Sarah believes in asking questions to make sure that the CDA® credentialing process is valid and fair. As the Council’s project manager for quality assurance and research, she helps her team stay on track with a wide range of projects to improve the CDA. She’s involved in getting new CDA exam questions written by subject matter experts, reviewed and then piloted. She helps develop the rating scales that Professional Development Specialists use when they observe prospective CDAs and played a role in the CDA reimagining project, along with the upcoming Birth to Five CDA® credential. In addition, she conducted the 2022 survey of CDA stakeholders to measure their attitudes toward the credential and its impact on educators’ careers.
Sarah’s work helps the Council get feedback to refine the services and products it provides. “You need to look for different viewpoints, then step back to get the big picture, like an artist does,” Sarah says. And the analogy reflects her passion for photography and painting, fields that Sarah has studied and still pursues in her spare time. “Part of being an artist,” she says, “is learning how other people respond to your work and iterating on your ideas. When you create a new piece, it’s like having a conversation, so you’re going back and forth, rather than moving in a straight line,” Sarah explains, “and I bring this artistic credo to the work I do in credentialing at the Council.”
And Sarah learned to approach her life this way in Pittsburgh while earning her bachelor’s degree in fine arts and painting. “I loved creating art, but I didn’t want to be a starving artist,” she says. “So, I went on to earn a master’s degree in arts management, with the intent to work in a museum or open my own arts-based nonprofit someday.”
While pursuing her graduate work, Sarah also gained a lot of practical skills. “I learned about financing and budgeting for nonprofits. I studied statistics and economics, project management and strategic planning,” she says. And she even put all her knowledge to real-life use while earning her degree.
“I had a fellowship to run a gallery space in Pittsburgh with a staff of five,” Sarah recalls. “I oversaw an advisory board and organized both short and long-term programs throughout the year. The experience also taught me how to manage people and budgets to keep an organization running smoothly. So, I wore a lot of hats and gained a lot of skills that I could transfer to fields beyond the arts.”
It’s a good thing that Sarah was so versatile since jobs in the arts are scarce. “After earning my master’s degree,” she says, “I ended up working at the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, an organization with a mission to end racism and empower women, a goal that the Council embraces, too. And during my four years at the Y, I served as an operations and budget analyst in the executive office, a role that brought me into contact with nearly every department. It also exposed me to the early childhood profession since a lot of our work involved providing services to families, including affordable housing and subsides for quality child care.”
This wide range of experiences working with underserved communities made Sarah a natural fit for the Council’s mission to advance equity in early learning. And she took on her current role three years ago, after a couple of years as an operations manager for the Lawrenceville Corporation, a community nonprofit that provides free studio space to artists and other creative people. “The organization shut down during COVID,” Sarah says, “but the time I spent there showed me how to be more organized and maintain a lot of different projects at the same time, which benefitted my work when I came to the Council.”
Still, this was Sarah’s first step into the credentialing field, so she had a steep learning curve. “I had to grow quickly into the job as I worked with subject matter experts, updated exams and learned best practices in accreditation. There were a lot of processes that I didn’t know about, but I wanted to learn more about them because they ensure the high quality of the CDA.”
So, in 2023, Sarah completed the Certificate Program for the Credentialing Specialist at the Institute for Credentialing Excellence, and last year, she received an invitation to join the institute’s Leadership Development Program. “It’s an annual program for 15 to 20 credentialing professionals in the U.S. and Canada,” Sarah explains. “We met online every month to hear from speakers in the credentialing field and discuss books about issues like emotional intelligence and team building in the credentialing field. The program also allowed me to make professional connections with people who had roles like mine and engage in discussions that helped me grow. After the program, I was also able to bring a more critical eye to the work I performed at the Council, reflect on what I had produced, and revise it to serve educators even better.”
Sarah is eager to excel in her role because she thinks the Council’s mission is important and in tune with the career goals she has always embraced. “I made a decision a long time ago that I wanted to work in nonprofits with a cause,” Sarah explains. “Once, I thought this work would be in the arts, but I’ve turned my sense of passion to serving the early learning profession. With all the shortages and challenges that our profession now faces, I’m convinced that what I do matters.”
Sarah also has a personal connection that increases her sense of passion for serving the members of our profession. “My husband is a music teacher who has certifications in special education and early childhood education,” she says. “He’s taught every age group from first grade to high school at some point. And seeing the direct impact of the work my husband does makes me even more determined to ensure that the CDA credentialing process is equitable and fair.”
That’s especially important “because the CDA fills a need for educators who are unable to afford a college education,” as Sarah adds. “Without an alternative pathway like the CDA, it’s hard for many educators to advance their careers.” The educators face roadblocks in reaching their potential, and Sarah can empathize with their plight. She, too, has faced challenges since she was born with an eye impairment, so she had to work with specialists to succeed at school. And Sarah still has issues with her sight, but she brings a keen eye to her work. Sarah shares the Council’s sense of vision as she works to make the CDA credentialing process even more valid and fair. She knows that providing children with the competent educators they need is a cause that really counts.
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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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