Phyllis knows how much it helps to have someone care when you’re going through a tough time. She, herself, struggled to cope when her 21-year-old daughter and five-year-old granddaughter were killed in a car accident in 2004. While trying to deal with her loss, she went to work at the University of Delaware Early Learning Center, where she was employed as an assistant teacher. “I had been there for a couple of years when I hit a wall in my grief and woke up really angry,” she recalls. “When I told Laura, the center director, how I felt, she said she wanted to help and gave me a squeeze toy to help me release my emotions. And Laura’s response changed my day because it showed she cared.”
The support she received from Laura also inspired Phyllis to take on her current role as a coach for the Early Childhood Innovation Center at Delaware State University, where she helps educators earn their CDA®. She brings nearly 40 years of experience in the early childhood classroom to this position, and along the way she’s gained a keen sense of empathy for the hardships that many educators face. They’ve told her how they struggle with long hours, low pay and the challenge of finding care for their own young children.
Phyllis was fortunate to find a family child care program where she could take her daughter when she began her career at an early learning center in New Orleans. “The center provided me with in-house training, which helped me understand how children develop and grow,” she recalls. “I was able to apply that training at both work and home, where it helped me be a better parent. It was a privilege for me to be my child’s first teacher, and as an early learning professional, I strived to help other parents also learn how to support their children’s growth,” she says, “but that was a challenge in the impoverished New Orleans neighborhood where I initially worked.”
Phyllis witnessed some disturbing instances of abuse and neglect, as she grimly recalls. “I had children who came to school with marks where they had been restrained around their ankles and wrists,” she says. “I saw children climb into trash receptacles to eat the leftovers from lunch because they were still hungry. And witnessing all this was a real eye-opener that made me realize that you can’t assume everyone knows how to treat young children or has the patience to give them proper care. The parents were struggling to survive, and the children simply added to the stress they felt every day.”
Phyllis was dealing with her own stress because she was the victim of domestic violence and spent two weeks sleeping at her daughter’s family child care home before she and her daughter left New Orleans. Afterward, she went to her birthplace of Springfield, MA, where her life turned around for the better. “I met my husband, who was teaching mental health counseling at Springfield College, and we had a baby boy,” Phyllis recalls. “Afterward, I opened a family child care home where I could care for my young son and the children of two friends.”
Then another new chapter in life opened for Phyllis after her husband joined a team that opened a satellite campus of Springfield College in Wilmington, DE. And in 2006, she went to work at the Delaware Early Learning Center, where she earned her CDA. “I enjoyed the chance to work on a credential that identified me as an early learning professional, and it gave me the information to become more intentional in engaging young children. I renewed my CDA two times, even after I earned my BA in human services at Springfield College.”
The degree ignited her interest in advocating for the early learning field, Phyllis explains. And a few years ago, she interviewed some of her colleagues about the roadblocks they faced in life. “One of them was a lead teacher in her late thirties who was still living with her parents since she couldn’t afford a place of her own,” Phyllis says. “Others had to rely on state subsidies to survive.” And these inequities spurred Phyllis to take action.
“I began serving on the board of the Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children, as well as lobbying for the child care workforce in Delaware and Washington, DC,” Phyllis says. “I want to see the workforce receive recognition as valued professionals when it comes to wages, benefits and opportunities for education,” she explains. And Phyllis would also like educators to have pathways for advancement if they don’t want to go into administration. “You should be able to grow as a professional if you want to remain a teacher, as I did throughout my career despite earning a college degree and then a master’s degree five years ago.”
In addition, Phyllis has done some trauma-informed training, and she considers it important to the role she took on three years ago as a coach for the Early Childhood Innovation Center. “I emphasize the health and well-being of educators as I help them earn their CDAs,” she explains. “So, I incorporate wellness techniques, breathing and meditation in my coaching to help the CDA candidates find a sense of strength and balance.”
Part of that is also building bonds with the educators, as Phyllis explains. “I tell them about the decades I’ve spent in the early learning field so they know I’m someone they can relate to.” And as a seasoned veteran of the early childhood classroom, she understands how much the candidates can contribute. “Many of them are very compassionate and passionate about what they do on a daily basis,” she says. “They’re already experts in early learning and they just need to learn to examine and assess themselves so they can be more intentional about what they’re doing.”
As a coach, Phyllis has helped empower many educators to fulfill their promise. But she knows the educators also need help from their colleagues. “Part of being a professional in ECE is supporting others,” as Phyllis explains. That’s especially crucial when people are dealing with challenges and stress, as she did after her daughter’s death. She hasn’t forgotten how her director supported her, and the memory still inspires her to help candidates handle the challenges in their own lives.
“The bottom line is you can’t do your best in the early childhood classroom if you go to work with a lot of burdens,” Phyllis says. So, she encourages early childhood teachers to do anything they can to center themselves, whether it’s taking a walk in the park, going on vacation or praying as she does in the morning. “Young children and families depend on you, so you need to have a sense of strength,” as Phyllis tells the educators she serves. And Phyllis helps them find it by showing how much she cares. “Every day when I go to work, I prepare myself to be there for somebody else.”
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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.
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 Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
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