Senior Consultant, Early Childhood – Santa Fe

Systems and policy consulting in early intervention (Part C), early childhood special education (Part B-619), home visiting, and infant and early childhood mental health.

Andy brings his over 35 years in state government leadership in early intervention (Part C) and the wider early childhood/family support system, as well as consulting experience with 17 states to help build out Afton Partner consulting line to states, territories, municipalities and communities for young children (prenatal to age 5) and their families.

Andy’s experience includes:

• Over 20 years as the state director of the NM early intervention program, serving over 14,000 young children with developmental delays and disabilities and their families, with an annual budget of over $50M.
• Governor appointed member of the NM Early Learning Advisory Council and member of a shared governance team for early childhood that included applying for and administering the state’s Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grant and the Preschool Development Grant (PDG B-5).
• Serving on the board and as president of the national IDEA Infant Toddler Coordinators Association, participation in several national task forces, and presentations at numerous national conferences.
• Consultant with the University of North Carolina – Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center to promote Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) policies and procedures and early intervention (Part C) and efforts to serve families during the pandemic through telehealth / tele-intervention.
• Subject Matter Expert and project manager on consulting projects with 17 states, that have included, systems and operations evaluations, policy design, data system design, fiscal review and cost modeling, and professional development.

Andy believes in co-designing coherent policy and systems with parents and through having relevant constituent groups at the table.

Andy has a Masters in Social Work with a minor in Sociology from the University of East London and tries to get to the UK to see his family once a year. Andy’s son went through early intervention after spending his first month in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), cementing his belief that early intervention makes a lifetime of difference! Andy lives in Santa Fe, NM where he and his son enjoy camping, skiing and kayaking and finds time to be the assistant coach of his soccer team.