Marti Beard
Vice President of Early Childhood Programs
Marti Beard joined Nebraska Children and Families Foundation in June 2017 and serves as a Vice President for Early Childhood Programs. Her primary role is to oversee the Communities for Kids initiative and provide technical assistance, connections, and resources to the communities participating in Nebraska Children’s early childhood initiatives.
Previously, Marti spent 25 years working in child welfare, solidifying her belief in the incredible impact that prevention can have on a person's life, especially in the early childhood years. She works with the C4K team to support local communities in developing high-quality child care solutions. Living in a rural ranching community in the sandhills of Nebraska, Marti brings a unique perspective to the value of Collective Impact and understanding of how local voices can achieve big dreams.
In addition to her professional positions, Marti serves on several local, regional, and state boards concerning children, youth, and families, and continues to be very active in early childhood and child welfare work.
Rachel Sissel
Associate Vice President of Early Childhood Programs
Rachel joined the Communities For Kids team in October 2019 and currently serves as Associate Vice President for Early Childhood. Rachel works with communities all across the state through the Communities For Kids initiative, which is focused on building the capacity and enhancing the quality of early care and education in Nebraska. She was previously based in Garden County and loved life in the panhandle but has recently returned to her hometown of Fremont, NE with her two very active, hilarious, and loving sons!
Noelle Wegner
Associate Vice President of Early Childhood Programs
Noelle joined the team in June 2020 after serving in various child welfare roles in her career in both the public and private sectors and serves as Associate Vice President of Early Childhood on the Communities for Kids team, overseeing multiple grant-funded projects and the coordination of internal and external partners through public and private funding. She is passionate about improving the lives of Nebraska kids and brings her extensive experience in system oversight, meeting facilitation, data, and child advocacy.
Noelle lives in Lincoln with her husband and two young children.
Shonna Werth
Associate Vice President of Early Childhood Programs
Shonna joined the Communities for Kids team in November of 2019 and provides technical assistance to C4K communities primarily in the South Central/Central area of the state. In her role with C4K, Shonna prioritizes being available in person to the communities she works with to form trusting relationships and valuable connections, as well as provide "right fit" resources.
She and her husband have resided in Johnson Lake in Central Nebraska for over 20 years, where they moved to from Kansas to pursue their dream of owning and operating a small family agricultural business. Prior to her C4K work, Shonna spent 10 years in rural Kansas providing strengths-based case management services to children and families seeking mental health treatment, 2 years as an administrator for a non-profit organization that owned multiple licensed child care facilities in Lexington, NE, and 14 years conducting child care licensing inspections in Central Nebraska as a Licensing Inspection Specialist with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Services Licensing.
Because of her experience of living and working in rural communities all her life, supporting rural Nebraska communities that have prioritized coming together to address early childhood care and education needs in order to remain a thriving community is her most rewarding experience as a Communities for Kids Technical Assistant.
Melissa Polinoski
Assistant Vice President of Early Childhood Programs
Melissa joined the Communities for Kids team in May of 2022 and provides technical assistance to C4K communities primarily in the Northern and Central Regions of the state. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Kearney and has community experiences in both urban and rural Nebraska. Her expansive thirty-year career in the fields of education, program development, facilitation, small business ownership, and community systems utilization, as honed her skills in Collective Impact for the betterment of children, families, and the communities in which they live. Currently, Melissa utilizes her expertise to create sustainable childcare infrastructures, works in developing Full-Service Community School Models with a Foundation of Early Childhood Care and Education, and participates in statewide collaborative development groups for Early Childhood workforce and apprenticeships. She and her family reside in Atkinson, Nebraska
Katrina Hurley
Assistant Vice President of Early Childhood Programs
Katrina joined Nebraska Children as an Assistant Vice President of Early Childhood in November 2022 with more than 10 years of experience in early childhood education as an educator and a child care center director. During these years, she focused on providing quality early childhood education for Seward and North Lincoln. She initiated family engagement opportunities and hosted parent advisory meetings on how to improve the center’s quality of care and education. She focused on the importance of parental involvement in all aspects of early childhood education, including educating parents on the extreme significance of quality early childhood education. Katrina has her degree in History and Legal Studies from Chadron State College. She is one of the oldest of 12 siblings, which instilled in her the importance of quality early childhood programs for all children.
When she first started at C4K, Katrina primarily worked with pandemic funding focused on expansion of licensed child care spots, and has since expanded to take on the traditional C4K work to communities in the Southeast Region of Nebraska as well as Blue Hill, Ashland-Greenwood, Platte, and Colfax counties.
Kara Nickel
Assistant Vice President and Project Coordinator
Kara started with Nebraska Children in June 2022 as the Assistant Vice President and Project Coordinator and joined a team of dedicated individuals. Her goal is to work collaboratively with her team to provide opportunities for communities to engage in the creative process of implementing systems and structures that create positive change for children and families in Nebraska.
Prior to her time with Nebraska Children, Kara worked managing homes and compliance requirements in affordable housing in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. She wants to continue to be of service to Nebraska families and communities in a meaningful way.
Originally from Omaha, Kara attended UNL and earned a degree in Secondary Education. She currently lives in Lincoln with her spouse and two lovely children. She enjoys learning new things, catching a nap whenever possible, garage sales, spending time with friends, baking, exercising, travel and podcasts.
Catie Ganzel
Administrative and Logistics Coordinator
Catie Ganzel joined Nebraska Children and Families Foundation in June of 2022 as the Administrative and Logistics Coordinator. Catie handles high-level organization and coordination for the Communities for Kids team. She comes from a background in education and emergency communications. Catie lives in Fremont with her husband, Ryan, their four children; Charlie, Kellen, Holden, and Cece, and their two dogs; Gus and Max.
