India uses the power of kindness to help young children progress. This approach served India well when she taught a four-year-old girl named Belle who was nonverbal and on the autism spectrum. “Belle was aggressive and would sometimes kick or bite me,” India recalls. Trying as this was, India responded to Belle’s aggressive behavior with sweetness. “I knew I had to gain Belle’s trust,” India recalls, “by always being gentle with her. So, whenever Belle acted out, I would look her in the eyes, tell her she had hurt my feelings and talk about ways to calm her body and mind. It took months, but I succeeded in getting through to Belle and we formed a close bond. Even after Belle left my class,” India says, “I continued to visit her at home and make sure she was doing okay.”
India’s sense of commitment to children goes back to a time when she wasn’t much older than Belle. “I’ve always loved children,” India says. “When I was eight years old, I took care of my little nephew,” she recalls, “and I loved watching him develop and grow.” Young as India was at the time, she took teaching to heart, and her commitment to serve children stayed with her as she, too, developed and grew. “When I graduated from high school, I found a job at a child care program, and I knew I wanted to work with children for the rest of my life.”
India has now served children in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, for over eight years, and her skills have progressed during her climb from a floater at Smart Start Learning Center to a lead teacher at Learning Grove Academy, her current job. “At the beginning I wasn’t sure how to assist children with challenging behaviors, like Belle, and I felt insecure when it was time to stand up in front of a whole class to teach.” Experience helped India get over these hurdles and become confident that she was a good teacher. So did earning a CDA® credential this year through the CDA program at Metropolitan Community College.
Earning a CDA wasn’t easy because India is a mom with a full-time job. “Still, it was doable since the program was online,” India says. “I could complete my coursework at home or at the center when the children were napping,” India says. And when challenges came up, India didn’t feel like she was on her own. “I had a mentor, Diana Molina, the college’s early childhood pathway coordinator. She would check up on me to make sure I was on task and meet with me if I needed any help. Diana was my biggest source of support, and I’m thankful for her commitment to helping me complete my CDA.”
Earning the credential improved India’s classroom skills and teaching style, as she explains. “During circle time, for example, I used to just play music and have the Alexa app perform songs while the children sang along. Now I sing, too,” India says. “I’m also asking the children more questions when I read stories, so my read-alouds are more interactive since I began working toward my CDA.”
India’s interactions with colleagues are more productive, too, as she points out. “When I talk to my coworkers, I’m more professional and know different ways of settling differences with fellow teachers. For example, when I saw a new teacher who wasn’t doing what I felt was best for children, I used to avoid talking to them or be abrupt. Now, I take a more professional approach by speaking to the colleague kindly and offering my advice,” India says. “I’m a much more supportive colleague.”
India also brings more skills to her role as a mom because earning a CDA taught her a lot about how children develop and grow. “When I go home, the activities I do with my four-year-old daughter are much like the ones I now do with the children at school,” India says. “My daughter and I do arts and crafts. We practice speaking Spanish, her father’s native language, and we read together,” India says. “I especially love reading the Bible to my daughter and teaching her about God, the source of my inner strength.” And India has needed all the inner strength she has to face some of the challenges that have come up in her career.
For example, a little boy with epilepsy named James once had a seizure in her class after playing outside on a warm day. “Thankfully I was right there when it happened,” India recalls. “He was about to fall, so I grabbed him and then told a colleague to run and get assistance. While we were waiting for help to arrive, I continued to hold onto James and pray for him as he kept on seizing,” India recalls. “It was a scary experience that I hope will never happen again.”
James’s parents were grateful and formed a close relationship with India after she came to their son’s aid. “The parents and I are still in touch, and we’ve connected through our shared Christian beliefs,” India says. She also connects with the most challenging children by never losing her faith in the power of kindness, even when she served a toddler who would grab other children by the head and bite or choke them. “Working with that little boy was a bit scary, too,” India admits. But she refused to give up on the boy. “Of course, I had to make it clear to him that he had to stop being so aggressive,” she admits, “but I also mixed my firm approach with kind words until he finally stopped hurting other kids.”
Successes like these are among the rewards of India’s job. So are the bonds she forms with children and families. “There are a lot of children who I’ve cared for from the time they were babies until the age of four or five,” she says. “These children go home and sometimes tell their parents what Miss Indy has taught them about how you should treat other people. That makes me feel so special and shows the truth of my favorite Bible verse, Proverbs 16:24: Kind words are like honey—sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” These words, along with the skills she gained from the CDA, continue to guide India in her career and shape her approach to teaching. “When you give kids encouragement in the morning and talk to them kindly all day,” she says, “it sweetens the time we spend together at school.”
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Vice President of Product
Mackenzie Pelland serves as Vice President of Product at the Council. In this role, she oversees the Council’s product strategy and portfolio, including credentialing programs, educational publications, professional development resources, and branded merchandise, ensuring offerings are sustainable and responsive to the evolving needs of early childhood educators and the broader early care and education field. Her work focuses on building scalable, user-centered products that strengthen quality and integrity across the Council’s credentialing, educational, and professional learning offerings.
Prior to this role, Mackenzie served as Director of ECE Observation Systems at the Council, where she oversaw the observation portion of the CDA® credentialing assessment process and led the ECE Observation Team. She also worked to support, refine, and strengthen the Professional Development Specialist community to better meet the needs of a diverse CDA® candidate population.
Before joining the Council, Mackenzie was Senior Director of Monitoring and Compliance Systems at Acelero Learning, where she led the development and execution of monitoring systems related to federal grant compliance, child care licensing, health and safety, incident management, and facilities compliance across Head Start programs nationwide. She also previously served as Program Accountability and Policy Implementation Manager at New York City’s Department of Education within the Division of Early Childhood Education.
Mackenzie is recognized as a credentialing specialist by the Institute for Credentialing Excellence. She holds a master’s degree in education policy from Teachers College, Columbia University, a Certificate in Education and Program Evaluation from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree in politics and education from Occidental College.
Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Wilmington, NC with her husband and two dogs.
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