Keynote Speaker

Ms. Cherri L. Verschraegen,
Child and Youth Services (CYS) Program Manager
U.S. Army Installation Management Command-Europe


Cherri L. Verschraegen is Child and Youth Services (CYS) Program Manager for the U.S. Army’s Installation Management Command-Europe (IMCOM-E). IMCOM-E provides the 17 U.S. Army installations in Europe with the capabilities and services to support expeditionary operations in a time of persistent conflict, and to provide a quality of life for soldiers and families commensurate with their service. The Europe region CYS Program serves 23,000 military families with 40,000 children ages birth – 18 years registered. Mrs. Verschraegen began her civil service career as a Child Care Center Director at Ft. Leavenworth in 1981. She has 27 years experience in the CYS arena. Mrs. Verschraegen has served 14 of her 27 years in CYS overseas working in two installations with large CYS programs in Germany, and at two Region headquarters.

As director of the Child Development Center (CDC) in Ft Leavenworth in 1988, Mrs. Verschraegen led the program to the award of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Accreditation, the first such award in the U.S. Army. Since then she has personally led 9 additional CDC and School-Age Care programs to accreditation and served as an accreditation mentor to numerous other programs outside the United States. Mrs. Verschraegen is also a core trainer for the CYS Productivity, Cost Management, and Accountability course, and has developed training for directors in financial management that has been adopted Army wide. She has served as the Region Inspection Chief and Region Program Manager for the Northwest Region and is now the Program Manager for IMCOM-E.

While a native of Missouri, Mrs. Verschraegen grew up in a highly mobile U.S. Air Force family. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Missouri Western State College. She has attended numerous U.S. Army leadership courses, as well as many subject matter and business courses. Mrs. Verschraegen has been awarded the Commander’s Award for Exceptional Civilian Service, the Commanding General (CG) US Army Europe (USAREUR) Award for Support to Human Resource Programs, the Patriotic Civilian Service Award, the CYS Pioneer Award, and the CG USAREUR Award for Quality and Productivity.