The OppEx Team
Louise Stoney
An independent consultant specializing in early care and education (ECE) finance and policy, (Stoney Associates) and Co-Founder of both Opportunities Exchange and the Alliance for Early Childhood Finance, Louise has spent her career focused on innovation. She devised the Iron Triangle of ECE Finance as a framework to guide practitioners and policy, encouraged and guided efforts to maximize the power of technology, and helped model ECE program costs to deepen understanding of both administrative and direct services. She has also worked to revise subsidy policy and rate-setting strategies, re-imagine QRIS standards and procedures, craft new approaches to contracting and subsidy management and forge pathways that enable small child care businesses to attain scale. Over the past 30 years Louise has worked with state and local governments, foundations, ECE providers, industry intermediaries, research and advocacy groups in over 40 states. Public and private organizations have sought Louise’s expertise to help craft new finance and policy options as well as write issue briefs on challenging topics. Louise holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
louise.stoney@gmail.com
Office: (561) 841-6501
Mobile: (561) 373-3321
Amy Friedlander
Bringing more than ten years of experience working in early childhood education (ECE), Amy works with Opportunities Exchange to support community based Shared Service initiatives and Business Leadership initiatives. Her experience and expertise include supporting ECE providers, funders, and advocates, quality rating improvement system administrators, teacher preparation programs, and others to: collect and analyze data; modify business and administrative processes; develop, pilot and assess innovative programs; and, manage a variety of complex projects designed to increase the supply of and access to high quality ECE for children and families. Amy writes articles and delivers presentations on various ECE topics, and provides business administration professional development to cohorts of Philadelphia-based ECE owners and directors. Amy holds a Masters of Business Administration from New York University and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Virginia.
More information about Amy's Philadelphia-based consultation practice can be found at www.amyfriedlander.com.
amyfriedlander2012@gmail.com
Mobile: (267) 435-1861
Johanna Borden
Johanna’s work in the early childhood sector includes development and implementation of data collection systems, reporting procedures and key metrics for program management and evaluation. She has managed early intervention services for children ages 3-5, served as a CLASS certified observer and provided PBIS focused coaching. In her current role with OppEx, Johanna works strategically with technologists and end users to enhance the functionality of Child Care Management Systems (CCMS) and craft impactful reports and dashboards. She provides critical insights to improve the system's usability and effectiveness, ensuring streamlined data collection and reporting processes. Additionally, Johanna has cross-walked licensing and QRIS requirements with the functionality available in the CCMS, making recommendations for enhancements to ensure compliance for providers. Johanna delivers business coach training tied to automation and facilitates CCMS Communities of Practice (CoPs). She has helped develop a variety of resources and guides focused on automation, and collaborated with other consultants to map, define and deepen understanding of ECE Technology Ecosystems. Johanna holds a Master’s degree in Public Health Management and Administration from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and an undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education with a minor in ESL from East Stroudsburg University.
Jmborden00@gmail.com
Mobile: (570) 872-7675
Kelly Pope
Kelly Pope is a social entrepreneur and strategic advisor focusing on creating opportunities for the youngest (0-5yrs) learners and their families. She consults with and advises young edtech start-up companies on business models, design thinking, and technology implementation. Prior to her social sector work, Kelly spent 25 years in the software industry as a software technology executive, managing diverse high tech organizations. She built and led cross-functional teams to deliver robust and engaging end-user products ranging from medical diagnostic software, consumer video games, and web-based interactive curriculum for students and teachers. Kelly is a Partner and Strategic Advisor at Silicon Valley Social Ventures (SV2). She serves as Vice Chair on New Teacher Center board and is also on the board of Growing Up New Mexico, working to bring structural change to early childhood care and education in New Mexico. Kelly holds a B.S. in electrical engineering/signal processing from U.C. Davis and was one of the first women to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy.
kgpope@gmail.com
Mobile: (650) 722-0327
Megan Irwin
Since 2013 Megan has worked as a state leader and policy consultant in the early care and education sector. She served as Oregon's early learning systems director under Governor's Kitzhaber and Brown and oversaw the creation of the state's Early Learning Division, which brought all early care and education programs together under the same agency for the first time. She has also served as a school district administrator, focused on bringing developmentally appropriate preschool programs into the elementary school system. She was the lead facilitator and policy consultant for the Multnomah County, OR Preschool for All initiative which created universal, mixed delivery, publicly funded preschool for all 3-and-4-year olds living in the county, as well as including funds to preserve infant toddler slots, and creating workforce development infrastructure as part of the roll out. She has supported several local communities to develop frameworks for shared services alliances. In addition to her policy work, she is a clinical social worker specializing in the treatment of PTSD and other trauma related disorders, and brings a trauma-informed lens to her facilitation and policy development work. She holds a BA from Arizona State University, a MSW from Portland State University, and resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Adam Lucas
Adam Lucas is a technologist and data strategist for mission-driven organizations with a focus on data integration and measuring impact of programmatic deployments. He recently led a pivot to virtual program delivery in the K-12 education space to serve several million students, including systems design, data collection, and grant reporting.
For over two decades, Adam has been a forward-thinking technologist helping people transform their ideas into reality. He began his career as a software engineer and digital marketer, where he created a new service offering around Search Engine Optimization and Paid Advertising. He then transitioned into leadership roles, where he led teams on build outs of million-hit websites, ecommerce storefronts, SaaS applications, and mobile games.
For the OppEx team, Adam heads up system integrations and data alignment, with the goal of making sure the data entry will fit the numerous outputs and reports required. He also helps stakeholders understand the possibilities of interconnected systems and provides guidance throughout the process.
adam@adamlucas.com
Mobile: (860) 897-1019
Heidi East McGowan
Heidi East McGowan supports organizations’ drive toward high-impact outcomes through her expertise in three key areas: a) Board of Director engagement and facilitation; b) policy development and system impact; and c) leadership development and training.
Heid has more than 20 years of experience consulting with public and private organizations, partnering with leaders to transform their organizations and teams. Heidi integrates her knowledge and experience of system and design thinking, group dynamics, and organizational culture to inform the contextual landscape of facilitating and consulting.
Heidi was recently trained by Brené Brown as a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Oregon’s Executive MBA and a Master’s in Public Health from Oregon State University. More information about Heidi's consulting firm can be found at: www.eastimpact.com
Mia Pritts
Mia Pritts has more than 20 years experience in the field of early care and education. She spent 12 years working in preschool and child care programs in various roles, starting as a teacher assistant and moving into leadership positions over time. A number of those years were spent working on employer-sponsored child care solutions. Mia has spent the last 14 years working to build technology tools and business solutions for child care stabilization and sustainability, including at Early Learning Ventures and Wonderschool. Working with child care providers all over the country, as well as local/regional/statewide ECE stakeholders, Mia is able to share a diverse but comprehensive view of the state of child care across the US. Mia has a deep passion for supporting providers, young children, early educators, and parents. Mia holds a B.S. in Family Community Services from Michigan State University, and an M.A. in Educational Psychology/Research + Evaluation from the University of Colorado, Denver.
Meredith Flora
For almost a decade, Meredith has worked with several different organizations in an administrative role. From 2.5 years, she worked with The Maryland Association of CPAs as an Administrative Assistant. She assisted them with data entry, oversaw the logistics of daily classes, and provided helpful services to the accountants. She then took a break to finish her bachelor’s degree at the University of Maryland College Park before starting her role as Guest Services Coordinator at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2016. In that role, she took on many tasks which included event planning, data entry, scheduling campus visits for prospective students, and managing and training student ambassadors. Currently working as an independent consultant, she joined Opportunities Exchange as Administrative Coordinator in January 2020. She currently assists in various administrative tasks in addition to conference planning.
meredithpflora@gmail.com
Office: (410) 302-4746