Executive Director
Catherine Taylor is Executive Director of the California Association for the Education of Young Children. She advocates for CAEYC members statewide, provides support to the CAEYC Board of Directors, and manages the CAEYC business operations and staff in Folsom, CA. Prior to this role, Ms. Taylor held leadership positions in California State Government including as Division Chief at California State Parks overseeing programs and projects in Archaeology, History and Museums; as District Superintendent for California State Parks for the Capital District, operating seven museums & state historic parks in the Sacramento region; and as Museum Director of the California State Railroad Museum. Ms. Taylor organized major events including multiple educational symposiums; two Railfairs in Sacramento attracting over 180,000 attendees; the 150th anniversary of the Union Pacific Railroad in 2012, and the Cultural Summit at the Getty Center which attracted cultural heritage leaders from around the State to discuss collaborative efforts. She has served as an Executive Director to nonprofit organizations, and served as Director of Political Action and Member Services for the California Association of Health Facilities, where she also was a registered lobbyist advocating at the State Legislature and State department and agency levels for nearly a decade. She has been honored by the Sacramento City Council for distinguished community service, by the California Preservation Foundation with their 2012 President’s Award for contributions to historic preservation, by the Association of Tourist Railways and Railway Museums for lifetime achievement, by the State Parks Director for distinguished service, by the California State Governor’s Mansion Foundation for outstanding leadership, by the Governor of California for historic preservation efforts, and in the Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Magazine for her contributions as a community leader. Her most recent accomplishment was as fundraising chairman for the Rebuild McKinley Steering Committee, a project for which she raised over $300,000 to help rebuild the Playground at McKinley Park, a community-build effort of approximately 2000 volunteers. She holds a BA in History, and is a graduate of the Museum Management Institute at UC Berkeley sponsored by the Getty Leadership Institute.
