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The Siskin Children's Institute management staff provides strong leadership to the dedicated and talented team of professionals that works to improve the quality of life for children with special needs, their families and the professionals who touch their lives.
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Gerald D. (Jerry) Jensen has served as president and CEO of Siskin Children's Institute since 2006. He has more than 35 years of leadership and management experience in multi-campus systems of higher education and complex nonprofit organizations, 24 of which were with the University of Missouri system. He has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Economics from Kansas Wesleyan University and a law degree from Southern University. He was admitted to the practice of law in Kansas and Louisiana in 1974.
Jerry is a member of the governing Boards of Directors for the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy; The Children’s Museum in Seattle, Wash.; the Public Health Foundation Enterprises in Industry, Calif.; and the We Teach Science Foundation in Burlingame, Calif.
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Gayle Coleman
Director of the Early Learning Center-Downtown
Gayle serves as director of the Early Learning Center-Downtown and provides early intervention coordination at both Early Learning Center campuses. Gayle has more than 20 years of experience in early childhood development, early intervention and special education.
Before joining the Institute, she served for 18 years as director of children's services at Signal Centers. She is past president of the Southeast Tennessee Interagency Council, served on the policy council for the Chattanooga Head Start/Early Head Start program from 2007 to 2010 and was a member of the Hamilton County Schools pre-K council. Gayle currently is on the Project Ready for School advisory committee and the Invest in Children and Youth/Ready by 21 Early Childhood committee.
She received her degree in special education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
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Shelia Garner
Director of the Early Learning Center-East Brainerd
Shelia serves as director of the Early Learning Center-East Brainerd. She has more than 30 years of experience in working with children.
She joined the Institute from Hamilton County Department of Education where she served as lead teacher for system-wide programs in the exceptional education department. During her tenure with Hamilton County, she served as a classroom teacher, educational diagnostician, assistive technology specialist and lead teacher for the exceptional education preschool department.
She holds a master’s degree in special education from Tennessee Technological University and is a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
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Jeaninne Houck
Director of Finance and Administration
Jeaninne manages all fiscal and accounting functions for the Institute. She began her career as an accountant with Hamilton County Government, and in 1998 she became the finance director for the Hamilton County Community Services Agency, serving on committees for the Department of Children's Services and working with grantors and private foundations in children's programs. |
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Craig joined the Institute from SunTrust Bank, where he was the senior vice president for its wealth management division. During his tenure with the bank, he served as the endowments and foundations regional manager, a wealth strategist, and most recently, a client advisor. Prior to SunTrust, he was in charge of development for the McCallie School. Craig holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Rhodes College in Memphis.
Craig is a past board member of the Creative Discovery Museum, and currently serves on the Holston Conference Foundation board. He is a past member the Southeast TN chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and is a current member of Chattanooga’s downtown Rotary Club. He also served on the United Way campaign committee in 2006.
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Jan Hollingsworth
Director of Marketing and Communications
Jan is responsible for marketing, communications and public relations for the Institute. She has a strong background in the fields of marketing and communications and has worked for nonprofit organizations in the Chattanooga area for more than 17 years. Prior to joining the Institute, she served as the coordinator of educational volunteers at the Tennessee Aquarium, director of development and communications at Orange Grove Center and as the managing editor at Exceptional Parent magazine. She is an active member of the Public Relations Society of America's Lookout Chapter.
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Rebekah leads the human resources department at the Institute. She received her bachelor's degree in organizational management from Covenant College and is currently pursuing a master's degree in human resources administration from Central Michigan University. Rebekah comes to the Institute from Erlanger Health System, where she worked for six years in human resources.
Rebekah is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management and the Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration – Chattanooga Chapter.
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Robin McWilliam, Ph.D.
Director of Siskin Center for Child and Family Research
Robin is one of the nation's leading researchers in early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE). As director of our research center, he serves as the new Siskin Endowed Chair of Research in Early Childhood Education, Intervention and Development. Most recently, he was the director of the Center for Child Development at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville. Robin received his Ph.D. in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Robin is a member or serves on the board of directors of many local, statewide, national and international boards, including the United Way of Chattanooga's Project Ready for School, Tennessee Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness, the National Center on High Quality Personnel in Inclusive Preschool Settings, the Council for Exceptional Children and the International Society on Early Intervention. For a full list of Dr. McWilliam's memberships and service, view his vita.
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Senior Staff Advisory Members
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Tom Buggey, Ph.D.
Siskin Endowed Chair of Excellence in Early Childhood Special Education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Joining the Institute in 2007, Dr. Buggey became the organization's first researcher on staff. As one of the world's leading researchers in a specific intervention for children with autism — video self-modeling — he serves as the Siskin Endowed Chair of Excellence in Early Childhood Special Education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In addition to conducting research at the Institute, Dr. Buggey also teaches courses as a faculty member in UTC’s College of Health, Education and Professional Studies.
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Regina Gargus, MD, FAAP
Director of Siskin Children's Institute-T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital Center for Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics
An accomplished triple board certified developmental and behavioral pediatrician, Regina is the medical director of the Siskin Children's Institute-T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital Center for Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics. She most recently served as the medical director at the Dennis Developmental Center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She received her medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia-Virginia Commonwealth University, where she also completed her pediatric residency and a neonatology fellowship. She completed a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatric Fellowship at Brown University School of Medicine in June 2005. She is a certified physician executive by the American College of Physician Executives, with a master of science in administrative medicine from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
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