Even though we (still!) weren’t able to get together to celebrate at our annual post-holiday party, we want to take a moment to recognize our amazing employees.
Every year we honor employees who go above and beyond with CEO of the year awards. This year, the founder and CEO Dr. Mary Ann Shallcross Smith, COO Amy Vogel, and HR Director Laurie Gorman presented the awards.
Congratulations to our 2021 award recipients!
Joseph Capaldi (Kids Klub Stephen Olney): CEO Team Member of the Year
Matthew Aspeel (DDC Pawtucket): CEO Executive Team Member of the Year
Each winner receives a check for $500 and 5 days PTO. Congratulations and thank you for your hard work!
Joe has been with Kids Klub since 2013. He has stepped up to work in many different roles over the years. Currently Joe is the Teacher Assistant at Kids Klub Stephen Olney, driving the Kids Klub van for the Whelan students.
Joe is always stepping up to do whatever is needed. He is SO much more than a bus driver. He constantly wants what is best for the kids, he is a great listener, and gets the job done with a smile on his face always. Joe does everything from ensuring the kids have safe travels, cleaning the site each day (to the point that he recommended a Swiffer so he could really give the floor a scrub!), and participating in STEM lessons and activities with the kids. When Mr. Joe isn’t there a day (which is a rare occasion) the kids always ask where he is, because they miss him so much! Mr. Joe definitely deserves recognition for all his hard work all the years he has been with Kids Klub.
Matt has been with our company since April 2017. He first started as a Curriculum Administrator for Kids Klub. In the Fall of 2018 he left Kids Klub, but returned a month later as the Administrator of Dr. Day Care Pawtucket Thornley St. center.
We have come to rely on Matt for many things, call him in a pinch, add responsibilities to his already heavy work load. He always is onboard to assist, takes on those added responsibilities with a smile, humor and integrity.
He is a strong advocate, teacher and voice for the Conscious Discipline program here at DDC. He also agreed recently to take on a second center taking the Assistant Administrator under his wing. In a new approach to hiring, he has also trained an additional Assistant Admin “float” at his site to be shared with other Dr. Day Care locations.
Previous award recipients include:
CEO Team Member of the Year
| YEAR | NAME |
| 2007 | Lisa Furtado |
| 2008 | Tiffany Arruda |
| 2009 | Diane DeCristo |
| 2010 | Simone Renee Spruce-Torres |
| 2011 | Stefanie Lopes |
| 2012 | Amanda Garcia |
| 2013 | Mary Billington |
| 2014 | Danielle Mutter |
| 2015 | Lauren Fagnant |
| 2016 | Kristyn Proctor |
| 2017 | Dawn Joly |
| 2018 | Sarah Brown |
| 2019 | Amalia Pineda |
| 2020 | Dominique Cayo |
| 2021 | Joseph Capaldi |
CEO Executive Team Member of the Year
| YEAR | NAME |
| 2013 | Amy Vogel |
| 2014 | Tracy Cheney |
| 2015 | Eleanor Carrara |
| 2016 | Alicia Gloria |
| 2017 | Rebecca Compton |
| 2018 | Kate Bixler |
| 2019 | Andrea Dionne |
| 2020 | Laurie Gorman |
| 2021 | Matthew Aspeel |
Longevity Awards
Each year we also celebrate employees who have been with us for 5, 10, 15, 20+ years with our organization! We are grateful to have you here! Each employee receives $5 per year of service:
| Years of Service, as of 1/1/22 |
Name | Year of Hire | |||
| 30 years | Keith Shallcross | 1991 | |||
| 25 years | Eunice Tavares | 1996 | |||
| 15 years | Amalia Pineda | 2006 | |||
| 15 years | Stefanie Lopes Baptista | 2006 | |||
| 10 years | Chris Smith | 2011 | |||
| 10 years | Katherine Bixler | 2011 | |||
| 5 years | Cheryl Glick | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Stephen Imondi | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Jennifer Barnard | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Alexis Monteiro | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Kristina Clark | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Chris Perry | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Makayla McNally | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Samantha Starnes | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Eileen Fardis | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Trisha Whipple | 2016 | |||
| 5 years | Katie Desmarais | 2016 |
We would also take a moment to recognize our most recently hired employee, Arianah Pierce who started with us on 12/1/2021!
(most recently hired as of the typical holiday party date of 01/08/2022)
