Welcome Brazelton Touchpoints Center Executive Director Jane Tewksbury

We are delighted to welcome Brazelton Touchpoints Center’s new Executive Director, Jane Tewksbury. For the past four years, Jane has served as Executive Director of Thrive in 5,an early childhood partnership between the City of Boston and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, focused on the health, well-being, and school readiness of all of Boston’s young children. With significant experience in executive management of both public sector and private non-profit organizations, Jane has a long and successful record of moving a vision from concept and design to policy and practice. We look forward to her leadership in advancing the Brazelton Touchpoints Center’s vision for young children and their families. She will assume her new post on November 30, 2015, succeeding Terry Ann Lunt.

“I’m thrilled to have such a passionate advocate for children join the Brazelton Touchpoints Center,” said founder T. Berry Brazelton, MD.

Mayor of Boston, Martin J. Walsh said, “I want to congratulate Jane on her new position and look forward to her and the team at Brazelton Touchpoints Center continuing their incredible work. Jane made invaluable contributions to improving early care and learning in Boston through her work at Thrive in 5.  We look forward to her continued leadership in the field.”

Working with our strong staff and board of the Brazelton Touchpoints Foundation, and in partnership with Dr. Brazelton and Joshua D. Sparrow, MD, Jane will oversee the strategic planning and management of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center and all of its programs and services, provide direction and leadership toward the fulfillment of its mission, and develop and lead the implementation of a comprehensive strategy to support the center’s expansion and revenue generation.

“I have had the privilege of working with and on behalf of some of the most vulnerable children and families in Boston,” said Jane. “I know firsthand from my work as Commissioner of the Department of Youth Services for the State of Massachusetts that we must start at the very beginning of life, and even before, to support families so that they can better support and nurture their children to reach their full potential. I am honored to join the Brazelton Touchpoints Center in its 20th year of supporting children’s healthy development and early learning. Professionally and personally, for me this is a dream come true.”

The Brazelton Touchpoints Center, in the Division of Developmental Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, collaborates with providers, organizations, institutions, systems of care, and communities who understand that to improve outcomes for children, they must engage more effectively with families. To reach as many families and other caregivers as possible, we work with health and education providers who partner with families during children’s most formative years. The Brazelton Touchpoints Center is also home to the Office of Head Start and Office of Child Care National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement.

“As the Executive Director of Thrive in 5, Jane has been a leader in efforts to identify young children who are at risk of falling behind and to connect them to resources that will enable them to succeed when they enter school,” said Michael K. Durkin, President at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. “We are eager to continue working with Jane in her new role at the Brazelton Touchpoints Center to help ensure every child has access to a high quality educational opportunity.”

In addition to serving as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, and as an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant District Attorney, Jane completed a mid-career Children and Family Fellowship at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where she was deployed to the Arkansas Department of Juvenile Justice and later to the Maryland Subcabinet on Children, Youth and Families, to work on state level systems reform efforts affecting disadvantaged children and families.

Jane is an appointed member of the Children’s Trust Fund board for the prevention of child abuse and of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which oversees the appointment of counsel to represent indigent persons in the Commonwealth’s court system. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard/Radcliffe College, and the University of Wisconsin Law School, Jane is the recipient of many awards in recognition of her professional achievements and volunteer activities.