Announcing DEC's New Executive Board Members

Congratulations to the New DEC Executive Board Members!

The new DEC Executive Board Members are:

Darla Gundler – Vice President

Darla Gundler is an Associate Director of the Early Childhood Personnel Center at the Federation for Children with Special Needs in Boston, MA where she oversees the Family Leadership initiatives and Collaboration with Partners. Darla entered the field of early childhood intervention through the birth of her second child, Tiffany, who was born prematurely. Tiffany had developmental delays and was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss shortly after birth. Through Tiffany, Darla has experienced the birth to three system, special education through high school, the transition into college and graduation into a career and independent living. During this time, Darla became a staff member of the Part C program at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. For 21 years, she worked as the Director of the Early Intervention Parent Leadership Project. In that role, she had the opportunity to support and mentor thousands of families including families on the state Interagency Coordinating Council and provided leadership training to families on the skills they needed to be an effective advocate for their child and others (based on her own experiences of successfully advocating for her daughter). Darla also brings a unique perspective to DEC from her professional experience of owning a small business with her husband and being the Past-President, and executive board member of a local Chamber of Commerce.

Darla has been a DEC member for over 18 years and has attended a number of DEC Conferences, was a founding member of the Massachusetts State sub-division, participated as a conference proposal reviewer, conference strand chair, conference committee member and most recently the co-chair of the Family Committee.

Krista Scott – Member-At-Large

Krista Scott is an experienced child health expert working at the forefront of policy, advocacy and equity as the current Senior Director for Child Care Health Policy at Child Care Aware® of America.. For over 15 years, Ms. Scott has worked in public health and education, primarily in non-profit and government agencies, where she has honed her expertise in early childhood health, mental health, special education, program development, and support and in using policies to strengthen practice. Ms. Scott currently directs CCAoA’s health portfolio, including all aspects of well-being for children, families and parents in child care settings. The goal: policies and practices that make child care settings healthier for children and providers.

Her career in public service started in college, where she worked youth-serving and health care nonprofits. There, she learned to implement curriculum, manage groups and provide coaching and mentoring.

Subsequent work in public health and Head Start helped her connect policy and program administration. During her tenure at the District of Columbia’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education, she developed a system of general supervision for Early Intervention Programs, established and implemented child outcomes data collection process for children in preschool special education, integrated the use of monitoring data into the technical assistance system and wrote and promulgated regulations and guidance for the Early Intervention Program.

Ms. Scott has her bachelor’s degree in political science and her Master of Social Work with a focus on management and policy.