At the Council, we are proud of sharing CDA® success stories with you to show the importance of the work we do daily. Anthony McKinsey, Marisa Ray, and Devon Peone, from the Salish School of Spokane, Washington, recently earned their CDA® Credentials in Salish, an endangered language spoken in the Pacific Northwest, including in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the American states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Anthony, Marisa and Devon are now all proud CDA® holders, who through their hard work sought to preserve their cultural identity by not only earning their CDA®s in Salish, but also through their work with young children. Their daily language usage with the children will help Salish to be passed down to younger generations for years to come, and their entire community will greatly benefit from the preservation of this endangered language through the daily work of these three early educators. Leading this effort for the preservation of the Salish language and strong supporters of the CDA Candidates are LaRay Wiley, Executive Director and Chris Parkin, Principal, both founders of the Salish School of Spokane, a school that provides educational services to children from one year old to 4th grade. Anthony, Marisa and Devon worked in the school Preschool center under the supervision of Carin Blair-Hoober, center’s director.
We would also like to recognize the efforts from our Multilingual and Special Programs Senior Manager Vilma M. Williams, and Joel Arias Padilla, Bilingual Communications Specialist Team Leader, whose work is dedicated to making the CDA® more accessible to all populations through the number of languages available. Cultural sensibility is one of the Council’s priorities and our ability to accommodate early educators’ cultural environments through language keeps our mission “to offer the opportunity to earn the CDA® credential to all competent and skillful educators in all communities across our nation and abroad.”
Anthony McKinsey
My Child Development Associate® has laid down the foundation of my education. It has helped me to help my students with their physical and mental development. It has shown me that it is ok for children to act certain ways and do certain things. Having my CDA® in Nselxcin (Selish) has been amazing, since staying in the language is very important to me. Staying in the language is very important to me. It is the language of the “stlsqilx”(the first people), and it is an endangered language. At the Salish School of Spokane we have created a community of friends and families that all support each other. Earning my CDA® was part of that support. My education is important but it is my first commitment to spread the language and help it thrive, and the place to start is with our children. It is important for me to teach them the language, because it helps them have confidence in themselves. It helps them have a deeper connection with their families, have a greater sense of self, and most of all, it supplies them with their culture. Coming out of my language immersion for just one day would not be doing my kids any favors linguistically, that is why I’m so grateful to have earned my CDA®.
Marisa Ray
The experience with earning my Child Development Associate® in Salish has been truly amazing. It has allowed me to reconnect with my roots and to be able to help my people save our endangered language. I’m so thrilled to have gained new skills and see my growth as a teacher surpass what I imagined, because of the Salish School of Spokane and the education that I had received from the CDA® Council. It means the world to me. My mother Trina Ray, who is now deceased, was a founding board member for the school and Nselxcin runs in my bloodlines. The Salish School itself has filled the gap between myself as a native person and who I’m looking to become. The Salish School supported me on working full-time while helping me to achieve my first year education as an infant/toddler teacher. I am so happy to have earned my CDA® in Salish!
Devon Peone
When I started working at the Salish School of Spokane, all I knew is how much I wanted to save the language and teach the kids. I didn’t know Salish, how to teach, or even what to teach. I wasn’t a babysitter. The only interactions I had with the youth were through my young cousins, or when I helped coach at basketball camps. Working with kids in the language was the goal now.
So with the help of the Salish School of Spokane and Community Minded-Enterprises, I was able to get an education from Bobbi Cobb and earn my Child Development Associate®. She taught me everything I know on how to do right by these kids. To help guide, support, and teach them the things they need to know. She is an amazing teacher who helped my complete my CDA®. Now I am taking this knowledge and using it all in Salish.
Salish is the first language of Spokane and its surrounding areas. It almost became extinct, but the Salish School of Spokane and surrounding tribes have come together to revitalize our language. After going through the CDA® program, I have gained so much confidence in my teaching skills. I’m not who I was when I started. Back then, I would have second-guessed myself and be uncertain. Now, I’m saving my culture and giving these children an amazing environment where they can take risks, learn, and be in touch with their culture. Language has such a strong impact on our mind and souls.
To write what it means for me to have this credential in my language has been difficult. I had to sit and ask myself in Salish “why”? You can have your CDA® in English, Spanish, and now in Salish. It gives me hope that we too can become just as strong as those dominant languages. This shows me we are saving it. This proves we are standing and speaking our language. We will not go away in history. This is where we come back.
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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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