Dan Haggard recently retired as Deputy Director responsible for the programs of the Early Childhood Services Division within the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. This Division was created to align and integrate state- and federally-funded early childhood care and education programs by consolidating mental health, child care, pre-kindergarten, Early/Head Start, professional development, home visiting, and other state- and federally-funded programs for young children into one governmental agency. A significant emphasis of the Division is the establishment of integrated training, technical assistance and quality improvement systems – particularly implementation of the Race to the Top/Early Childhood Challenge Fund initiative, which includes New Mexico’s third-generation Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement System (TQRIS). The Division is responsible for the NM Early Learning Advisory Council, the NM Early Childhood Higher Education Task Force, and implementation of the NM Home Visiting Act, and the NM Early Childhood Care and Education Act. The primary emphasis of the Division is to ensure that all children in New Mexico have access to high quality early childhood care and education programs so that they have an equitable opportunity for success when they enter formal schooling. This includes focusing particularly on children who live in rural/isolated areas of the state as well as those that are at risk for school failure due to economic, social or environmental factors. Dan’s professional area of expertise is the development and transition of early childhood programs and systems.