Susanne Bell Leads Virginia’s Childcare Future While Earning an MBA

Roads, bridges, broadband and childcare.

For Susanne Bell (Executive MBA Class of 2027), all four are essential infrastructure. A strong childcare system allows parents to work, helps businesses retain employees, and supports thriving communities and the healthy development of the next generation.

Bell now has the opportunity to advance that vision as president of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF), a statewide public-private organization working to strengthen Virginia’s childcare and early childhood systems.

She is taking on the major leadership role while earning her Executive MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Already, lessons in strategy, operations and leadership are shaping how she approaches VECF’s next chapter.

When the organization’s board chair called her and Bell learned she had been selected, however, strategy was not the first thing on her mind.

“I think my spirit left my body,” Bell said. “When I saw his name on my caller ID, I was incredibly flooded with excitement.”

Bell managed to hold it together for the conversation, but she was “honored and thrilled” to lead an organization she had long admired.

Pursuing an MBA to Advance the Field

Bell had considered earning an MBA for years before enrolling at Darden. She already held a master’s degree in public policy from Johns Hopkins University, and the investment of time, energy and money made it easy to keep talking herself out of another degree.

EMBA ’27 Learning Team 6 includes Jeremy Whitehurst, David Allen, Susanne Bell, Kendall Gibson, Opeyemi Eboda, and Chris Jenkerson. Through countless hours of class preparation and an active group chat, the team challenged one another’s thinking and built lasting friendships. 

That changed during a lunch with a mentor in December 2024.

When he asked why she wanted an MBA, Bell said personal ambition was part of it, but she also wanted to be prepared for whatever came next. Her mentor struck the table for emphasis.

“That is the only reason to do it, Susanne,” he told her.

He encouraged Bell to pursue the degree not only for herself, but also for the field she had devoted her career to serving.

“That framing shifted everything for me,” Bell said. “Yes, it is about me, but it is not solely about me.”

Now, Bell is applying what she is learning in real time.

During the final stages of the VECF interview process, she returned to her notes from Professor Scott Snell’s strategy course. Knowing she needed to articulate a compelling vision, Bell used an S-curve framework from the class to shape her conversations with the board.Other lessons have proved valuable in unexpected ways. Bell initially questioned how much an operations course would apply to her career.

“I’m not operating a plant,” she remembered thinking.

But concepts such as efficiency and building slack into a system quickly became relevant. Nonprofit employees often work at full capacity, Bell said, but no organization can sustainably operate beyond 100%.

“I want the team to be able to have the capacity and the slack to respond to additional opportunities when they appear,” she said.

A Career That Prepared Her to Lead

Bell’s path to VECF has included work in higher education, philanthropy, public policy and advocacy. She describes it as a somewhat “wandering career,” shaped by choosing work she found meaningful.

When she read the job description for the VECF presidency, however, the path suddenly appeared more linear.

The board wanted a leader with experience in systems building, partnerships and collaboration, and policy and advocacy. Bell had developed experience in all three.

At the Danville Regional Foundation, she worked on local systems-building efforts and partnerships. Her work with the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading further developed her ability to bring organizations together, while earlier roles on Capitol Hill and with a medical specialty society built her background in policy and advocacy.

“My kind of wandering career … ticked all of those boxes,” Bell said.

Her approach to partnership begins with trust, which she believes is built through consistency and follow-through.

Bell also looks for the “spark plugs” within a community—the people who are highly trusted and whose perspectives carry weight. They may not always agree with a leader, she said, but they should know they have been heard and respected.

She enters an organization that has already built deep credibility among grantees, childcare providers, businesses and policymakers across Virginia.

The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation’s Virginia Promise Partnership gathered advocates from across the Commonwealth for its 2026 Lobby Day at the Virginia General Assembly, including a meeting with Speaker Don Scott.

“Childcare providers and employers all across the political spectrum know that a strong childcare system is critical to Virginia’s success,” Bell said.

Making the Economic Case for Childcare

One of Bell’s priorities is helping more Virginians understand the economic impact of investing in childcare.

Research commissioned by VECF estimates that fully funding Virginia’s childcare system would cost approximately $1.6 billion annually while generating around $1.8 billion in annual economic benefits.

“The numbers are so compelling,” Bell said.

The investment would allow more parents to work, expand access to care and support early educators, whom Bell described as the backbone of the system.

For Bell, childcare supports both the workforce Virginia depends on today and the generation that will shape its future. Continuing to recognize that connection, she said, will help Virginia remain one of the best states in which to do business.

“If I were to cast it out five years, Virginia’s leadership continues to view childcare as essential infrastructure,” Bell said. “In the same way that we think about roads, bridges or broadband, it is essential infrastructure that allows our economy to function.”

Learning From the Darden Community

Bell’s Darden experience has extended beyond the classroom.

During the May 2026 residency, many of the women in Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2027 gathered for dinner after class.

As she prepared to work alongside VECF’s outgoing president during a monthlong transition, Bell turned to military veterans in her Executive MBA cohort who had experience with similar leadership handoffs.

She jokingly appointed them to her “personal advisory committee.”

“We’re going to dinner after class, and you’re going to tell me everything that you know,” she told them.

Bell asked what to expect, which questions to raise and what frameworks might guide her through the transition.

“Their experience was essential,” Bell said. “It was such a gift.”

Her classmates have also helped her balance the demands of the MBA program with her new role. Bell credits her learning team with helping her establish a rhythm around classes, work and weekends with her cohort at UVA Darden DC Metro in Rosslyn, Virginia.

“This is not something that I could do alone,” she said.

Her classmates supported her throughout the interview process and celebrated when she was selected.

“They believed it for me before I believed it for myself,” Bell said. “They’ve been so delighted for me in this really open-hearted way.”

Building on a Strong Foundation

Bell succeeds a president who led VECF for 14 years, and she approaches the responsibility with a strong sense of stewardship.

Her immediate priority is to honor the organization’s strengths while advancing its policy and advocacy goals.

“We remain focused on strong outcomes for Virginia’s children, for our littlest learners,” Bell said. “That’s always going to be our North Star.”

The mission is also deeply personal for Bell, a native Virginian whose affection for the Commonwealth she describes as “a touch nonsensical.”

“I just adore Virginia,” she said.

As a community builder, Bell wants to see families and communities thrive across the state.

“We don’t get thriving communities without a robust early childcare system,” she said.

Now, as Bell begins leading VECF while completing her Executive MBA, she is bringing together the threads of her career: a commitment to Virginia, years of experience building partnerships and an expanding set of leadership tools from Darden.