Early Years President Marsha Basloe
to Retire in Fall 2022

Search for the new president to begin in late May.

Chapel Hill, N.C., May 26, 2022: After more than 20 years in the early learning field, Early Years President Marsha Basloe announced she will retire later this year. Basloe has served as President since January 2018.  

Under Basloe’s leadership, Early Years added new programs including Babies First NC, Infant-Toddler Educator AWARD$ Plus, Durham PreK and early childhood homelessness. The agency diversified its funding sources, expanded its offerings for scholarships for early childhood educators through TEACH Early Childhood® in North Carolina and TEACH states, added to the Child Care WAGE$® Program and increased the number of meals served to children through Early Years’ meal services program. She also worked with leadership to update Early Years’ infrastructure to help support its work and so much more. 

“Early Years is an unbelievably strong organization, and I am so proud of our work at the local, state and national level,” Basloe said. “We continue to impact our children, families and early childhood educators. In 2024, Early Years will celebrate its 50th anniversary, and I look forward to seeing a new president lead the organization into its next 50 years.”

Early Years Board Chair Sharon Hirsch said, “Marsha has increased Early Years’ impact and built a strong financial foundation for the work to come. We’re grateful for her leadership and the legacy she created for our next president, which we anticipate will attract outstanding candidates.” 

In preparation for Basloe’s retirement, the Early Years Board of Directors has engaged Armstrong McGuire to lead an Executive Transition Management process. The search for the next president will launch in late May.

Early Years

Founded in 1974, the mission of Early Years is to lead efforts to strengthen accessible and affordable quality early care and education by providing supports for families, communities and the workforce. To that end, Early Years provides free child care referral services to families, financial assistance to low-income families seeking child care and professional development and technical assistance to child care programs. Through spoonFULL, Early Years also provides nutritious meals to children at child care centers, where they may eat 50-100 percent of their meals. Throughout North Carolina, educational scholarships from Early Years’ TEACH Early Childhood® Scholarship Program give child care professionals the means to obtain a debt-free education, while Early Years’ Child Care WAGE$® and Infant-Toddler Educator AWARD$ Plus® programs supplement their meager salary. Early Years also licenses TEACH and WAGE$ across the U.S. through the TEACH Early Childhood® National Center at Early Years and conducts early childhood systems and homelessness research and policy development statewide and nationally. For more information, visit childcareservices.org.