie Rubin is Senior Officer, Campaigns, for Pew Center on the States. Previously, she served as state program director at Pre-K Now. As Senior Officer, Campaigns, for Pew Center on the States, she coordinates state policy and advocacy strategies across the multiple children’s policy initiatives within Pew Center on the States.

As state program director of Pre-K Now, she managed Pre-K Now's efforts to educate state policy makers, the media and the general public about the potential that pre-kindergarten offers to improve outcomes for America's young children.

Prior to joining Pre-K Now, Ms. Rubin led advocacy efforts to increase public investment in early education, after-school, mental health and child abuse prevention services at Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California.

Previously, she served as Legislative Director to California State Senator Tom Hayden and Counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Higher Education in Sacramento, California.

Ms. Rubin received her BA in History from Princeton University and her law degree from UCLA.

Partnerships for Policy Change:
Effective Strategies and Opportunities

Rick Hulefeld

Children’s Inc. - Executive Director

Rick Hulefeld holds a Bachelor of Science in International Affairs from Georgetown University, a Master of Arts in Humanities from the University of Chicago, and a Masters in Education from Xavier University. He has studied at the University of Madrid and was an exchange student in Peru.

Along with his wife he began Children, Inc. in 1979. He has served as Children, Inc.’s executive director since its beginning. Over the past three years Rick has built the Children, Inc. Service Learning Project to 25,000 participants.

Rick and his wife, Mary, have reared their five children in an inner city Covington neighborhood.

Lisa Simpson, Ph.D.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center - Director, Child Health Policy and Research
University of Cincinnati, Dept. of Pediatrics - Professor, Division of Health Policy and Clinical Effectiveness

Dr. Simpson, a board-certified pediatrician, also serves as the National Director for Child Health Policy at the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, an education and research organization dedicated solely to improving the quality of health care provided to children, and serves as an elected member on the board of directors of two national professional associations, AcademyHealth and the Ambulatory Pediatric Association.

She has led studies of the quality and safety of care for children and adolescents and has focused especially on the role of policies in advancing quality. She was formerly the Deputy Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Maternal and Child Health Director in Hawaii.

Childhood Obesity in Kentucky: What Philanthropy Can Do

Kathy Merchant

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation – President and CEO

Kathryn E. Merchant is President/CEO of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1997, Ms. Merchant was the director of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Neighborhood Preservation Initiative and a partner in the New Haven-based consulting firm Holt, Wexler & Merchant. She has also served as director of planning for the United Way of Greater New Haven and as planner/grants manager for the South Central Connecticut Area Agency on Aging.

Ms. Merchant has served in leadership positions on a number of nonprofit boards of directors, including the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, SC Ministry Foundation, United Way of Greater New Haven and United Way of Connecticut. She also served on the boards of the Council on Foundations 2001-07 and the Community Foundations of America Board (Giving Net) 2000-2008. Current board service includes the Center for Effective Philanthropy, the National Center for Arts and Technology, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, CF Insights (Advisory), and the Metropolitan Club (chairman 2004). She is a graduate of Leadership Cincinnati Class XXI.

In 2005, Ms. Merchant received a Career Women of Achievement Award from the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati, the 2006 Ohio Philanthropy Award from the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, and in 2009 the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio – Great River Region’s Woman of Distinction. She is one of the “Top 50 Power & Influence” leaders selected in 2008 by The NonProfit Times.

Ms. Merchant has a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work.

Mike Howland

CAE - Southeastern Council of Foundations - President & CEO

Mr. Howland joined the Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF) as President & CEO in late summer of 2008. SECF is a regional association of foundations and grantmaking organizations which covers eleven states in the Southeast. With more than 300 member organizations representing more than $40 billion in philanthropic assets, SECF is one of the largest regional associations in the U.S.

Prior to joining SECF, Mr. Howland served as CEO of Noble of Indiana, an Indianapolis-based community organization serving 2,200 people with developmental disabilities through five locations.

Mr. Howland began his career as a Presidential Management Intern with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Beginning in 1986, he served as the SBA’s San Francisco district director, overseeing SBA programs for 35 Northern California counties. He later was appointed acting regional administrator under Presidents Bush and Clinton, where he oversaw SBA programs in California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam and the Trust Territories.

Mr. Howland also has served as President and CEO of Independent Charities of America, based in San Francisco and Christian Service Charities, based in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Howland was the first person to graduate with both a law degree and Masters of Public Administration from St. Louis University. He completed his undergraduate studies at Jacksonville University (FL), where he has served as President of the Alumni Board of Governors and now serves on the Board of Trustees.

Lacey McNary

Kentucky Youth Advocates - Deputy Director

As Deputy Director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, Louisville, Lacey manages the health and early childhood portfolios. During her six-year tenure at Kentucky Youth Advocates she has been involved in several successful children’s health policy changes including the passage of the following pieces of children’s health and safety legislation: ATV helmets for children, graduated driver’s license, booster seats, dental screenings, and child abuse prevention.

She has written or co-written several reports and issue briefs that pertain to improving children’s health in the Commonwealth including: Tobacco Use Among Pregnant Women in Kentucky; In the Dark: Families Share their Experiences with KyHealth Choices; New Voices from the Bluegrass: A Portrait of Kentucky's Children in Immigrant Families; Kentucky's Cavity: Parents Voice Concerns about Children's Dental Care in their Communities; Children and ATVs: Riding in Harm’s Way; and Open Wide or Lock Jaw? Children’s Dental Health Access in Kentucky.

Lacey chairs the Kentucky School Based Health Network Advocacy Committee, and provides leadership on several coalitions in the state including Kentucky Voices for Health.