About Us
Family Forward NC is an innovative initiative to improve the health and well-being of children and their parents and keep North Carolina’s businesses and workplaces competitive. It is employer-led change to increase access to research-based, family-friendly practices—big and small—that improve workplace productivity, recruitment and retention; grow a strong economy; and support children’s healthy development.
Our Mission and Vision
The mission of Family Forward NC is to engage, support, and promote employers of all sizes and in all sectors in adopting family-friendly policies that improve child and family health and well-being and provide direct business benefits to employers.
Our vision is a North Carolina where:
- Workplaces are family-friendly.
- Children’s healthy development is supported, especially children who face the greatest challenges in their early years.
- NC businesses are competitive.
- Our next-generation workforce is successful.

About the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation:
NCECF's mission is to marshal North Carolina’s great people, ideas, and achievements to ensure equitable access to opportunity and success for every child by the end of third grade.
We are driven by a bold — and achievable — vision: Each North Carolina child has a strong foundation for life-long health, education, and well-being supported by a comprehensive, equitable birth-to-eight ecosystem.
North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation Staff

Lisa Finaldi

Muffy Grant

Kaylan Sloane

Fowota Mortoo

Lindsay Saunders

Crystal Folmar
Family Forward NC Strategy Consultant

Emily Swartzlander
Advisory Council
The Family Forward NC Advisory Council is a group of prominent North Carolina business and community representatives and health experts who provided review and support of the Guide to Family Forward Workplaces and Family Forward NC's work.

Lisa Alston

Joyce Bannerman

Kathryn Brant

Kelly Calabria

Kathy Colville

Kit Cramer

Safiyah Jackson

Velva Jenkins

Julia Malinowski

Suzanne Katzenstein

Dr. Nina Smith

Lizzy Tahsuda

James Wolfe

Steve Wuench
Previous Advisors
- Andrew Herdman, Vice President of Group Human Resources, Mayne Pharma
- Briles Johnson, Former Executive Director, Women's Business Center of North Carolina
- Jessica Lowery Clark, Executive Director, Robeson County Partnership for Children
- Fara Palumbo, Chief People Officer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
- Luis Pastor, President and CEO, Cooperative Latino Credit Union
- Alison Steube, Associate Professor, UNC School of Medicine; Distinguished Scholar in Infant and Young Child Feeding, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
- Sheilah Sutton, Community Engagement Officer, Coastal Credit Union
- Gregor Teusch, Global Head of People Reward and Operations, Nikola Motor Company
- Betsy Tilson, State Health Director and Chief Medical Officer, NC Department of Health and Human Services