Skip Navigation
 
ACF
ACF Home   |   Services   |   Working with ACF   |   Policy/Planning   |   About ACF   |   ACF News   |   HHS Home

  Questions?  |  Privacy  |  Site Index  |  Contact Us  |  Download Reader™  |  Print      


Joan Lombardi, Ph.D.

Deputy Assistant Secretary and inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development
Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Joan Lombardi, a national and international expert on early childhood, is Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development for the Administration for Children and Families under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Dr. Lombardi has made significant contributions in the area of early childhood over the past 30 years as an innovative leader and policy advisor to national and international organizations, a public servant, and an active member of numerous boards and institutions.  She brings a wealth of experience drawn from her earlier government service, as well as insights gained through her leadership as founding chair of the Birth to Five Policy Alliance and other initiatives. 

Prior to her work as founding chair of the Birth to Five Policy Alliance, Dr. Lombardi served during the 1990s in ACF as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and External Affairs, the first Associate Commissioner of the Child Care Bureau, and the Project Director of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Head Start.  She has been an advisor on early childhood development to a number of organizations, including the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and UNICEF.  While a Research Professor at Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute, she served as the founding coordinator of Global Action for Children, a board member for Voices for America’s Children and the Firelight Foundation.  Dr. Lombardi holds a Masters in Early Childhood Education from Boston College and a Ph.D. in Human Development Education from the University of Maryland.  Dr. Lombardi is the author of Time to Care: Redesigning Child Care to Promote Education, Support and Build Communities, and co-editor of A Beacon of Hope: The Promise of Early Head Start for American’s Youngest Children.