Mastering Credential Selection: Ensuring Quality and Transparency for Your Learners

Jenna Cohen, Senior Program Director, Workforce Product, ACT  
Jenna Cohen has more than 15 years of experience in the education sector. While Jenna was working in higher education, she wanted to understand more about what was happening in K-12 that left so many adult learners with gaps in college and career readiness. As a result, she joined a management consulting firm where she uncovered where the gaps began in K-12. Jenna spent the next several years focusing on the tools that support learners and determine career and college readiness. In 2021, Jenna joined ACT and now oversees the products and strategy for workforce. Jenna has a master’s degree in education with an emphasis on adult Learning and resides in Baltimore.   

Sarah Cunningham, Executive Director, One Dupont Ventures, Education Futures, American Council on Education (ACE) 
Sarah Cunningham leads initiatives that scale credit for prior learning opportunities to improve learner mobility and success as part of ACE’s Education Futures. She joined ACE in 2018 to help develop digital learner records, enhance tools to support credit for prior learning, and bring together institutions interested in building stronger connections between work and learning. She previously served as the chief student success officer at Unity College in Maine after teaching in the Captive Wildlife Care and Education program there. She received her PhD in integrative biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and continues to find an understanding of animal behavior useful in a surprising number of endeavors. 

Jared Diener, State Partnerships Manager, Credential Engine 
Jared Diener works with states, institutions, and training providers to increase the transparency of their education and workforce data. Before joining Credential Engine, he spent 15 years in higher education administration with a focus on academic advising, admissions, financial aid, and international programs. He holds degrees from The University of Texas at Austin (BA) and the University of Oxford (MSt). 

Darin Hobbs, Vice President of Learning and Employment Records Ecosystems, Western Governors University 
Darin R. Hobbs has more than 20 years of management and customer service experience in various professional, academic, and volunteer capacities. Darin is known for innovative solutions that create efficiencies within the work environment and constantly thinks creatively about how to reimagine the student record. Darin has devoted his career at WGU to transforming higher education for the benefit of students. In his role, Darin is the business owner of the Achievement Wallet initiative that seeks to transform the student record into a learner-owned, digital record of achievement that is skills denominated, machine actionable, and built upon a foundation of open standards.

Jasen Jones (Moderator), Director of Workforce Strategies and National Partnerships, ACT
With a three-decade career connecting communities to prosperity, Jasen Jones joined ACT in 2017 and hosts ACT’s Ready for Work podcast as the Director of Workforce Strategies and National Partnerships. Jasen’s early career in community radio broadcasting grew into economic development roles with two local Chambers of Commerce. In 2003, Jasen began revitalization at Southwest Missouri’s Workforce Investment Board, where he helped modernize customer service, navigate complex recovery initiatives, implement skills-first hiring, and boost labor market competitiveness.