President & CEO, Child Care Resource Center
Dr. Michael Olenick has been the President and CEO for Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) since 2003. He oversees all programs, projects and services provided to over 75,000 children and families each month in a service area spanning 22,500 square miles. He is responsible for managing 1,300 staff and a $600 million budget. For more than three decades, Michael has served on numerous boards and committees at the county, state and national level. He is a past president of Child Care Aware of America, the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network (CCRRN) and the immediate past president of the Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles County. He was a governor’s appointee to the California State Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care and an appointee on the Speaker of the Assembly’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Early Childhood Education. He currently serves on the CA Child Welfare Commission and serves on the board of directors of Zero to Three, the nation’s premier voice for babies.
Prior to coming to CCRC, Michael spent 14 years as Senior Vice President of the California Community College Foundation where he developed child, youth and family development education programs at 60 community colleges. He also served as the Chief of Emancipation Services for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (LADCFS).
He obtained his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree from the Erikson Institute. After receiving his master’s degree, Michael taught for several years at the Chicago Child Care Society in Hyde Park, Illinois. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA in Educational Psychology. He taught childcare policy at the university level and served as public policy instructor for the California Association for the Education of Young Children Leadership Program. Michael was recently named for the sixth year in a row as one of the 200 most influential people in the San Fernando Valley by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.