STAFF Duncan McDougall Jennifer Esser Suzanne Loring Joanne Heidkamp Kim Belongia Duncan McDougall - Executive Director Duncan McDougall is the founder and Executive Director of the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF). Duncan has worked as a management consultant, freelance writer, teacher, and public radio commentator. He has written articles for many publications including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and The Toronto Globe and Mail. Duncan has also been a commentator for New Hampshire Public Radio. Duncan graduated from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration in 1987 where he was awarded the Arnold F. Adams prize for Entrepreneurship. He then joined Mercer Management Consulting, a Boston-based international management consulting firm, where he was a partner specializing in marketing strategy. Duncan has had a lifelong interest in words, languages, and teaching. He enjoys linguistics, speaks French and Spanish, and has taught courses in Peru, in U.S. penitentiaries, and to Vietnamese refugees in Boston. Duncan served as a Director of Central Vermont Adult Basic Education. He is the past Chair of the Waterbury Conservation Commission and is active in supporting and managing local political and environmental campaigns. He lives in Waterbury Center, VT, with his wife and son. To contact Duncan email clif@clifonline.org Jennifer Esser - Communications Coordinator Communications Coordinator Jennifer Esser has worked as a managing editor for a conservation journal in Vermont, a teacher at experiential education programs in California, Michigan, and New Hampshire, and as a production coordinator in New York City. She and her husband Paul have a maple sugaring operation, Dragonfly Sugarworks, and live in a solar-powered home in Huntington, VT. Their young son Theo loves tools and likes books; his current favorites are Curious George and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Active in the local land trust/historical society, Jennifer also really enjoys local food and beer. To contact Jennifer please email jennifer@clifonline.org Suzanne Loring - Program Coordinator Suzanne Loring is CLiF’s Program Coordinator. She has a BA in Writing and Children’s Literature from the University of Massachusetts, and a MS in Journalism from Boston University. Suzanne has a wide range of work experiences including serving as Managing Editor of two magazines in the Boston area, as Literacy and Sales Marketing Manager for a children’s publishing company, as school librarian, children’s librarian, and freelance writer. Suzanne is also an avid runner and rock climber. To contact Suzanne please email suzanne@clifonline.org Joanne Heidkamp - Special Projects Coordinator Joanne Heidkamp has spent the past 30 years working in nutrition and public health, with a focus on children’s issues. As program director of a Vermont anti-hunger organization, she has worked with many of the same schools and agencies where CLiF offers programs. Favorite children’s books include the Mary Plain series by Gwynedd Rae, and any version of the Robin Hood stories. There’s a copy of Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go on her coffee table to entertain young guests. She lives in South Burlington with her husband Paul, and enjoys gardening, kayaking, and woodworking. In her spare time she is restoring a dilapidated 1960s ranch house to its original splendor, with painstaking attention to authentic period details. To contact Joanne please email joanne@clifonline.org. Kim Belongia - Communications Assistant Kim Belongia is CLiF’s Communications Assistant. Kim has a BS in Elementary Education from the University of Vermont and has worked in Vermont as a kindergarten teacher, a Head Start Home Visitor and the director of a parent/child resource center. Miss Rumphius is her favorite picture book to share with children. She lives with her husband and two children in Waterbury Center, a stones throw away from the CLiF office! Kim is an active volunteer in her children’s school and really enjoys helping with literary project time and teaching a monthly environmental science program.