Michael Patterson

Background

About Michael Patterson

CIO and Co-Founder of Arkansas Early Learning, Inc, a non-profit organization laser focused on ending poverty and injustices that exist in our communities. Under my leadership, Arkansas Early Learning has grown from a startup in 2013 to now Arkansas' largest HS/EHS grantee (achieved by 2015). I am a passionate social entrepreneur, lover of everything technology, and, most importantly, a father. In addition to currently managing four Head Start and Early Head Start grants, I am passionate about innovating for the improvement of work conditions for the entire Head Start and ECE communities and taking on other “problems worth solving” to disrupt poverty. I am currently working on projects using conversational artificial intelligence (voice) to increase educator retention rates, safety, and data-driven decision-making. My efforts with these exponential technology innovations have recently been recognized as I won the Evelyn Wright Moore Award for Innovation Excellence, featured as a speaker at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Digital Empowers: Accelerating Innovation for Business and Social Good event and on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website article “Tech and Early Ed - Unlikely Partners?”, NHSA’s Early Childhood Innovation Summit, and others. I am currently also serving on the Board of Directors for the NEA Chapter of the American Red Cross, AR Head Start Association, and El Centro Hispano.