Joan Lombardi, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Professor and Chair of the Leadership Council, Graduate School of Education, Stanford Center on Early Childhood, Stanford University. She is also Senior Fellow at the Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, Georgetown University.

Over the past 50 years Joan has made significant contributions in the areas of child and family policy as an innovative leader and policy advisor to national and international organizations and foundations and as a public servant.
Joan served as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood during the Obama Administration and the first Director of the Child Care Bureau during the Clinton Administration. She was the founding Chair of the Birth to Five Policy Alliance (now the Alliance for Early Success).

Joan has served as an advisor to a range of organizations including UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, and The World Bank Group, among others. She serves on the Executive Leadership Council of the global Early Childhood Development Action Network and Chairs their Global Policy and Advocacy Advisory group and as Co-Chair of the Research Forum for Early Childhood in Emergencies, in collaboration with the Moving Minds Alliance. She was the founder of Global Leaders for Young Children, hosted by the World Forum Foundation.

She is the author of Time to Care: Redesigning Child Care to Promote Education, Support Families and Build Communities and co-editor of Beacon of Hope: The Promise of Early Head Start for America’s Youngest Children.