Trustees & Founders

Bette Simmons recently retired from College County of Morris where she served as Vice President of Student Development & Enrollment Management. Reporting to the president, Dr. Simmons supervised the staff and programs in Academic Advisement, Admissions, Athletics, Campus Life, Career Services & Cooperative Education, Counseling and Student Success, Enrollment Services, Financial Aid, Health Services, Records & Registration, and the Women’s Center. Dr. Simmons is active in the Morris County, New Jersey community. In addition to her role as Vice President at Preschool Advantage, Dr. Simmons is involved with the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey, the Morris County Human Relations Commission, the African American Wellness Coalition, the Morristown Juvenile Conference Committee, the Morris County Park Alliance, and the Morris County Sexual Assault Advisory Board. She provides training for the Volunteers for Morris County as well as the Seton Hall University Board Leadership Institute. Professionally, she represents her institution and profession nationally. Presently, she sits on the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Foundation Board.

Gail Reuther is the Executive Director at Mt. Olive Child Care & Learning Center in Budd Lake, New Jersey. She is responsible for managing a long-standing child care and education Center which is both accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and 4-Star-Rated by Grow NJ Kids: New Jersey’s Quality Rating Improvement System.

Children aged 6 weeks through 13 years and their families are served by the Center. Gail is an active member of the Morris County Child Care Directors Association and currently serves as the President. In addition, she maintains a membership in the Coalition of Infant/Toddler Educators (CITE). Gail serves as the Co-Chair of Preschool Advantage’s School Committee. Formal education includes attending Douglas College (Rutgers University) for her Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Correction and Spanish and Kean University for her Teaching Credential and Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education.

Kyle is a Financial Advisor and Registered Principal at Private Advisor Group in Morristown, NJ. Kyle holds of bachelor’s degree in History, with a minor concentration in Economics from the University of Vermont. Kyle has been on the board of Preschool Advantage since 2020. He was previously Treasurer of the organization and has chaired Strategic Planning Committees. He is also on the board of the Morristown Field Club. Kyle and his wife, Emily, reside in Basking Ridge with their two young children. Kyle enjoys spending time with family, fly fishing, and skiing.

Denise Lanza is Assistant Deputy Director, Morris County Park Commission and Executive Director of The Alliance for Morris County Parks, a New Jersey nonprofit supporting programs and facilities of the Morris County Park Commission. She is involved with numerous local notfor-profits and community organizations, including the North Jersey Health Collaborative, New Jersey Healthy Communities Network and the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. Other organizations she has worked with in the past have included the Coalition for a Healthy New Jersey, Morris County Human Relations Commission, and the Morris County Tourism Bureau. Denise graduated from Montclair State University with a BS in Recreation and Leisure Studies and received her Masters of Administrative Science from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is an adjunct professor at Kean University teaching “Fundraising in Parks and Recreation” and “Programs and Facility Design”

Judy retired from teaching in 2014, after more than 40 years as a Kindergarten teacher at The Peck School in Morristown. At Peck, Judy was also a long-serving member of the Admission Committee. Judy has volunteered at Preschool Advantage for many years, and, in 2019, she joined the Board of Trustees. Judy participates on the Child and School Committees, the Marketing Committee and the Gala Committee, which she co-chaired for two years. She previously served on the Greater Morristown YMCA Board, the Cornerstone Board and the Morristown Field Club Board of Governors as well as serving as President of the Field Club. Judy enjoys tennis and golf, teaches aerobic classes at the Greater Morristown YMCA, and volunteers at The Bargain Box affiliated with Atlantic Health Care.

Senior Vice President of Strategies for ALICE, Michelle Roers, LSW, leads the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of United For ALICE@Work and United In Care. This includes project development, evaluation of progress toward programmatic and funding goals and objectives, and strategizing for project sustainability. Michelle is a member of United Way’s Senior Leadership Team where she is a recognized leader in systems change, initiatives in education, and workforce development to promote better opportunities for ALICE, and in building strategic partnerships. Roers has an MSW in Social Work from Fordham University’s School of Social Services (NYC) and a BSW in Social Work from St. Catherine University (MN). Prior to United Way, she championed victim rights via the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office and Jersey Battered Women’s Service. [both in New Jersey].

Maria Vinci Savettiere, Esq., a resident of Bernardsville, is the Executive Director of Deirdre’s House, the child advocacy center for Morris County that provides forensic interviewing, medical examinations and treatment, and clinical counseling to child victims of abuse, neglect, or children that have witnessed violence. She is also on the boards of Blair Academy and the Greater Morristown YMCA and is the child advocacy center representative on the Governor’s Child Advocacy and Multi-Disciplinary Advisory Board.

Carolyn Simpson has been actively involved in education for over 30 years, beginning her career as an elementary school teacher in Virginia and continuing as a substitute teacher and tutor after moving to the Morristown, NJ, area in 1992. In addition to her volunteer work at Preschool Advantage, Simpson has served as a member of the Township Twig of the Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center and is a member the Garden Club of Morristown. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of The Land Conservancy of New Jersey. In her spare time Simpson enjoys gardening, photography, travel, and of course, educational causes.