Our President

For more than 20 years, Child Nutrition Program, Inc. (CNP) President Vicki Lipscomb has worked to improve the lives of women and children in North Carolina. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Vicki worked to secure financial support for children in the Mecklenburg County Child Support Enforcement Office. "People are sometimes surprised that I am not a nutritionist myself," says Vicki. "But it's my knowledge of how government programs are established and operated, and my ability to maintain sound business and financial practices that really helps me at CNP."

Through their involvement with women's and children's issues, Vicki and her mother, Doris Cromartie, became aware that federal reimbursement was available for food expenses in family child care homes. However, homes in many parts of North Carolina could not receive funds because there were no sponsoring organizations to process the paperwork. In 1982, the women applied for and received a contract with the state to become a food program sponsor. They began contacting family child care homes in Mecklenburg County to make the operators aware of the program's benefits. The Fayetteville office was opened in 1983.

In addition to running CNP, Vicki volunteers her time to improve the quality of life for children in child care. She served on the North Carolina Child Care Commission, the state child care regulatory body, from 1994 to 2002.

She is currently president of the CACFP Sponsor's Association (TSA), a nationwide organization that serves as a national voice for CACFP and provides education and support to organizations that administer CACFP. Vicki is also president of the North Carolina Sponsor's Association. She founded this organization in 2001 to promote higher standards and more effective communication, both among North Carolina sponsors and with supervising government agencies.

She served on an advisory board for 3 publications: Feeding Children's Bodies, Food Skills for Day Care Providers; Everyday Learning, Hands-On Nutrition Activities for Preschoolers; and USDA's Building Blocks for Fun and Healthy Meals, a Menu Planner for the CACFP.

Vicki's own 2 children, now teens, attended child care, and she is familiar with the often conflicting demands of raising children and running a business.

Vicki's business philosophy: "We don't try to be the biggest, but we do try to be the best. We want to be here to serve the people that are serving children, and we try to reflect that philosophy in everything we do."