Executive Director

---

Executive Director	Ms. Blair Taylor
E-mail	Blair@tqee.org
Term Start	June 2020
Blair's Experience: Blair Taylor is President & CEO for both TQEE and TQEE-Policy and Research. She founded the organizations in 2016-17, and served as Executive Chair for both until assuming the CEO role in 2020. Since its founding, TQEE has been instrumental in state policy wins including the PreK Quality Act, the defeat of legislation 4 years in a row that would have siphoned funds from the TN-VPK program, and the doubling of Tennessee's evidence- based home visiting program budget, among others. Additionally, under her leadership TQEE published the first of its kind in Tennessee child care economic impact report series: Want to Grow Tennessee's Economy? Fix the Child Care Crisis, has published an annual Tennessee voter survey on early education policy proposals, and established the first and only PAC dedicated to early childhood education birth to 3rd grade in Tennessee. Blair holds a second job as President and CEO of Memphis Tomorrow, an association of CEOs of Memphis' largest businesses which partners with government and civic leadership to advance prosperity and quality of life in the Memphis community. In that role she has founded and helped build four successful social purpose organizations, steered the turnaround of two others, and launched a university institute. She has led numerous successful collective impact initiatives, public/private partnerships and spearheaded local and state policy advocacy in domains including cradle-to-career education, economic development, health, broadband, and public safety, among others. She is especially passionate about ensuring all children get the quality, early childhood education necessary for future success in school and life. Prior to her work with Memphis Tomorrow, Blair was the founder and President of The Work Place, a Memphis-based nonprofit organization that married custom training and hiring solutions for businesses with programming for people making a transition from government dependency to family-sustaining employment.

Senior Staff

---

Name	Title
Jonathan Scoonover	Senior Vice President of Strategic Practice and Director of the Bright Start Tennessee Network
Nicole Smith	Senior Vice President of External Affairs

Staff

Full Time Staff	4
Part Time Staff	0
Volunteers	100
Contractors	5
Retention Rate	100%

Plans & Policies

Does your organization have a Fundraising Plan?	Yes
Does your organization have a Strategic Plan?	Yes
Years Strategic Plan Considers	2
When was the Strategic Plan adopted?	May 2020
Does your organization have a Management Succession Plan?	Under Development
Does your organization have a Policy and Procedure Plan?	Yes
Does the organization have a Nondiscrimination Policy?	Yes
Does the organization have a Whistle Blower Policy?	Yes
Does the organization have a Document Destruction Policy?	Yes

Evaluation

Is there a formal evaluation for...		Frequency (if applicable)
CEO/Executive Director	Yes	Annually
Senior Management	Yes	Annually
Non-Management	Yes	Annually

CEO/Executive Director/Board Comments

---

With the departure of initial executive director, Mike Carpenter, our founder and Executive Chair, Blair Taylor, has enthusiastically and with the Board's full support taken on the role of CEO, as interim at first in 2020, and as permanent CEO effective Jan. 1 2021.