Khari Garvin, Director

Khari Garvin is the director of the Office of Head Start (OHS) at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He has more than 20 years of national, state, and local experience designing and leading systems serving children and families in low-income communities. Before joining the Biden-Harris administration, Garvin served as the president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Greensboro in North Carolina, leading the mission to end generational poverty in the Greensboro metro area.
 
Garvin has modeled service at every level of Head Start programming. He served as the executive director for a large, multi-state Head Start grant recipient serving children in rural communities across five states in the Southern, Southeastern, Midwestern, and Great Plains regions of the U.S. As the director of North Carolina’s Head Start Collaboration Office, he convened 55 affiliate grant recipient organizations — including public school systems, community action agencies, county governments, and private nonprofits — that served over 28,000 children and families in all 100 counties. 
 
Garvin is a proud alumnus of the National Head Start Fellowships program, where he worked at OHS. He previously served as a Head Start program manager in Illinois and as assistant Head Start/Early Head Start director at a program in North Carolina. Garvin holds a degree in psychology from Emory University and a master’s degree in education from Southern Illinois University.

Read Garvin’s welcome message to the Head Start community.

Tala Hooban, Deputy Director

Tala Hooban is the OHS deputy director. As a public health professional, she brings expertise in how children, families, and systems can thrive — which is an asset to the comprehensive services that Head Start programs implement in partnership with communities across the country. Hooban’s academic studies were focused on maternal and child health.

Throughout her career, Hooban has worked to make sure government agencies are supported to deliver strong outcomes for children and families. Hooban was a trusted leader at ACF, where she helped coordinate care for the increased numbers of migrant children at the border and played a vital role spurring action throughout the government to meet children’s needs for safe and supportive environments. Her track record at ACF and HHS includes authoring a groundbreaking approach to emergency planning centered on young children and families, which has been adopted by states.

Hooban is a commissioned officer of the U.S Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, with the rank of Commander (abbreviated as “CDR”). The Public Health Service is one of our country’s uniformed services and has the mission of advancing public health in the U.S. through service in federal agencies across the government.

Last Updated: May 4, 2023