Wayne Ysaguirre

After a national search, the Boston-based nonprofit Associated Early Care and Education recently announced the appointment of Wayne Ysaguirre as the organization’s new president and CEO.

Ysaguirre has over 15 years of experience in the agency and almost as many years as an advocate for statewide public policy that invests in children from birth to age 5. Research indicates that young children lacking economic resources often experience prolonged stress, which interferes with cognitive development and can limit academic achievement from kindergarten through high school. Nearly 50 percent of preschoolers in Boston alone are low-income, and that percentage is disproportionately non-white.

“When serving low-income, primarily minority kids, we can’t stop at anything short of giving them both the attitude and the aptitude to succeed when they leave preschool,” said Ysaguirre in a statement. “... We need to continue to evolve the highest quality early education experience possible.”

Ysaguirre has served at every level within Associated, which operates six child care centers and a network of 125 family child care homes, and provides a variety of services to support young children and their families. Beginning as a teacher assistant in 1990, he saw that many families face challenges — including single parenthood and lack of health care or stable employment — that affect the welfare of children and their ability to benefit from, or stay enrolled in, a program of early care and education.

He rose to a senior management position in 2001, and has worked with numerous organizations to advocate for and develop public policy supporting early care and education. He is currently an advisor to the Governor’s Readiness Project, whose purpose is to devise a 10-year plan to expand the scope of education and improve its quality from infancy through college.