Dear Colleagues,
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” We all know what Neil Armstrong said when he set foot on the moon in 1968. But we should also remember the words of the women who have explored the reaches of space. “A bird cannot fly with one wing only,” said Valentina Tereshkova, who entered the history books in 1963 as the first woman to orbit the earth. “Human space flight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women,” she warned. And Tereshkova was right, according to Sally Ride, who spent seven days in space during 1983. “If we want scientists and engineers in the future,” Ride said, “we should be cultivating the girls as much as the boys.” And “we should recognize how important it is to explore for all and by all,” said Kristina Koch who joined in the first female spacewalk during the last week of Women’s History Month in 2019.
“I think the historical nature of what we’re doing is important,” Koch said, “because in the past, women haven’t always been at the table.” And as we mark Women’s History Month this year, we want to recognize two women who have claimed a seat at the table to help all young people learn and have the skills to explore their promise. They’re both immigrant teachers, and it’s especially fitting that we feature them as we also honor International Women’s Day this March.
It’s a time for inspiring women to step into leadership roles, like Marjorie Silvestrini has in Massachusetts. After studying early childhood education in Brazil, she went on to open her own family child care home in this country, became a PD Specialist for Portuguese-speaking teachers and formed a support group that convinced the state to offer free trainings for Brazilians in their native language. “This was a huge step for our community,” Marjorie says. And she’s helping it make added strides by serving on the Mass Bay Community College Education Program Advisory Board, where she pushes for needed changes in family child care policies and regulations.
Marjorie is convinced we need to increase the pool of bilingual early childhood teachers, and so is Carime Ruvalcaba, a native of Mexico who runs the only bilingual early childhood program in Grand Island, Nebraska. “I want to show other bilingual providers that they can succeed, too,” Carime says. So, she works to boost the ranks of bilingual teachers by serving as a member of the Nebraska Early Childhood Workforce Leadership Cadre and by joining the campaign Por Todos los Niños, a collaboration between state and community groups to give all Nebraska families the access they need to high-quality child care. Carime also leads a support group to help Hispanic providers earn their CDA® because she knows that “having a CDA is a guarantee to parents that a teacher can provide good services for their children.”
Teachers who have a CDA also know how to make learning fun, and we hope you’ll have some fun reading our blog Messages from the Movies. See how films about literate spiders, lonely, little pigs and not-so-lovely nannies can entertain children while giving them lessons about life, love and loss. Children can learn the power of language from Charlotte’s Web and the importance of family from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They’ll realize there are no limits to what they can do from Babe. And they’ll see how good behavior makes the world more beautiful for all when they watch Nanny McPhee.
Nanny McPhee uses magic to get her message across, but good teachers know more down-to-earth ways to impart prosocial behavior to children. That’s just one of the ways teachers can make a mark since you don’t know where teaching can take you, as Dr. Moore tells us this month. It could lead you to become CEO of a nonprofit, as he did, or it could help you become an astronaut, like Christa McAuliffe, who took a giant leap for womankind as NASA’s “first Teacher in Space.” And while preparing to reach the stars, she expressed the value of her profession. “I touch the future,” as McAuliffe told the world. “I teach.”
With our kindest regards,
The Council for Professional Recognition
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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 Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
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.
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