Executive Director

Caitlin Jensen, MSW

Caitlin has worked in early childhood policy and systems building for nearly 20 years, initially working in a Head Start and a small child care center. Her experience working with young children and families, both locally and internationally, led her to pursue her master’s in social work with an emphasis on policy & advocacy at the University of Washington. She completed her Maternal and Child Health Leadership fellowship through the UW School of Medicine/Seattle Children’s Hospital in 2010, and holds a certificate in Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Social Sector through Babson College, and a certificate in P-3 Leadership through the University of Colorado Denver.

Her professional aspirations have led her to purposeful policy and governmental relations work in both Montana and Washington state, leading complex early childhood systems initiatives with Early Head Start/Head Start, child care, K-12, higher education, employers, parents, as well as state, federal and tribal government leadership. She is passionate about working with community leaders and policy makers alike to address systemic issues in the field of early childhood.

Working with the team at Zero to Five Montana to support early childhood systems-building work through policy and advocacy, as well as programmatic efforts such at Montana Child Care Business Connect, is an incredibly rewarding experience and she looks forward to making more connections with partners across our great state. Please connect with Caitlin if you would like to learn more about the work of the organization.

Caitlin lives in Helena and enjoys spending time outside with her husband and 2-year-old son.

Early Childhood Tribal Policy Coordinator

Carrie Hirst Spotted Bear

Carrie’s position was created in partnership with Salish Kootenai College to elevate Montana’s indigenous voices in the early childhood system.

She is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation and was born and raised in Browning, MT. Carrie is a first-generation college graduate from Blackfeet Community College, Montana State University and Montana State University Northern. Carrie has more than 20 years of experience working in the early childhood field. Her career started as a Head Start parent volunteer, home child care provider, Even Start Family Literacy Home visitor, and then a Coordinator. Upon completion of the Even Start grant, Carrie became the Director of School District #9’s Child Care and Parent Outreach Program.

Carrie’s passion is for young children and working with tribes, state, and federal agencies to promote the needs of early childhood education. Carrie and her husband Gale share a family of seven children ranging in age from their 30’s to under 10. During her free time, Carrie enjoys camping, fishing, and spending time with all the kids and family around her.

Communications Manager

Karen Gilbert

Karen joins Zero to Five Montana after five years with the non-partisan Fiscal Division of the Montana Legislature. Her communications career began in a tiny Wyoming television newsroom, continued in weekly and daily newspapers in Las Vegas and Mississippi, and pivoted to university public relations in Colorado.

The lure of Montana’s vast wide-open spaces brought Karen and her family to the state where together they have enjoyed exploring the area’s hiking trails, campgrounds, rivers, lakes, ski slopes and hot springs.
Karen is so happy to have the opportunity to help advance Zero to Five’s mission to ensure Montana’s kids get the best start in life.

Business and Community Engagement Manager

Alex DuBois

Alex fell in love with early childhood education after obtaining a part time position with ASUM Child Care at the University of Montana while attending classes. After being exposed to the importance of early childhood and the critical development that ensues during the first eight years of life, she began her adventure to obtain her degree in Early Childhood Education. In 2015 Alex received her AAS in Early Childhood Education through the University of Montana Western as a single mother to her 3-year-old son Heston. Having real life experience tying to navigate raising a child in Montana in tandem with working to further her career, Alex solidified her drive to make a difference for all shapes and sizes of families in Montana.

Alex continued along her professional journey working in many different roles in the early childhood system from preschool teacher to work in a Child Care Resource and Referral Agency. Her experience working with young children and families, early care and education professionals, and being a mother herself, she continued to strive to improve the early childhood system and advocate for change to support children and families.

She was born in Kalispell, MT, and was raised in Bonner, MT, just east of Missoula. She has strong family roots in Montana and looks forward to raising her own children in the great state. She enjoys camping, fishing, and being outside with her five children, husband Waylon, and two fur babies.

Program Director

Rhonda Schwenke

Rhonda has always had a passion for working with children, leading her to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology with an emphasis in families from Montana State University-Billings. She has since worked in many aspects of early childhood throughout her career, ranging from almost every role in center care (including preschool teacher), to working in an inter-generational program housed on a nursing home campus (an experience that is near and dear to her heart and gave her daughter a strong foundation growing up in the program), and as a lead professional development specialist for a child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agency. Rhonda most recently worked for the Early Childhood Services Bureau of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. Throughout more than 11 years at ECSB, she worked closely with the STARS to Quality program as well as supporting provider services within the CCR&R agencies. She was most recently a child care licensing program manager, supervising the child care licensors in the field and working to enhance the world of licensing.

Rhonda is a lifelong Montana resident. She was born and raised in Grass Range, MT, on a ranch that has been in the family for more than 110 years. After moving to Billings for college and remaining there for 10 years, Rhonda moved to Choteau with her family. She and her husband have two daughters 17 years apart in age and a grandson. They also have two dogs, Deeno and Daisy. In her spare time, Rhonda enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, and camping in the summer. She is excited for this journey with Zero to Five Montana and to be able to continue to support child care programs.

Senior Child Care Business Advisor

Jason Nitschke

Jason joins Zero to Five Montana as our Senior Child Care Business Advisor after eight years in economic development as Vice President with the Great Falls Development Authority (GFDA) and Regional Director of the Great Falls area Small Business Development Center (SBDC). He will be delivering educational opportunities and one-on-one consultation support to entrepreneurs and communities starting, growing, and expanding childcare and early education solutions.

During his time in economic development, he advised and trained nearly 4000 entrepreneurs and business professionals, helped start over 100 businesses, supported 2800 jobs, and helped in attracting nearly $75M in capital investment into area businesses. Jason received two national awards during his time at GFDA. He was the 2022 recipient of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Boots to Business Instructor of the Year, a national award recognizing the top five presenters of the SBA’s Introduction to Entrepreneurship curriculum for active-duty military and veterans. In 2018, he was named the Montana State SBDC Star honoring the top 1% of business advisors in the U.S.

Prior to joining the economic development community, Jason owned two businesses and spent 16 years as a print and broadcast journalist. He is an award-winning broadcaster, native Montanan, and is a proud daughter-dad. Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Political Science from the University of Montana and a master’s degree in Communication from Hawaii Pacific University-Honolulu.

To schedule a one-on-one consultation with Jason, click here or use the calendar below.

Communications & Outreach Coordinator

Heide Borgonovo

Heide joins Zero to Five Montana with experience in nonprofit communications and journalism. After graduating from the University of Montana with a journalism degree, her career began as a copy and layout editor at the Missoulian and when she moved to Helena she took up communications and marketing working for the Montana Hospital Association.

She found a passion for nonprofit communications during college internships with Montana Public Radio and Garden City Harvest. She is excited to help build a better Montana for future generations and, as a daughter of a kindergarten and preschool teacher, looks forward to diving deeper into the child care world.

Heide moved from Missoula to Helena in 2020 and now lives with her partner and their two tripod rescue dogs, Cici and Basil.

Community Navigator

Shelby Whelan

Shelby is a people-person who is excited to continue her community development work as the Community Navigator for Montana Child Care Business Connect.

After graduating from the University of Montana with a bachelor’s degree in psychology specializing in family and human development, Shelby worked in several roles within Zero to Five Butte-Silver Bow. In these positions, she helped develop and implement community-led projects related to children and families, facilitated a handful of early childhood coalitions and committees, received the 2022 Moving Mountains award, and became invested in the need for early childhood systems change in Montana.

Shelby has always loved the Montana landscape wherever she found herself. Growing up in Columbia Falls, right outside Glacier National Park, you could find Shelby swimming or paddle boarding on any body of water, camping, hiking, or just appreciating the beauty of the woods. When she moved to Butte with her husband, Connor, her instincts never changed,and she still makes time to get out into the wild.

Program Assistant

Richard Heitstuman

Richard is a Helena native, Capital High School and Carroll College graduate. When he isn’t advocating for his community, he loves exploring Montana’s wild places and is a passionate proponent of enjoying our public lands.

Unbeknownst to him, Richard has been an early childhood advocate his whole life. Richard’s mother was an in-home child care provider from the time he was born, so he experienced first-hand the struggles faced by both child care providers and the families that depend on them. Now that he is working with Zero to Five Montana, he is ready to help improve a system that made such an impact on his life.

Child Care Business Advisor

Kendra Edlin

Kendra has always had a passion for building strong communities. After working in the cooperative movement for nearly 20 years, building financial education curriculum for school systems and small business economic opportunities in underserved communities, Kendra moved to continue her passion of economic development in the state of Montana where she served as the executive director of Montana’s Credit Unions for Community Development.

Most recently Kendra has served Montana through her work at the Department of Commerce working on the State Small Business Credit Initiative. There she worked closely with businesses across the state who struggle to find conventional loans to start up or expand of their business. Her work is supported by a degree in communications from Eastern Washington University and extended credit union management training from Western CUNA Management School, at Pomona University.

During her early years of motherhood, Kendra taught preschool for four years at a center in Spokane, Wash., where she became passionate about the education of children. While recently attending a conference, Kendra heard about the impactful work being done at Zero to Five Montana and decided she needed to be a part of it. She joins the team as business advisor.

In her free time, Kendra loves tending to her five goats & 14 chickens, traveling the state with her husband and dog, camping and rock hounding (garnets are her favorite.)