Jessie’s entire professional career has focused on improving outcomes for children, families and adults, especially vulnerable populations such as people with disabilities and families of low income. Upon graduation from the University of Nebraska, Jessie began her professional career as a preschool teacher in an Omaha Head Start program serving low income children with disabilities. She spent the next twenty plus years working in a variety of cultural settings serving young children. Parallel to her work experiences, she was actively engaged in advocating for policy changes that would improve the safety and quality of early care and education programs as well as policy changes that would promote the integration and valorization of people with disabilities.

Jessie’s interest in promoting policy changes benefiting children and families led her to new professional roles. She served as State Senator in the Nebraska Legislature, successfully passing critical legislation that improved systems serving children who are victims of abuse, established state funded early childhood education for children at risk, created first state grants for early childhood education for children at risk, birth to five, and enhanced services to people with disabilities and mental health issues. Following her tenure as Senator, she continued her efforts to change government systems to be accountable for results and to effectively serve children, families and adults through her positions as state human services director in Nebraska and Iowa. Some of the special initiatives that she administered during this time included statewide implementation of welfare reform, behavioral health redesign, long term care redesign, community-state partnerships, state childcare plan, and expanded health care for children.

For the past several years, Jessie returned to the private community, applying her combined experience as a direct provider, elected official and state administrator, to consult others in improving human service systems. She has also applied her “middle child” life experience by serving as a facilitator of multiple projects, helping to bring people together to develop common goals and programs that effectively promote positive outcomes for people of all ages and needs.

In September of 2006, Jessie took a position with the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation as their Early Childhood Education Policy Director, promoting quality early life experiences for all children in Nebraska. While at the Foundation, she successfully led a legislative initiative to establish a $60 million public-private partnership that funds and supports high quality infant and toddler services for children at risk through the Nebraska Early Childhood Endowment.

In 2007, Jessie became the Vice President of the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, a private philanthropy dedicated to leveling the playing field for children, birth to five, who are at risk due to environmental factors such as poverty. In June 2011, she became the President of the Buffett Early Childhood Fund where she continues to manage philanthropic investments in early care and education practice, policy and knowledge.