George C. Philipp, Commissioner

As Senior Program Associate for the WestEd E3 Institute, Excellence in Early Education, George Philipp is responsible for advancing early educator professional development activities locally, regionally, and statewide. He manages the E3 Institute Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational Standards (CARES) Program and the professional development roundtable that brings together local institutes of higher education and community agencies to address issues faced by the early education workforce.  George works on several other activities include serving as the co-chair of Santa Clara County Office of Education Early Learning Master Plan’s Workforce Subcommittee, committee member of the Local Early Education Planning Council (LPC),  the California Department of Education, Child Development Division’s Workforce Registry Working Group, and the Early Childhood Professional Development and Education Collaborative.  George is currently on the board of the Action Alliance for Children.

Prior to joining WestEd, George was a Program Services Administrator for First 5 Alameda County where he designed and implemented early childhood educator professional development programs including leadership programs; the Alameda County CARES Program, higher education initiatives with UC Berkeley, California State University East Bay, and Mills College; a training program for child care center directors; and the Enhanced Mentor Program.

His background includes serving as a preschool teacher, coordinating the Latchkey afterschool program for Hayward Unified School district, and a crisis intervention teacher for the school district of Palm Beach County, Florida. George is the proud father of two young children, Sophia 6 and Charlotte 3.