Each year members of the International Nanny Association are presented with a slate of nominees to serve the organization. Below is the list of the current board members whose terms have expired who wish to continue serving the organization, as well as new nominees seeking to join the board and serve.
Members will receive a ballot by email and are encouraged to submit their vote for their candidates. Want more information on why you should vote? Read what Nominating Committee Chair, Kellie Geres shares with members on Why You Should Vote.
Returning Board Members:
Louise Dunham – (Melbourne, Australia). International Membership. Louise is the Managing Director of Placement Solutions, a Melbourne, Australia based niche recruitment firm celebrating its 26th anniversary of specializing in In-home childcare, and household management. In 2001 Placement Solutions became an inaugural provider of the Australian government DEEWR approved In-home care program that offers Childcare rebates to eligible families. In addition to her work with Placement Solutions, Louise served on the Australian Senate Steering Committee which composed the Australian Interim In-home care standards that are used to set quality guidelines within the in-home childcare industry. She is a passionate advocate for the need for in-home childcare to be developed, and recognized, as childcare professionals have a valuable role to play within the greater childcare sector. In 2011 Louise also set up Just Family Nanny Payroll Services Pty Ltd to assist both her regular clients, as well as other clients employing In–home childcare providers.
In 2013, Louise was honored with a 25 year service award pin for her service to the International Nanny industry. Louise is extremely knowledgeable after 25 years experience in our industry, and her addition to the INA Board of Directors, and committee chair of International Membership will continue to greatly benefit INA.
Louise serves on the current board as the Chair of the INA Ethics Committee and is responsible also for international membership.
Alice Shaffer – (Apex, North Carolina) Second Vice President, Co-Chair Membership Committee and Conference Donations Coordinator. Alice Shaffer has been a career nanny for over 18 years. After graduating Western Carolina University with a bachelor’s degree in Social work in 1995, she started her career as a professional nanny. In 1996, while working as a nanny in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Alice connected with nanny industry pioneer Eva Harkness, a co-founder of the National Association of Nannies (NAN), who mentored her as she started a nanny support group. In 1997, while working in the D.C. area, she was elected to the ADCAN Board of Directors where over the course of eight years she served as president, vice president and treasurer. Alice is a past member of the board of directors of NAN and in 2006, she became involved in INA serving on the Conference Committee. During the New Orleans INA Annual Conference, she earned the title of the “Raffle Lady” as she sold tickets and raised fistfuls of funds for charity. Since then, each year she has set and exceeded her ticket sales goals and has earned the title of “The Raffle Queen.”
In 2010, Alice received her INA Harriette Grant Service Award pin for 15 years of service in the in-home child care industry. Alice was instrumental in the 2011 establishment of the INA Membership Conference Endowment Fund. Half of all monies raised during the Annual Conference 50/50 Charity Raffle are earmarked for that fund. Alice is a co-founder of the popular blog Regarding Nannies.
Kathleen Webb – (Sterling, Virginia). Secretary, Chair, Governmental Affairs. Kathy co-founded HomeWork Solutions Inc. in 1993. The firm provides payroll and payroll tax compliance services to families nationwide. HomeWork Solutions partners with nannies and families by offering education and counsel regarding rights, responsibilities and obligations established via tax laws and regulations.
For 20 years, HWS has been a stalwart advocate of nannies and their families through deep technical expertise in the dynamic tax laws related to domestic workers, and by helping all parties navigate the complexities of the “nanny taxes.” Kathy believes strongly that families and the nannies they employ have the greatest probability of a successful relationship when there is clear communication and an understanding of the norms and practices in the domestic service industry. She wants families to understand their responsibilities – for reference checking, background checking, and payroll tax compliance. She also wants nannies to be informed and strongly encourages written work agreements to establish the terms and conditions of employment.
Kathy has authored a book and numerous articles, and is consulted frequently by national media on nanny industry issues and is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College. Kathy lives with her husband of more than 30 years in Northern Virginia. She is the proud mother of 3 young adults, and mother in law to 2 others, and “Grammy” to a beautiful baby girl, and a beautiful baby boy!
New Nominees:
Debra Dennis – (Fairfax, Virginia) Founder of Indigo Lifestyle Solutions, has been a highly respected Consultant and expert in the field of Household and Estate Staffing and Training for the past 22 years. She has worked with thousands of families in securing carefully screened Nannies and Household Professionals resulting in successful, nurturing, long-term relationships.
With her background in Mental Health & Nutritional Science, she understands that finding quality staff for your home is just the beginning in creating a harmonious and nourished lifestyle. As an Eating Psychology Coach, she was professionally trained and certified by the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. She works with busy people who have challenges around weight, overeating, binge eating, body image, and a number of health concerns such as digestion, fatigue, mood issues, and more. She is trained in a highly unique and results oriented approach to eating issues. It’s a holistic approach that integrates nutrition and psychology.
In addition, she is certified as a Neurolinguistics Practitioner and Reiki Master. Her new training program, HealthyNannies4HealthyKids™ has launched this year. Debra has spoken with powerful women through such organizations as NannyPalooza, Mama’s Link, ADCAN and more. She is a graduate of Holistic MBA and was accepted into the Spotlight Circle for exceptional entrepreneurs. You can find Debra at her Wellness Center in Fairfax VA, where she meets with families and nannies, passionately educates and coaches, serves up green juices, and forever enjoys her life with her husband, four amazing children and their loving dog Jackson.
There is really no distinction between her work and play.
Ken Myers – (Katy, Texas) Ken is a Christian, father, husband and entrepreneur; he has combined his passion for helping families find nannies with writing to make a difference in the World. Ken is very active in social media participating in industry Facebook groups as well as active on Twitter @KenneyMyers. It’s his goal to listen to nannies, clients and other agency owners to get a better understanding of how business in this industry should function in order to work better for everyone involved. Most importantly, everything we do is focused around providing safe, quality in-home childcare to families across the U.S.
He began as an active nanny employer hiring multiple nannies to help raise his three children and seeing that process firsthand inspired him to acquire websites like NannyPro.com, GoNannies.com, eNannySource.com, NannyClassifieds.com, and many more. In 2012, he decided that in order to learn even more and to be able to apply industry best practices to online nanny websites he needed to acquire a brick and mortar nanny agency. Accordingly, he was fortunate enough to be able to purchase Morningside Nannies in Houston and learned a tremendous amount from running the agency this past year.
Ken has an extensive background in Internet Marketing with nearly 20 years of Executive experience with companies like CMN.com and WhiteFence.com. In addition, he is the inventor listed on several patents including those focused on providing a plurality of home services at a residential address as well as technology patents on unique uses of XSL.
Angela Riggs – (Louisville, Kentucky) Angela is the Associate Dean of the Early Childhood Education Department at Sullivan University on the Louisville, Kentucky campus and International Nanny Association member since 2000. Angela has been employed by Sullivan University for nearly 14 years. For 13 years, she led the department as the Director then named ECE Dean. Recently, Angela stepped down from that leadership position and began a new path focusing on the online studies and growing her small business, Personalized Educational Adventures, LLC. Before coming to Sullivan, Angela was an Elementary teacher with Jefferson County Public Schools. Angela has a master’s degree from the University of Louisville, where she specialized in early education and focused on mathematics.
Other training and experience include: Department chair of Budget and Professional Development Committees, creating and delivering in-service training for teachers developing writing and math portfolios, open-ended question development/training, Governor’s Work Group for Professional Development Standards, online course development, Level 5 Trainer for Kentucky, advisory board member for Bright Horizon, Sullivan Active Learning Training Team Leader, NAEYC member, Community Outreach creating and facilitating parent training for Wayside Christian Mission, and American Council of Nanny Schools Vice President.
Nearly 4 years ago, Angela embarked on a new challenge of creating a textbook, Under the Child Care Umbrella that was published by Pearson. Angela was invited to share her Traveling With Children chapter at the International Nanny Association Conference held in San Francisco 3 years ago and presenting at the INA conference spring 2013 titled Thematic Learning Stations. Other opportunities include The NBC Today Show interview on the ethics of the nanny career and answering a number of journalist queries regarding the important of nanny education.
Her mission is: Knowledge should be limitless and take place in and outside the classroom walls. Building knowledge through experiences by connecting curiosity to content is my passion! Last year, she decided to put that passion into a business plan and started Personalized Educational Adventures – providing educational travel services by planning and facilitating customized adventures for children aged 4 to young adult.
Angela is seeking new information and experiences all of the time through research, reading and work with colleagues. She is eager to help develop resources and serve others in this career field, and looks forward to sharing her experiences, knowledge and joy of early childhood education with INA members.
Amanda Schultz – (Baltimore, Ohio) Amanda has been caring for children since she was in middle school as a babysitter in her neighborhood. She attended Fairfield Career Center in high school and holds a certification as an Activity Therapist. This training included courses such as medical terminology, anatomy & physiology, child development, and assessing clients with disabilities. After high school Amanda worked at a daycare facility in the toddler and infant rooms. She quickly knew that caring for babies was where she was happiest. She started her nanny career within the year.
As a professional nanny, Amanda has worked with all ages from newborns to age 12 years old, premature babies, twins, triplets and quintuplets. While in Florida she worked with parents who needed a break and a good night’s sleep. She cared for the baby or babies during the night. Doing all the feedings, changing and soothing so the parents could rest. Amanda joined the local mothers group, Greater Orlando Mothers of Twins and Triplets (GOMOTT). This allowed Amanda to help with many mothers that needed guidance on caring for their multiples. Amanda has spoken at meetings with the club members about childcare, what to expect when having multiples and new parent education (nursery needs, schedules/routines, safety concerns, nursing/feeding issues, and common medical issues – reflux, apnea, and colic). Amanda has also spoken at Nannypalooza, National Nanny Training Day and will be leading a session at the INA conference in 2014.
Amanda attended the Alexandria School and earned her certificate as a Newborn Care Specialist, is an International Nanny Association credentialed nanny, continues her education through online courses from Texas Christian University and attends several conferences/trainings throughout the year.
Stacie Steelman – (Carlsbad, California) Stacie founded Crunch Care, Inc., and began her career in the corporate staffing industry. Starting out as a Recruiter, she interviewed and placed hundreds of accounting and financial professionals for Adecco Corporation, a $5 billion global recruitment leader. Stacie quickly worked her way up to corporate management, taking a leadership role as a Division Manager and overseeing the Los Angeles market while supporting her team through a major acquisition.
After 5 years in the industry, Stacie relocated to the San Diego area and got married. She continued to develop her career in the staffing industry for 2 additional years, working for a boutique recruitment firm that focused on the mortgage, accounting, and administrative markets. A sample of her clients included: The Del Mar Racetrack, The Home Depot Company, First American Insurance Corporation, and Petco.
Stacie was next recruited by The Active Network (Active.com) to help develop a sales and marketing team for a new product, focusing on the nonprofit market. A sample of her clients included: Girls On Run International, Susan G. Komen Races for the Cure, and Make a Wish Foundation. After two years of spearheading the department and developing a successful revenue stream, Stacie and her husband had their first child and she made the decision to be a stay-at-home mother.
Recognizing the obvious need in the San Diego market for reliable, trustworthy, “on call” in-home care solutions, Stacie began her new venture by founding Crunch Care, Inc. which specializes in the recruitment of babysitters, nannies, and caregivers for newborns, children, the elderly, and postsurgical patients. Her experience in the corporate recruiting industry hiring over 500 professionals, and as a mother of a young child in the San Diego area allow her to bring a unique approach to the in-home care industry.
Today Stacie and the Crunch Care team offer an effective assessment and recruitment process that meets the needs of individual families, corporate benefits programs, and organizational partnerships. The company is mom inspired and operated by professionals from the corporate recruiting and human resource industry. They are experts in interviewing, evaluating, screening, and helping families with their in-home care needs.