CHC Board of Directors Announces the Retirement of Chief Executive Officer Rosalie Whitlock, PhD.
The Board of Directors for Children’s Health Council (CHC) today announced that the organization’s Chief Executive Officer Rosalie Whitlock, PhD. has made the decision to retire a year from now on June 30, 2022, beginning a thoughtfully-planned leadership transition that will take place over the next year. Dr. Whitlock’s retirement marks the completion of a remarkable career of over 30 years of service as a passionate and tireless advocate for children and their families.
“Rosalie has been a highly collaborative and transformative leader in our community for children, teens, and young adults who have learning and mental health needs,” said Chair of the Board Rebecca B. Robertson. “The Board is so grateful for her dedication as the organization’s CEO since August 2009. Under her leadership, the agency has nearly tripled in size with innovative services and programs responsive to the diverse needs in our community.”
“I’ve been honored to lead CHC for more than a decade, an organization where we believe that every child has promise and potential,” Rosalie said. “We know that the need in our community is great with 1 in 5 children experiencing learning differences along with the dramatic spike in mental health concerns among youth recently aggravated by the pandemic. These issues make our work more important than ever before. For the past decade, we were driven to expand and enhance our programs so that we could help more families regardless of language, location, or ability to pay. As a result, we’re widely recognized for our distinguished record of providing culturally responsive best-in-class learning and mental health services to children, teens and young adults across the Bay Area.”
Dr. Whitlock continued: “I am so proud of our dedicated staff that has completely transformed our organization. We have a clear vision for the future, exceptionally competent staff and executive leadership, dedicated volunteers, generous donors, and rich collaborative partnerships with many in our community. Our goal now is to maintain this momentum and move forward into the future with our leadership, capacity, and operational strength.”
The Board of Directors has formed a search committee and is leading the selection process to choose Dr. Whitlock’s successor. The search is open to internal and external candidates. Potential candidates should contact Adrienne Foran, Director of Human Resources at aforan@stage.chconline.org.
Vice Chair and Chair-Elect of the Board Julie Terrell Hooper said, ”We are fortunate that Rosalie will remain with CHC until a successor is found. As we prepare to celebrate our 70th Anniversary, we have a strong foundation in place for a seamless transition to new leadership for the future.”
CHC was founded by pediatrician Dr. Esther B. Clark nearly 70 years ago with a mental health clinic and the Esther B. Clark (EBC) therapeutic day school serving students with emotional and behavioral challenges. During Dr. Whitlock’s tenure beginning in 2009, the agency experienced unprecedented growth with service expansion and broad community outreach across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, including the following milestones:
2011: Opened Sand Hill School, a strengths-based learning program for grades 2-8th with dyslexia and language-based learning differences
2013: Launched the Early Support Program for Autism (ESPA) in partnership with Stanford
2014: Created the Ravenswood Initiative to support the needs of students and low-income families in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park
2016: Began the Teen Mental Health Initiative to expand clinical services for teens in crisis, and visibility efforts to increase awareness and remove stigma
2017: Opened the RISE Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) for teens ages 13-18 needing a higher level of care for severe anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation
2017: Established Community Connections committed to education and engagement efforts, including free community education and support for parents, educators, and community members
2018: Opened a second Esther B. Clark therapeutic day school campus in San Jose.
2020: Expanded all its services to online platforms with virtual classrooms, online education and events, podcasts, online resource library, and telehealth services to reach more communities
2020: Invested in a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council
2021: Recognized with a $2.5M grant from the Jack Dorsey #StartSmall Initiative to provide mental health support for children and families impacted by the pandemic.
Prior to her work at CHC, Dr. Whitlock was Head of Charles Armstrong School for 11 years and led the development of a cutting-edge curriculum to help kids living with learning differences succeed based on their strengths. This experience gave her an intimate understanding of parents’ concerns and the impact on the whole family when a child is living with learning differences, anxiety, ADHD or autism. Whitlock is a former member of the International Dyslexia Association’s Board of Directors, is also a founding member of Parents Education Network (PEN) and was the Executive Director of the Accelerated School Project at Stanford University in their School of Education.
Media Contact: Dr. Micaelia Randolph, 707-933-7332, mrandolph@stage.chconline.org
