Deborah Childs-Bowen was a decades-long Learning Forward friend and leader. When she died last December, our organization and our field lost a professional learning champion and friend. Childs-Bowen was elected to the NSDC (now Learning Forward) board of trustees in 2001, serving as president in 2005. In 2010, she received the NSDC Distinguished Service Award. Over the years, she co-chaired a network to engage regional laboratory members, helped launch the School Team Summer Conference, and served as senior consultant for Learning Forward. Childs-Bowen began her career as a classroom teacher and then principal. She also worked as director of professional development for Atlanta Public Schools, associate professor and director of the Institute for Teaching and Student Achievement at Samford University, and leader at SERVE, a