Dear Colleagues,
Millions of working parents are seeking quality early learning for their children. And the Council has been doing its share to answer the demand. We recently awarded our millionth CDA® to Jada Vargas of Arizona. This special credential holder is a member of the Apache Tribe and graduated from high school last May with her CDA. Now she urges other high school students to also earn their CDA. It takes some work, “but it’s so worth it,” she tells us in this month’s edition. “Earning my CDA taught me new ways to work effectively in the classroom, so I continued pushing myself each day—and last month I finally received my CDA certificate in the mail.” This cause for celebration also showed Jada that persistence pays off. “If you keep going forward, you will see the benefit of your CDA journey toward a career in ECE.”
Kimberly Krzanowski also works to get this message across at Delaware State University, where she heads the Early Childhood Innovation Center. ECIC provides the state’s early childhood teachers with technology, coaching, financial aid and access to coursework as they work toward the CDA, associate degree and bachelor’s degree. The teachers receive holistic support and in return, they must produce results. “We have a grant from the state that supports our work,” Kimberly tells us this month, “and we’re using a lot of it to help people earn their CDAs.” As a condition of the grant, ECIC has to ensure that people complete the program, Kimberly says. “So, one of our taglines is ‘Insisting on success.’”
We’re failing working parents if we don’t provide them with competent teachers, as the state of Delaware knows, so it’s making the CDA a requirement for entry level positions in the early childhood field. And it’s not the only state that’s taking steps to ensure more people earn a CDA. Recently, North Carolina passed a law including the CDA in its Quality Rating and Improvement System, or QRIS. Starting next month, the CDA will count toward filling the requirements for a star-rated license, a change that could benefit working parents. Policy makers and proponents of the law hope that it will ease recruitment for child care workers in the state amid the staffing shortages that affect our field across the country.
This national dilemma has also inspired a new bill on Capitol Hill, where Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) have introduced legislation to boost the supply of qualified teachers in Early Head Start classrooms. The bipartisan HEADWAY Act (Head Start Education and Development Workforce Advancement and Yield Act) would help address child care workforce shortages by allowing Early Head Start classroom staff to teach and earn their CDAs at the same time.
Educators who hold a CDA are in high demand, as you’ll see from the data in our 2022 CDA Credential Holders Survey. That’s because they play a key role in our country, Sens. Warnock and Braun agree. “I’ve seen how hard it is for hardworking Georgia families to get affordable, quality child care,” Warnock says. “The lack of child care professionals in their communities puts a strain on parents and hurts our economy.” So, the bill fills a pressing need, as Braun adds. “One of the top concerns I hear from families is the challenge of finding affordable, high-quality child care. And the bill will help them by “creating flexibility and opportunity for child care professionals, without increasing government spending.”
Employers can also play a role in providing people with the child care that they need, Dr. Moore tells us as he marks National Working Parents Day in his new blog. Sadly, many parents don’t have as much to celebrate as they should because the child care shortage has forced them to leave their jobs. When they do, the turnover and loss of talent also hurts the bottom line for business. So, more companies are looking to recruit and retain staff by offering child care solutions, especially as pandemic-era funding for child care comes to an end. Companies have come to see that their business—and the economy as a whole—runs on child care, Dr. Moore explains. America depends on skilled teachers like those who earn a CDA.
Looking forward to a million more,
The Council for Professional Recognition
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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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