Graciela Italiano-Thomas Named President & CEO of Thrive by Five WA

SEATTLE -- Gov. Chris Gregoire and Bill Gates Sr. today announced that Thrive by Five Washington has selected Dr. Graciela Italiano-Thomas as its first CEO. The early learning private-public partnership board, which Gregoire and Gates co-chair, is expected to elect Dr. Italiano-Thomas as its president in November.

Italiano-Thomas has served for the past two years as president of Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP), where she directed efforts to ensure access to high-quality preschool for all of Los Angeles Country’s four year-olds, regardless of income level, by 2014.

 “The appointment of Dr. Italiano-Thomas is a huge win for all Washington children,” said Governor Chris Gregoire, co-chair of Thrive by Five Washington. “After conducting a nationwide search, the Thrive partnership selected one of our county’s leading early learning strategists – her expertise will help ensure that every child in Washington is prepared for school and life.”

Thrive by Five Washington officially launched in July of this year with nearly $10 million in pooled funding from state and private resources. The partnership was created to reward and encourage improvements in early learning for all children from birth to five, including parent education and support, childcare improvements, preschool quality and access, and other early learning opportunities. Partners expect funding to continue to grow.

“Thrive by Five Washington begins with the clear objective that every family and child, beginning at birth, has access to high-quality early learning with the goal of school readiness and better outcomes for all kids. This goal mirrors my own convictions, and I’m particularly excited to join this new organization designed from the outset with birth to five priorities in mind,” said Dr. Italiano-Thomas.

“Momentum around early learning in Washington has never been so strong,” said Bill Gates Sr., co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Thrive by Five Washington board of directors. “Dr. Italiano-Thomas joins our efforts at a key time when our public and private sectors have joined together, united in the vision that investing in our state’s youngest residents is perhaps the best investment we can make.”

Dr. Italiano-Thomas’ work at LAUP has been focused on expanding opportunities for high-quality preschool to the significant population of children in Los Angeles County who have until now had little or no access to those services.  Under her leadership, LAUP has dedicated more than $100 million to help create new preschools in communities where the need is greatest. Clustered largely in south and southeast Los Angeles County, these communities are predominantly low-income, and served mostly by low performing elementary schools. LAUP has already created thousands of new preschool spaces in these areas, however, and thousands more are currently in development to become LAUP preschool sites.

Funding guidelines will be published this winter for Thrive by Five Washington. Initial investments will be made to expand promising early learning models throughout the state, as well as in White Center and Yakima, two early learning demonstration communities selected earlier this year.

Dr. Italiano-Thomas has served as CEO of Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) since 2004. Before joining LAUP she was CEO of Centro de la Familia de Utah, a non-profit organization based in Salt Lake City, which works to strengthen the Hispanic family by promoting self-sufficiency. She has also served as a senior consultant to the National Head Start Bureau.

Dr. Italiano-Thomas was an associate professor of education and holds a doctorate in education and institutional management from Pepperdine University.

Among the many honors Dr. Italiano-Thomas has received for her service to the community are the National Education Association’s George I. Sanchez Human and Civil Rights Award for contributions made to the education of Latinos in the United States (2000) and the YWCA of Salt Lake City’s Award for Community Activism and Leadership (2004). She has served on a number of boards of community organizations and is a member of several professional associations, including the National Education Association and the National Head Start Association. She was recently named to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Council of Education Advisors, and sits on the Advisory Board of Pre-K Now, a national advocacy organization.

Dr. Italiano-Thomas will officially begin her duties with Thrive by Five Washington on January 1, 2007.