The Bright Ideas Family, "Childcare Management Team"

The Bright Ideas Family is a growing, privately held company headquartered in Orange Beach, Alabama that currently owns and operates numerous child care centers across six *states, serving hundreds of families with trusted, premier child care services. The Bright Ideas Family is committed to providing a safe, loving, and nurturing environment for children to grow, develop, and shine. Each state-licensed child care center is equipped with professionals dedicated to offering comprehensive early care and educational experiences that encourage children to grow socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively based on individual needs. For more information about the Bright Ideas Family, please visit www.brightideasfamily.com.

*States include – Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia

Erin Sullivan is the Vice President of Operations for Bright Ideas Family. Sullivan has a B.S. Degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Bowling Green State University.

Sullivan brings over fifteen years of education and leadership experience to the Bright Ideas Family. She has worked extensively in the field of early childhood education, being a childhood instructor, center director, quality director, and most recently a center manager for over fifteen child care centers in the midwestern United States. Sullivan is passionate about elevating the quality of early childhood education particularly in lower to middle income communities. She is a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in a Ugandan orphanage community to develop and improve its educational programs and to promote financial independence among the residents.

When Erin is not working she enjoys traveling, completing puzzles and spending time with her niece and nephew.


Courtney Budrow is the Regional Childcare Director for Bright Ideas Family. Budrow has a degree from SUNY Cobleskill State University in early childhood education and a minor in business.

From 2012 to 2020, Budrow owned and operated a childcare center in Bluffton, South Carolina before selling her business to Clear Capital and joining them as a new Regional Director. Prior to 2012, Budrow was an area director for a national retail company managing multiple amounts of employees and was responsible for the overall operations.

When Courtney’s not working, she can be found cheering with her husband, in the stands, as their 2 young boys play baseball and win world championships.


Heather Weliver is the District Childcare Director for Bright Ideas Family. Weliver holds an Associate Degree in Child Development and a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing International Business with a minor in Communications from Eastern Michigan University.

Weliver worked over twenty years in retail management prior to discovering her passion for childcare in 2007 at Bright Ideas Enrichment Center in Bryant, Arkansas.  Her driven attitude and innate ability to help children thrive allowed her to naturally progress through the position ranks very quickly  as a classroom “floater,” school bus driver, health & safety coordinator, lead teacher, and assistant director.  Weliver was promoted to a Center Director for Bright Ideas in 2012 and has recently become part of the corporate resource team providing guidance to fellow child care center directors.

When not working, Heather Weliver can be found reading, pursuing her passion for photography, or volunteering as troop leader with the Girl Scouts and as a head timer for local swim teams.  She loves spending time with her husband, five children, and fourteen grandchildren.


Jerry Stewart, CEcD, brings over 30 years of economic development and workforce development to the team of Early Education Business Consultants. He has been actively involved in the city’s and regional early education programs and initiatives. Jerry was involved in the initial planning and development for the Early Education Small Business Training Program with the Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center. He has successfully communicated the importance of early education to economic development and workforce development programs and has tremendous experience with program management, budgets and organizational leadership.


Bill Holloran brings forty-one years of experience in business, strategy development and economic development to the leadership team of Early Education Business Consultants. He served as a Senior Vice-President for Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, and General Manager at Day & Zimmermann from 2006 to 2018; a $1.3 billion industrial maintenance conglomerate providing maintenance modification, specialty contracting, and staff augmentation to the power industry and government customers.  (Day & Zimmermann is the firm that acquired The Atlantic Group). He also worked for eleven years with the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and Thomas Nelson Community College serving as Executive Director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC)). Developed and implemented management assistance, international and financial programs throughout Hampton Roads region to over 2,200 small businesses resulting in an average addition of approximately 300 jobs and additional capital investment of more than $17 million per year.  His role in EEBC is to ensure seamless and successful transition of the acquisitions of early care and education businesses to the Clear Capital ECE portfolio.