Nola Larson was an early childhood teacher in a variety of programs and an early childhood instructor in a technical college, for the first 21 years of her career. She has a bachelor's degree in child development/kindergarten education and a master's in education professional development (MEPD) from the University of Wisconsin. She was with a Training and Technical Assistance Network that provided consultation to Head Start programs specifically in the areas of assessment, child development and curriculum.  Most recently she coordinated the development and publication of  the New Portage Guide, a developmental assessment and activity planning system for children birth to six years.  She focuses now on providing presentations on a variety of early childhood topics including Transition Magician workshops that are based on the three books she has co-authored."It gives me great joy to see how excited people get about our ideas and to actually observe positive changes in the classrooms. We have made a difference."

Mary Henthorne began her early childhood career in 1976, after receiving a bachelor's degree in preschool through eighth grade from the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. She provided care for young children in day care centers for ten years and has spent the last 17 as an instructor in the Early Childhood Education associate degree program at Western Wisconsin Technical College in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Throughout these years Ms. Henthorne has presented workshops and non-credit classes on many topics at local, state, and national levels. Co-authoring the three transition books has definitely been a major career goal. Ms. Henthorne says, "Sharing ideas that help children and teachers magically move from one routine or activity to the next is both professionally and personally satisfying."

Ruth Chvojicek Ruth’s professional background began with a bachelor’s degree Preschool and Kindergarten Education and has taught young children in a variety of settings including Head Start, group and family child-care, and private preschool. She continued her education with a master’s degree in Education and has developed and implemented numerous trainings in the areas of early childhood education, building relationships with families, strategic planning, child and family outcomes, leadership, and learning styles. She is a certified 4MAT trainer and enjoys teaching adults how to develop training plans. She is co-author of Portage Project’s Family Service Credential – an extensive curriculum for family service staff. Ruth co-authored More Transition Magician, and Transition Magician for Families. Ruth currently works for the Region Va Great Lakes Head Start Quality Network (QNET) in Portage, WI where she provides training and technical assistance to Head Start agencies.