https://www.fcd-us.org/fcd-announces-departure-of-joann-hsueh-vp-of-program-and-communications/
We are feeling grateful, proud, and bittersweet as we say goodbye to JoAnn Hsueh, Vice President of Program and Communications at the Foundation for Child Development. She has been instrumental in shaping the direction of our work and her unwavering commitment will be missed.
During her time with FCD, JoAnn served as a member of the advisory panel beginning in 2017 and, in 2022, took on the role of Chair of the Young Scholars Program, which nurtured early career scholars conducting research to support ECE workers. In 2023, JoAnn expanded her leadership within the Foundation as Senior Program Advisor, later becoming Vice President of Program and Communication in early 2024.
JoAnn channeled her wealth of experience on early childhood to steward the final years of a 10-year initiative centered on understanding and supporting educators, contributing her expertise and compassion to the Early Childhood Education Workforce Initiative (2015-2025) and brought new energy and inspiration to the Scholars of Color Series to celebrate groundbreaking equity scholars through a series of published papers that built on prior webinars.
More recently, JoAnn led our Rapid Response grantmaking in the lead up to (and immediately following) the consequential 2024 Presidential election year, a time when we prioritized supporting the field to be ready to respond regardless of who won the election. This sharp eye for what may be needed in an uncertain future enabled many of our grantees to respond quickly as policy and administrative changes threatened the safety and wellbeing of children of immigrants, children of color, and their families. JoAnn also supported our internal grantee support systems, developing a grantee partnership to provide guidance and resources to protect the safety and security of grantees during this time.
As the Foundation launched its new direction centered on social justice for young children and a new Strategic Framework, released in 2025, JoAnn laid the groundwork for our work to bridge research with social movements with the goal that researchers’ work would be more often and more powerfully driven by communities’ self-determined priorities for child policy. Her keen insights and relationship-building approach have set the Foundation on an exciting path to expand partnerships between researchers and social movements, communities, and families.
“I am deeply grateful for JoAnn’s tremendous service to the Foundation for Child Development. She has been a beloved colleague to our entire team. While we are sending her off with all best wishes for her next phase of life and with deep respect for her commitment to family, we do it with a heavy heart knowing that we will miss her dearly. She leaves behind an indelible imprint on our work dedicated to advancing social justice for young children by working at the intersection of research, community, and policy.” - Vivian Tseng, President, FCD
In addition to the many ways that JoAnn contributed to the accomplishments of FCD over the last three years, most notably she has been a reliable colleague, innovative thought partner, and beacon of consistency in balancing professionalism with genuine kindness.
JoAnn leaves an unforgettable mark on our work and our team. She will take time off to spend more time with her family, and we wish her the very best. JoAnn’s last day will be June 30, 2026.
The Foundation for Child Development has retained NPAG to lead its search for its next Vice President of Programs. The search is expected to formally launch later this month. For questions or to provide nominations for potential candidates, please reach out to Alejandra Villa at alejandra@npag.com.
Through this transition, the Foundation for Child Development is committed to maintaining continuity as we lean into the path that JoAnn has helped us pave. We will deepen and further expand our efforts to build partnerships between the research community and social movements to support children of immigrants and all children affected by racism, xenophobia, and economic inequality.