Naomi Dillon is the Chief Communications Officer at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). She leads the organization's communications department and oversees its Development function, cultivating strong ties with key stakeholders and telling NAEYC's story (a story that spans a century this year), and the story of early childhood educators, in a coordinated, compelling, and clear way.

Naomi's career has been shaped by a consistent belief: that working in the public interest matters, and that education is foundational to a thriving society. That thread runs from her early days as a journalist—the Seattle Times and Chicago Tribune, then the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago, where a beat covering a K-12 district and community college sparked a lasting passion for education. She went on to the National School Boards Association, first as a magazine editor and later as manager of its research unit, then to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, where she led content strategy, media relations, editorial, and awards.

She's drawn to uncovering what's behind the thing that's behind the thing—the deeper patterns and connections that explain how people and systems really work. And she's driven by the conviction that everyone has a story to tell, though not everyone is asked to tell it. At NAEYC, that belief takes on particular resonance: early childhood educators have long been overlooked, and amplifying their voices feels like both a professional responsibility and a personal calling.

Her work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press, Education Writers Association, Association of American Publishers, and CASE's coveted gold Excel Award for general excellence.

Naomi earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Western Washington University and a master's in management and public relations from the University of Maryland Global Campus. She and her husband, a high school STEM teacher at a Title I school, live in suburban Maryland.