Meet the Board

I am the Manager of Licensed Programs for BGC Cochrane & Area working with both the Out of School Care Program and the family day home agency.

I have been working with BGC Cochrane & Area for almost ten years and prior to that operated a family day home through our agency. I am an active member of the Alberta Family Child Care Association (AFCCA) as their Treasurer and part of the Conference committee for the annual You Make a Difference Conference for day home professionals. I have a diverse background in education is varying capacities including also having facilitated infant sign language programs for several years both locally (when I ran my day home) and also in Airdrie with Community Links.

I also completed a program for dog trainers and hosted dog training classes with the Humane Society and Springbank Kennels in addition to operating my own business in Cochrane for several years (which I ended up selling to a gentleman who worked with me and he is still operating 16 years later!). I taught in Sherwood Park for a few years before relocating to Cochrane and decided not to return to the profession in the same capacity after having my fourth daughter. I have a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and a Bachelor of Education Degree. I am extremely passionate about quality child care programs and recognize the importance of having leaders in early learning advocate for the field.

I have worked with KidZinc School Age Care Society for 15 years, where I started with no child care experience. The passion I discovered for working with challenging behaviours led me to major in Child and Youth Care Counselling at Mount Royal University for two years before transitioning to – and ultimately graduating from – Red Deer Polytechnic’s Early Learning and Child Care program. Over the years at KidZinc, I transitioned into leadership roles at the program level and started as the Assistant Director in 2024. This transition was driven by the desire to support others and have a wider impact on the quality of care being delivered to children. I am excited to contribute to the team at SACDA and further its mission of improving the availability of quality, affordable school age care in Alberta. I live in Calgary with my wonderfully patient husband, our beagle mix, and two rabbits. I enjoy many hobbies including crochet, quilting, reading, camping, skiing, video games, and watching my favourite sports (soccer, sumo, and Formula 1).

I have been extremely fortunate and humbled that over the past 10 years, I have been able to participate in and help lead the important work SACDA has accomplished for the sector here in Alberta. I have previously held both the Treasurer and Vice-Chair positions during this time.

From Developing the Lights On Afterschool Alberta movement, growing our IGNITE Conference from its infancy to Canada’s largest School Age Care Conference, ingraining myself in a number of child care advocacy groups representing the School Age sector, and being a part of every major SACDA advocacy and political conversation, I find myself in a position now to ask that members continue to trust my dedication to the field as the Chair position here at S.A.C.D.A.

My focuses over the next two years will be simple:

• Build a stronger identity behind School Age programs across the province: Focusing on unity, advocacy, and the development of useful data and statistics.
• Focus on developing our relationships: diversifying our community of programs, stakeholders, and like-minded agencies from across the province.
• Developing opportunities for stakeholders and programs to connect and learn from each other: Share successes, struggles, resources, and support for each other.

As an owner of the TOPP KIDS organization for the last 15 years, I have had the opportunity to personally work both on the front line of programs and program delivery as well as aligning myself with sector leaders, advocates, and organizations.

I am deeply passionate about delivering exceptional results for our sector, our professionals, their organizations, and the children they mentor.

As a father, School-Age Care advocate, and committed child care provider, I am focused on making SACDA the advocacy and professional development center of the School-Age Care Sector in Alberta- representing the amazing impact programs and educators make every day.

I have been in the role of Executive Director with the Edmonton Region Child Care Association for over 5 years.

Our Association operates not-for-profit child care for families with children aged 19 months to 12 years.

Each day we provide care to over 300 families in the City of Edmonton.

I am proud of our program and how we work within our various communities in Edmonton.

We have 90 educators who work with us each day varying from part-time to full-time educators.

 Prior to this, my experience was with the YMCA of Northern Alberta (23 years) in Child Care, Human Resources, Disability Management, Payroll, Budgeting, and Training the workforce.

 Presently, I also volunteer as President of my community league and have been in this role for the past two years.

I live in the community I grew up in and now that my children are only needing me for food and money I felt I could give some time back to my community.

It has been a great learning and an opportunity to cross-pollinate my experience of non-profit child care to the operations of a community league.

 I am a MacEwan University alumni graduating from the Early Childhood program and Disability Management program. 

I have also completed a Human Resource Degree with the University of Athabasca.

 I look forward to continuing to contribute to SACDA as a Member At Large and Past Vice-Chair.

My name is Jessica Chiu, and I have worked in the out of school care sector since 2000. I graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Education degree, and am currently the Executive Director of Mckernan Child Care Society in Edmonton. I strongly believe in advocating for children and high-quality child care in Alberta, as well as supporting leadership and professional development in our field. My belief in supporting high quality child care led me to do contract work with the Accreditation of Early Learning and Care Services (AELCS) for 10 years; First as a Validator, then as a Moderator, focusing specifically on out of school care programs. I firmly believe in the importance of education and life-long learning. SACDA does great advocacy work, and I am happy to support this organization through my role as Secretary.

Jane Winter brings extensive experience working with school-aged children, including more than 13 years with the Calgary Board of Education. In 2020, she chose to dedicate her full attention to developing and leading her Creations programs.

Jane lived in England before moving to Canada in 2007. Back in England Jane’s background was in Human Resources, but once she came to Canada with her young children she decided to dedicate her time to helping children grow and create in her dayhome. Jane went back to school in 2018 and earned her Early Childhood Diploma from Bow Valley College in 2019, achieving a Level 3 certification. She has been a successful entrepreneur in the school aged care field since 2011, when she opened Creations Child Care in the Shawnessy community, and has now expanded her programs within the south of Calgary. Jane has been a SACDA member since 2017. 

Beyond her professional work, Jane enjoys musicals, camping, painting, cooking, and spending time with her family and dogs.”

Brandie Odenbach is a Program Manager for Child Care and Child Minding with the YMCA of Northern Alberta. Brandie began her career in Child Care in 2008 at just 18 years old, thinking she would eventually pursue teaching as she took the Bachelor of Education degree program at the University of Alberta. However, Brandie’s passion for Early Childhood Education grew as she learned, and this led to Brandie staying in Child Care and pursuing the Early Learning and Child Care diploma program at Portage College. Brandie has been nominated multiple times for the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Early Childhood Education by parents and fellow Educators, the YMCA’s Young Leaders award, and others. Brandie continues to aim to provide quality child care and effective leadership to the teams she supervises by maintaining a growth mindset and pursuing many professional development opportunities. Brandie leads the YMCA A Place to Connect curriculum training and the Truth and Reconciliation committee and is a fervent ally to the Indigenous community, including speaking at conferences about meaningful allyship. Brandie has an outgoing, fun-loving, goofy, straight-forward personality, who people have described as “summer in human form”. Brandie has many pets, and does agility with her dog, Enzo. You can also find Brandie making good use of her YMCA gym membership as she has had an interest in fitness since she was 13 years old. Brandie hopes you will say hi and tell her about yourself when you see her as she genuinely enjoys getting to know others and what makes them happiest.

Staci originally graduated from Mount Royal College in 1993 with her ECE Diploma and has had the privilege of working in many amazing childcare organizations in Alberta. She has worked with a wide variety of age groups throughout her career, but fifteen years ago, Staci stumbled into School Age and never looked back! Flash-forward to 2011, she became the Executive Director of Adventurers School Age Care and decided to upgrade her education by returning to school. Staci graduated in 2013 from Mount Royal University with a Bachelor of Applied Child Studies. Her other educational accomplishments include Leadership and Management, Children and Youth Human Rights, and Children’s Mental Health. Staci is currently the President of Adventurers School Age Care and had previously served as SACDAs Chair for over a decade and is now helping to continue her advocacy work for the sector.