EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR FINALIST
Mary Burns, president & CEO, named as one of three finalists as Executive of the Year by Dayton Business Journal!
Perhaps no one in the Dayton region knows the Head Start program any more intimately than Mary Burns. She has worked with the federal early childhood program for low-income children for 35 years.
The first three decades Burns worked with a program in Piqua that operated Head Start in that area.
And for the past four-and-a-half years, Burns has led Miami Valley Child Development Centers, which manages Head Start in Clark, Madison and Montgomery counties. She oversees 430 employees who serve 2,800 children from infants to preschoolers.
"It's a place where you can give your heart," Burns said. "I feel this is my mission in life."
She is the regional president of the Region V Head Start Association, which represents six states, as well as the regional director's representative on the national Head Start board.
Burns strives to be a servant leader — and the best leader she can be.
"I really believe in leading by example. I'm not ashamed to do anything."
Her leadership responsibilities at MVCDC include full oversight of the program, which has a total budget of approximately $25 million.
The early childhood development programs provided by MVCDC concentrate on literacy and school readiness for children up to age five. As such, the program's students enter kindergarten better prepared in areas such as:
- Social develoment, including choices, self-discipline and self-confidence;
- Create self-expression, including thoughts, feelngs, and ideas;
- Language and literacy;
- Mathematics and science; and
- Music and movement
November 18, 2011
- Tracy Staley, Dayton Business Journal