Betsy Thigpen, MA, Early Education & Management Consultant
betsywku@aol.com

Betsy Thigpen holds a Master's Degree in Child Development and is a management and education consultant for Training & Technical Assistance Services, Western Kentucky University Research Foundation. Betsy's experience includes 15 years as a Head Start/Early Head Start Director and three and a half years as Executive Director of a large Smart Start Partnership. During those tenures, she provided leadership for several “braided funding” programs, an innovative initiative to serve children with disabilities in inclusive settings, and the planning and implementation of multi-discipline services targeting over 50,000 young children in Wake County, North Carolina. 

In 1991, Betsy served as the governor-appointed Chair of the North Carolina Interagency Coordinating Council for Children Birth to Five with Disabilities. In 2004, Betsy was a visiting scholar at North Carolina State University where she worked with landscape architecture professors on planning outdoor environments for child care and Head Start programs. Betsy's major training topics include outdoor environments, child outcomes, child mental health, social-emotional development and curricula for infants, toddlers, and preschool children