Meet Our Training Directors

When her own children were young, Mary had a LifeWays home program with such a long waiting list that she decided a LifeWays center was necessary.  In 2002, she opened LifeWays Early Childhood Center in Milwaukee where she still works alongside a wonderful staff of caregivers.

Mary has a business degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a student in the very first LifeWays training. She is a consultant for LifeWays North America, serves on the board, directs the Wisconsin LifeWays Training, and in 2010 co-authored Home Away From Home: LifeWays Care of Children and Families with Cynthia Aldinger.

Mary’s favorite thing about LifeWays is seeing both children and their caregivers thrive in a home-like environment that truly values and respects them.

Rosario Villasana-Ruiz, M.A., is Faculty at City College of San Francisco at the Mission Campus Child Development Center, Adjunct Professor at San Francisco State University and Early Childhood Consultant. She is Community Programs Coordinator for Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA and directs the LifeWays en Español caregiver training program focusing on development of curriculum materials in Spanish and community programs and outreach.  Rosario is a member of the Board of Directors of LifeWays NorthAmerica and President of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Childhood.  She has conducted training and staff development in Rudolf Steiner based education in China and Mexico as well as throughout the United States.  Rosario is the happy mother of two Waldorf graduates; a son, Eduardo and daughter, Lucia.

A frequent and sought after presenter at the most respected professional conferences, notably NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children), the World Forum and the AERA (American Educational Research Association) as well as universities and colleges in the US, she has travelled internationally presenting in China, Greece, Mexico and Russia. Her primary focus is the Birth to 7 year old child and focus areas include; the Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers, Rudolf Steiner Pedagogy, The Impact of Media on the Young Child, Environments for Children, Dance and Movement Education, Sensory Integration and Brain Development, and Resource Development for Spanish Trainers.

“I am particularly interested in children in the Birth to 7 age range as this is a critical stage setting the basis for healthy development, relationships and quality of life. During this period critical human foundations are formed and nourished. When warmth, curiosity and creativity are encouraged a child grows joyfully and fully.” 

Margo Running moved to North Vancouver, BC, Canada from Arizona in 2004. She has a degree in Early Childhood Education and Waldorf training in kindergarten teaching and daycare practices. She has worked with children in summer camps, created a new kindergarten and play yard, and run a home childcare business in Arizona. She came to Vancouver to set up and coordinate the first Infant-Toddler Program in a Waldorf school that goes to grade 12. She is now director of LifeWays Childcare Society, a Representative Center of LifeWays North America and a member of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America. Margo is completing the ECE degree program at Capilano University. Her interests also include communication and relationship models as well as sociology and the culture of childhood.

Susan was the founding teacher of Ashwood Waldorf School in Rockport, and is now lead teacher and director of Spindlewood Waldorf Kindergarten and LifeWays Center in Lincolnville, Maine near the three-generation family homestead where her husband and stepson practice architecture.

Susan holds a bachelors degree in liberal arts and has worked as a social worker. She is also founder and former volunteer executive director of Mid-Coast Hospitality House which provides emergency shelter and transitional housing for individuals and families in the Rockland area.

Susan is a gardener and beekeeper and enjoys sailing and rowing in all seasons with the Traditional Small Craft Association. She is the director of Northeast LifeWays training.

Originally from North Carolina, Laura spent her school years and college years in the Midwestern states of Illinois and Indiana.  She graduated from Earlham College with a B.A. in Spanish and had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Nicaragua, Mexico and South America.  She and her husband relocated to Austin, TX where she met anthroposophy, pursued training, and served as a Spanish teacher and class teacher at the Austin Waldorf School for seven years.  She then left to grow her family and is now the mother of four children.  For the past six years she has been developing early life programs for expectant parents and support for families with young children.  She provides parent-child classes, parenting workshops, and mentoring for local early childhood caregivers. 

“It has been at true honor to initiate the Austin LifeWays program with Cynthia Aldinger and colleagues and I am delighted to be serving children and their caregivers in this extraordinary way.” – Laura Olson