Randi Wolfe, Ph.D.

Randi Wolfe, Ph.D., is Founder and Principal, Policy and Strategy of Early Care & Education Pathways to Success (ECEPTS). She has worked in ECE for nearly 50 years — as a preschool teacher, child care center director, family support center director, and Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at Northern Illinois University. Since moving to California in 2007, she has focused on designing and implementing large-scale ECE workforce development initiatives and advancing systemic efforts to strengthen the industry. Since founding ECEPTS in 2019, she led the organization to become a nationally recognized authority on ECE Registered Apprenticeship, shaping programs, policy, and practice across California and beyond. From 2022–2025, she served as an appointed member to the U.S. Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship. In her current role, Dr. Wolfe focuses on national and state policy, systems change, and field-building — working to advance ECE apprenticeship as a strategy and child care as a national priority. She holds an Ed.M. in Instructional Leadership from the University of Illinois–Chicago and a Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University.