Endless Prospects for the CDA®
“Our mission in life should be to make a positive difference,” wrote Peter Drucker, a world-renowned management guru. The Council believed Drucker was right, and we showed it in our first mission statement from 1985. “The Council for Professional Recognition promotes improved performance and recognition of professionals in the early childhood education of children ages birth to 5 years old,” something we’ve strived to do from the start. And we expressed our long-term aim in our first vision statement: “The Council works to ensure that all professional early childhood educators and caregivers meet the developmental, emotional and educational needs of our nation’s youngest children,” still a valid goal. But in 2024, it doesn’t go far enough.
The early learning landscape has changed since the Council’s early days, so this month we issued new mission and vision statements. According to our new mission statement, “The Council for Professional Recognition advances career pathways for early childhood educators through high-quality, competency-based credentialing.” And this mission serves an ambitious goal, as shown by our new vision statement: “The Council for Professional Recognition envisions a society where all children learn and thrive in environments led by competent, valued early childhood educators.”
These revisions to the words we use in our mission and vision statements reflect the advent of new research and regulations, policies and practices for serving children best. In recent decades, brain science has proved the value of quality early learning for “all children to thrive,” as we say in our new vision statement. And this is a broad goal that will shape our whole “society” for decades ahead. But it won’t come about unless the Council fulfills its mission to provide young learners with the competent teachers they need, and that’s the challenge. Educators are in short supply since COVID led them to join other fields, leading to a child care crisis. Educators now look for more than “improved performance and recognition.” They want the prospect of “career pathways” if they’re going to enter or return to the early learning field.
We know what our educators want and need because we’ve been listening and learning from them as part of our effort to reimagine the CDA credentialing process. We received feedback from thousands of CDA stakeholders, including CDA candidates and holders, PD Specialists, and staff in the state and federal sectors. We wanted to align our mission and vision statements with what we’re hearing from those in the field. And their feedback has also shaped our business strategy for making a future impact through positive change.
Our business is competency-based credentialing, but the use of the word “business” shouldn’t mean we’re all about the profits we earn from awarding CDAs. And Peter Drucker passed on this lesson in 1993 when he wrote an article on “The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization.” He emphasized that a mission statement must be clear, concise and inspire every board member, staff person and volunteer to see the mission and say, “Yes, this is something I want to be remembered for.” Drucker also believed that mission statements shouldn’t stress net income but must “express the contribution the enterprise plans to make to society, to the economy and to the customer.” And organizations have increasingly embraced his advice by thinking more about their social goals.
Consider Facebook’s reasons for changing its first mission statement: “To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” It had a flaw, as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg would admit in 2017 when he announced a new mission statement: “To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” They were words that conveyed a stronger sense of purpose, as Zuckerberg would explain. “I used to think that if we help some people connect that would make the world better by itself. Yet our society is still so divided that we must do more to bring the world closer together.”
The goal of the change in Facebook’s mission, Zuckerberg said, was to “create a world in which every person has a sense of purpose”—a bold vision. And Microsoft also aimed high when it changed its mission statement in 2015. Microsoft’s previous mission was to “create a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe for the activities they value most”—but it didn’t have the same zing as the software maker’s 2015 mission “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”
The desire to do more also inspired outdoor gear maker Patagonia to change its mission statement in 2019. Its previous mission statement from the nineties was to “build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” And it was groundbreaking at the time for a company to say that it wanted to cause the environment no unneeded harm. Still, as the climate crisis grew worse, Patagonia ramped up its goal from doing less harm to doing more good. And the company expressed this aim in its new mission statement: “We’re in business to save our home planet.”
Patagonia’s new mission reflected the values of its founder, Yves Chouinard, who brought his purpose to life in 1986 by pledging 1 percent of sales to the environment’s preservation or restoration. And in 2022, he divested control over his company to a trust and future profits to an environmental nonprofit, something no other U.S. billionaire had ever done. But Chouinard had a higher purpose than the bottom line. “Profit,” he believed, “is what happens when you do everything else right.”
Chouinard brought his personal goals to work to make a positive impact, and I’ve tried to do the same in my own way as Council CEO. My individual journey to my current role also has some parallels to the change in the Council’s mission and vision statements. I earned my CDA as a young man so I could improve my classroom performance and gain recognition from my peers in the classroom and from the parents I served. I worked hard to meet the developmental, emotional and educational needs of my classes in Birmingham, Alabama, as a young teacher for Head Start. Still, I wanted to do more to serve society and my field.
My sense of mission and vision expanded as I climbed the career ladder, holding several high-profile positions in early learning administration before becoming Council CEO in 2021. Since then, I have strived to empower our early childhood teachers so they can give all children the opportunities that they deserve to thrive. Now the ongoing child care crisis gives Council staff and me a responsibility to do even more, so I have seized a seminal moment to offer our new mission and vision statements.
We recently awarded our millionth CDA to Jada Vargas of Arizona, and there’s a big market for more like her as we rebuild our field after the pandemic. The ongoing growth of our valued credential has led the Council to see endless prospects ahead for our organization and the CDA. Our collective sense of commitment is playing a pivotal role in shaping a future where every child learns under the guidance of competent, qualified early childhood teachers. The million CDAs who already work in early childhood settings nationwide make me believe we can achieve our hopes and dreams. So, I want to do everything right for them. These CDA holders are my purpose brought to life, and they can make a positive difference for young children.
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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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