Joe French

Joe French has chosen to make his life’s mission to help children understand that their today does not dictate their tomorrow. He is a life-long advocate for children and strives to help every child discover and reach their full potential. French makes a point to empower our clients to see each day as a new beginning and remind them of their power to write their own story.

Prior to becoming the CEO of C & A, French was a classroom teacher for Plain Local Schools for one year, Associate Director Canton Preschool for 2 years, Director of Little Angels Preschool/Zion Child Development Center for nine years and Executive Director of Early Childhood Education Alliance (an early childhood non-profit that provided educational support to the

Alliance community (nine years). French began working for C&A Jan. 5, 2015, as the chief executive officer. He takes his role seriously and is proud to support C&A’s amazing and dedicated staff. He strives to help them make C&A’s vision of Health, Hope and Happiness a reality while sharing stories of triumph with donors and community members.French is an active member in the Stark County community. He believes that you must give back to the community and do everything you can to make the world a better place, especially for our children. Joe is a graduate of Leadership Stark County and serves on the boards of the Stark County District Library, Ohio Children’s Trust Fund Regional Committee, Adventure Place Advisory Board, Leadership Stark County and Family Council of Stark County. Joe is also a Meyers Lake Village Councilman.

French has received several awards of distinction: Leadership Stark County's 30 Faces of Leadership, the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Ystark Twenty Under Forty Award, and the Dehoff Emerging Philanthropist Award from the United Way of Greater Stark County.

His father’s Bill’s advice, “If you give a 110 percent, you will be successful regardless of the outcome” continues to guide him to this day. French believes it is important to give back to our community in some small way and that we must leave this world a better place than we found it.

French’s personal motto is “we make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”

French has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Kent State University and master’s degree in early childhood from Ashland University. He enjoys traveling and spending time with his family and friends during his free time.

Fun facts about Joe:

Favorite ice cream: Dulce de Leche

Favorite pizza: Pizza Oven

Favorite children’s stories: anything by Dr. Seuss

Hobbies: Travel, attending sporting events (football, basketball, hockey and baseball), shopping, laughing, good food and spending time with my family and friends especially my nephews: Christopher, Marcus and Leo.