Liliana loves The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, as she explains. “It’s about a little boy and a tree who is happy when the boy is around. The tree starts offering the boy apples, so he will keep coming to visit. But as he grows older, he doesn’t come as often, so the tree offers the boy her branches to build a house and then her trunk to build a boat. As the years go by, the tree gives the boy everything she has until she is nothing but a stump. When the boy comes by as a tired, old man, the tree tells him that I have nothing to give you but a place to sit, and the boy says that is just fine.”
At every stage of giving, the tree is happy, and Liliana felt like crying last March when she read about the tree to the children who she serves at La Casa De Lily Learning Center, her family child care home in Albuquerque, NM. The children also got the selfless message of the book, as Liliana recalls. “One four-year-old girl was paying especially close attention, and as I looked at her eyes, I could see that she wanted to cry, too, because of what was happening to the tree. Ever since I’ve watched that little girl’s reaction, The Giving Tree has been my favorite book.”
And Liliana acts on the book’s message as a provider and a lead home-based provider mentor for Early Childhood Networks. “I hold monthly meetings where I go over topics like lesson plans and curricula with providers who are earning degrees, certificates or credentials like the CDA® ,” Liliana says. “And I also open my program to them because it is one thing to read theories about how children develop but it is another thing to put those theories into practice,” the way Liliana does at her program. She works from six in the morning to six at night to make the children and families she serves feel like family. Yet she still finds time to support other providers because she has always been committed to education.
“I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl in Mexico,” Liliana says. And she kept this childhood dream in mind when she moved to New Mexico over 20 years ago. For 10 years, she managed an ice cream store and then found a job at a child care center. “Some of the things they did at the center didn’t align with the way I wanted to serve children,” she says, “so after two years, I bought a house, got my license and opened my own program.”
Liliana wanted her program to be “perfect,” and that led her to earn a CDA. “I learned about the credential from a friend who I worked with at the center,” Liliana says. “We did the program together and both finished last year.” By this time, Liliana had two daughters and seven years of experience running her program, but the CDA still opened her eyes to new ways of understanding young children.
“I wish I had earned my CDA sooner,” Liliana says, “especially because of what it taught me about the link between communication and behavior. I used to think some of the children I served had bad attitudes or were stubborn until I understood what the children were trying to tell me through their behavior. Since earning my CDA, I can manage better, and I can do more to move the children ahead.”
So, the CDA gave Liliana the practical knowledge she needed, and that’s what she liked about the program. “The classes directly addressed how to work with children, and the instructors made it convenient for me because they allowed me to gain my experience hours in my own program. I couldn’t have done it otherwise because my schedule is so tight. I’m happy they worked with me,” she says. And that allowed Liliana to earn a credential of which she is proud.
Completing a CDA also inspired Liliana to earn her associate degree and she’s now taking classes toward her bachelor’s degree. “I’m advancing my education, so I can offer even more to the children and families who I serve. I also want to inspire my two daughters by having a wall that’s covered with credentials and degrees. They’re both teenagers now, and I want to prepare them for the future by showing them what women can achieve. And there’s no better way than through example.”
Liliana also makes sure to spend time with her daughters, and it helps to have her child care program in her home. “I can know what my daughters are doing. I can have food ready for them, and I can take care of them while I’m taking care of the children.” Another plus is that her daughters help out, making this a real family business. “My older daughter, Andrea, is 19, so she’s old enough to take the car to pick up the children who I serve after school,” Liliana says. “And my14 year old, Isabella, really loves being around children, so she plays music, watches videos and reads to the children.”
Every bit of help matters because Liliana wants to do everything that she possibly can to serve the children and families. “I’m not just doing this for the money,” she says. “The children and parents become like family members for me. Most of the children stay in my program for years and we see each other from time to time even after they’ve gone off to school.”
Liliana doesn’t want to lose the chance to build those close connections, and that’s something she keeps in mind when she considers expanding her program. “Sometimes, I think about moving to a bigger space and serving more children. But being close to the children and families is the heart of my business.”
Liliana has also built a sense of community among the families who she serves. “They share their phone numbers and other contact information with one another so they can keep in touch,” she says. “And I encourage this because I feel I have a responsibility as a provider to bring the parents together, as well as the children. So, I’m proud of the connections the families have built with each other. I also cherish the bonds I have built with them, and I’m concerned that I might lose this strong sense of community if I make my program bigger.”
As Liliana debates whether to grow her program, she’s content to grow professionally, she says. “I’ve started mentoring home care providers remotely for Partnership for Community Action, another nonprofit, in addition to the work I already do for Early Childhood Networks. I’m also going to keep going to school so I can keep growing as a professional in early learning,” Liliana says. And all that, along with 12-hour work days, means Liliana has a lot on her plate. “Someday, I may not have the energy to deal with everything I’m doing,” as she admits. But until then, “it fills my heart to see the children grow and watch the people I mentor advance in their careers,” Liliana says. Like the tree in Shel Silverstein’s book, Liliana gets happiness out of giving.
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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.
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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