Ginger Ward, MAEd, Chief Executive Officer
Ginger Ward is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Human Development, which she founded in 1981 with six employees serving 175 families. Today Southwest has over 570 employees serving 67,000 young children and families, and is the largest community-based organization of its kind in Arizona. Under Ginger’s direction Southwest has established a national reputation for leadership and high-quality services in the early childhood fields of education, mental health, family support, disabilities services and training. Ginger has made a significant contribution to the early childhood field in Arizona by ensuring that the latest best practices and research are used to create programs and to educate parents, professionals and policy makers about the importance of children’s earliest years to later development.

Ginger sits on a variety of boards and committees charged with forming policy on, and improving services for, children and families. Current positions include the Interagency Coordinating Council for Infants and Toddlers; the Arizona State Department of Economic Security Child Care Advisory Committee; the Health Advisory Committee of Children’s Action Alliance; the Healthy Families Steering Committee; the Reach Out and Read Advisory Committee; and community advisor to the Junior League. Past positions include the Governor's School Readiness Board and the City of Phoenix Human Services Commission.

Alan Taylor, Director of Training
Alan Taylor has been the director of training at Southwest Human Development for the past 20 years. His areas of experience and expertise include design, delivery and evaluation of training programs for adult learners, early childhood special education, administration and supervision.

He has been responsible for contracts with numerous multi-state and regional training programs designed to deliver training and technical assistance to Head Start, child, and other early education programs throughout the western United States.

Current areas of interest include promoting father involvement and early literacy in child care programs. A member of the National Association of the Education of Young Children, Mr. Taylor was actively involved in a systems change project, assisting in the redesign of early childhood education programs in 20 countries in eastern and central Europe.
 

Mindy Zapata, M.Ed., Head Start Director
Mindy Zapata has worked for Head Start and in the early childhood education field for 20 years. From holding leadership positions to providing direct services to children and families, Mindy’s vast range of experiences have provided her with valuable insight into translating regulations and applying them to real-life applications.

Mindy has directed both preschool Head Start and Early Head Start programs. As director of Early Head Start, Mindy’s vision led to the opening of the first Early Head Start program located in a juvenile detention facility. This program received national recognition and has been the model for similar programs in the United States.

Mindy has been a recipient of the Department of Corrections Good Neighbor Award. She is a member of the State Head Start Associations Board of Directors and is an adjunct faculty for Maricopa County Community College District in the areas of early childhood development and family studies. Mindy is a certified Head Start program monitoring reviewer and regional Head Start grant application reviewer.
 

Suzanne M. Schunk, MSW, LCSW, Director of Family Support Services
Suzanne M. Schunk has been the Director of Family Support Services at Southwest Human Development since July, 2000. Her department includes Healthy Families, Child Protective Services—contracted programs (e.g. Parent Aide, Family Preservation, and Family Reunification,) and programs under the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children. Prior to working with Southwest Human Development, Suzanne was the CEO of Family Services Association in Elkton, Maryland for 13 years. Under her direction, the agency grew from a one-county, small budget program to a multi-county, multi-million dollar organization. Suzanne also has 25 years of experience providing mental health services to children and families and she was an expert witness for courts in three states as well as a clinical consultant for several programs in Maryland. She has provided professional training for over 15 years. She received numerous awards for her work in Maryland.

Suzanne earned her bachelor’s degree from Fordham University in Bronx, NY and has a master’s degree in social work from Catholic University in Washington, DC. She is an Arizona Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She has been a field instructor with seven different colleges and is currently affiliated with Arizona State University School of Social Work.

Suzanne is actively involved in the National Association of Social Workers—Arizona Chapter and is the chair of their Public Policy Committee. In 2005 she was honored as the Arizona Chapter's Social Worker of the Year. She also represents Southwest Human Development on the State and Local Advisory Boards for the Department of Economic Security; on the Child Welfare Committee of Children’s Action Alliance; and on the Protecting Arizona’s Family Coalition. She is active in advocacy on legislative issues affecting programs for children and families.

 
Trudi Norman-Murch, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Director of Services for Children with Disabilities
Trudi Norman-Murch is director of Services for Children with Disabilities at Southwest Human Development. In this capacity she supervises a staff of 85 professionals including speech/language pathologists, early childhood special educators, early interventionists, occupational therapists, and assistive technology specialists.

Department programs include disability services to more than 50 Southwest Human Development Head Start classrooms, Early Intervention services to 450 families in Maricopa County, and the Assistive Technology Training and Resource Center which provides training and technical assistance to school districts across Arizona. Each of these programs includes a screening, assessment, intervention planning, direct service delivery, consultation, and transition planning component.

Dr. Norman-Murch has had extensive experience in designing and delivering training programs to Head Start personnel, school district teams, early intervention programs, and state and national speech/language pathology associations in the areas of inclusion, early intervention program design, reflective supervision, and the Integrated Therapy Model.

Back to Top