Jill M. Bella

Dr. Jill M. Bella, Ed.D., founder and president of Bella Mattina, provides consultation and training to local and state initiatives focused on leadership topics in early care and education. She holds a doctorate degree in Adult and Continuing Education from National Louis University (NLU), along with graduate and baccalaureate degrees in Special Education-Early Intervention and Child Development from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Previously, Dr. Bella was Director of Professional Learning and Assistant Professor at the McCormick Institute of Early Childhood at NLU for twenty-two years. In this role, she consulted on leadership initiatives, developed several assessment and evaluation tools, designed, delivered, and oversaw nationally recognized leadership academies and trainings, developed module content, and conducted research. Dr. Bella also worked as an early interventionist, training specialist, coach, and early educator. She is co-author of the Program Administration Scale, 3rd Ed.; Building on Whole Leadership; Circle of Influence, 3rd Ed.; A Great Place to Work, 3rd Ed.; Inspiring Peak Performance, 3rd Ed.; Making the Most of Meetings, 3rd Ed.; Zoom: The Impact of Early Childhood Leadership Training on Role Perception, Job Performance, and Career Decisions; the Administrator Role Perceptions Survey; the trainer's guides in the Director's Toolbox Leadership series; and multiple articles.