Susan Gale Perry, Chief Executive Officer
Susan Gale Perry is a nationally recognized child care and human services leader. Susan drives progress to make child care stronger across the country as the Chief Executive Officer for the only national nonprofit that brings the combination of direct service helping military families find and afford quality child care, research that drives practice and policy, an on-the ground network of state and local child care resource organizations, and the real-world understanding of what works and what doesn’t to spur policymakers into action.
Before rejoining Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA) in 2023 as CEO, Susan served as Chief Deputy Secretary of Opportunity and Well-Being at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), where she championed reforms and optimized operations to expand access to quality child care, improve food security for children and families, and create cross-system aligned action to address the urgent crisis of children with behavioral health needs in the child welfare system across 15 divisions. Prior to her work at NCDHHS, Susan served in leadership roles as Executive Director of the Delaware Office of Early Learning, founding Executive Director of the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation, and Senior Director for Policy and Programs at The North Carolina Partnership for Children. Notably, she previously served as Deputy Executive Director at CCAoA from 2002 to 2010.
Susan holds a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Concordia University, St. Paul, and a bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies from Hamilton College.
