What the mission means to Hannah
As a mom of three boys, including one who was born with a life-threatening heart defect, I understand how difficult it can be to navigate complex systems and often-siloed services that support caregivers and children. I am passionate about transforming early childhood systems by working with parents, providers, and policymakers to help families receive the services they need, when they need them.
Professional Background
Hannah is a dynamic leader with 17 years of experience engaging early childhood, healthcare, community, and legislative partners in cross-sector collaboration for systems transformation. As director of the ECDHS: Evidence to Impact Center, she leads the ZERO TO THREE team and five national partners in advancing statewide systems of comprehensive early childhood developmental health promotion, screenings, and intervention. Before becoming director, she served as the Center’s impact manager and oversaw the operationalization of the Center’s mission and goals through action planning and workstreams, including technical assistance, evaluation, and operations.
Prior to joining ZERO TO THREE, Hannah’s roles included senior continuous quality improvement (CQI) associate at James Bell Associates, CQI coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Health, manager of practice development at Allina Health, and health systems manager at the American Cancer Society. Through these roles, Hannah led staff and interdisciplinary teams to strengthen alignment between health and early childhood systems; improve maternal, child, and family health outcomes; enhance service delivery; build family leadership; and improve workforce retention and resiliency. She has expertise in strategic leadership, project planning and execution, change management, continuous quality improvement, implementation science, and family engagement. Hannah has supported numerous national initiatives, including the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three Program, Maternal Infant & Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, Tribal Early Learning Initiative, Pediatric Improvement Collaborative for Clinical Trials & Research, and HealthySteps. Hannah received a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Bachelor of Science in sociology and criminal justice from Iowa State University.
In her commitment to supporting families and young children, Hannah was elected to and has served on the Farmington Area Public Schools Board of Education in Minnesota since 2021. She was also a committee speaker for paid family medical leave legislation through the Isaiah Project Minnesota, a family speaker for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “That’s Medicaid” project, and a two-time family representative for ZERO TO THREE’s annual Strolling Thunder event on Capitol Hill.
Awards and Accolades:
- Star Honors Award for Exceptional Leadership, Minnesota Department of Health
Future Vision
With thoughtful partnership, the ECDHS: Evidence to Impact Center will drive family-centered and community-driven approaches to inform systems change and improve the health and well-being of young children and their families so that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.
Contact us if you’d like to request Hannah as a speaker. Visit our Speakers Bureau to learn about many of our other subject matter experts.
