After more than a dozen years with The Children’s Movement of Florida, Vance Aloupis will become The Movement’s senior adviser as he transitions to become a partner in the education-consulting firm, the Strategos Group, effective March 1.
Madeleine Thakur, The Movement’s now president, succeeds Aloupis as CEO.
“More progress has been made in building a high-quality early learning movement in our state these past few years than ever before,” said David Lawrence Jr. The Movement’s board chair and founder. “The good news is that we will continue to have the wisdom and skills of two really good people who have led that progress.”
Aloupis will advise The Movement on business and community engagement, donor support, and strategy. “As a twice-elected State House member, his understanding of Florida's education landscape -- and his experience in early childhood policy -- will be an important part of The Movement's success in the years ahead,” Lawrence said.
Adam Giery, the managing partner of the Strategos Group, called Aloupis “a trusted and sought-after adviser in the pre-K12 policy area, with a long legacy of championing education reform. His addition to Strategos furthers our mission of helping students thrive in Florida and beyond. Additionally, I believe Madeleine Thakur’s ascension to CEO ensures The Children’s Movement will remain the preeminent statewide advocacy organization in early learning.”
A former student body president at the University of Miami and a UM Law School graduate, Aloupis came to The Movement in 2010 after a stint in civil litigation. His outside service includes appointment to the Governor’s Commission on Community Service, as a Miami Fellow, and on boards including Miami Homes for All and the Deering Estate. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Executive Education program called “Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management.” His honors include “Young Floridian of the Year” by the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida, and leadership awards from The Miami Foundation and Florida International University. He and his wife Mariella live in Palmetto Bay with their three young children – Isabella, Aria and Olivia.
Madeleine Thakur, with The Movement for more than five years, came with a background focused on economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. A Miami native, she was raised in three languages – English, Spanish and French. A University of Chicago graduate in international studies, Thakur also has a diploma from Sciences Po (Paris Institute of Political Studies) in France.
Her work with children goes back to her college years – as an after-school counselor on Chicago’s South Side and as a teacher’s assistant in an English-as-a-Second-Language classroom, and later as a volunteer tutor at the Overtown Youth Center. She now chairs the Florida Statewide Early Learning Consortium, with a focus on legislative advocacy and whose members represent parents, small-business owners, and nonprofit child care operations, early childhood funders and the early childhood workforce. She launched The Movement’s business engagement initiative called Bosses for Babies, and leads state-level policy efforts to increase investment in high-quality early learning, health care for children and parental support.
She and her husband Mike have two young children and live in Miami.