The QA Commons is mindful of the dramatic and transformational impact COVID-19 is having on all institutions of higher education. As an organization, we are adapting our services to support preparing graduates for the workplace that is now changing more precipitously than ever.
To ensure today’s learners are prepared for the changing dynamics of the workforce and economy.
QA Commons bridges the gap between education and work by focusing on employability—the durable skills and behaviors needed to succeed in a rapidly changing, AI-enabled economy. We make workplace expectations visible and teachable, especially for learners who have not had access to professional networks or environments.
At our core, we are an applied research organization: we learn what works by working alongside colleges, workforce programs, and employers. Through these partnerships, we embed employability into programs, train educators to develop and assess it, and strengthen how readiness is demonstrated—so learners can apply their skills, adapt to change, and advance over time.
Work is changing faster than ever. AI is transforming tasks, roles, and expectations—and shortening the useful life of many technical skills. What endures are employability skills: communication, judgment, adaptability, teamwork, and the ability to learn from experience. Employers consistently say these are critical—and consistently struggle to find them.
Yet these skills are rarely taught explicitly. Instead, they are assumed, unevenly developed, and often invisible in traditional credentials. For learners without prior exposure to professional environments, this creates an additional barrier: success depends not just on ability, but on whether you already understand how work works.
The result is a disconnect. Learners complete programs without a clear understanding of workplace expectations, and employers lack reliable signals of readiness. In an AI-enabled economy, success depends not just on what you know, but on how you apply, adapt, and grow. That requires a more intentional, transparent approach to employability development.
Quality Assurance (QA) Commons was founded in 2016 with a grant from the Lumina Foundation and support from the National Center for Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), before becoming its own nonprofit entity in 2019.
In its tenure, QA Commons has partnered with more than 125 academic and workforce programs across 60 institutions in over 20 states, impacting more than 90,000 students.
Convened national leaders and launched Lumina-funded research to define the gap between education and the workplace.
Co-designed and piloted the Essential Employability Qualities (EEQs) and EEQ Certification with institutions nationwide, establishing a new model.
Established early adoption through partnerships with higher education systems, accreditors, and select workforce initiatives.
Expanded into new populations and use cases—including workforce, justice-impacted, and high school settings—while introducing student badging.
Scaling the full EEQ Suite—Certification, Professional Development, and Skills Badging—across education and workforce systems nationwide.
The Board of Directors oversees the organization, with a focus on mission, strategy and goals.
Board Chair and Treasurer
Board Chair and Treasurer
Jeffery has more than 25 years of experience of executive and board leadership in financial, industrial, commercial real estate and education institutions across the country. He is a Senior Operating Partner at both Avathon Capital and Sterling Partners, where he capitalizes his vision for education excellence with a wide range of strategic investments and leadership roles.
Jeffery is chairman of the board of Spartan College of Aeronautics & Technology, Alliant International University and Edcura LLC. He also serves on the boards of Calumet College of St. Joseph, University of Dubuque, UMass Global, and ReUp Education, among others. He was the chief architect and visionary for TCS Education’s groundbreaking nonprofit system, a consortium that includes The Chicago School, Saybrook University, The Colleges of Law and others.
Jeffery has been a board member of The QA Commons since 2016.
Jeffery holds a BS in Economics and Management and an MBA in Finance from Purdue University. He also holds certificates from Kent College of Law, Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Yale School of Management Investment.
Sonny is a leading agricultural scientist and the President of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, which oversees regional accreditation for 162 higher education institutions. In 2012, he was appointed by President Obama to be Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, where he served for six years.
Prior to his role in the federal government, Sonny was a member of the faculty and leadership teams of several universities. At institutions including Oregon State University, Purdue University, Kansas State University and Mississippi State University, he rose through the ranks from assistant professor to distinguished professor, department head and dean.
Sonny has been a board member of The QA Commons since 2024.
Sonny holds a Bachelors of Science in Agriculture and Masters of Science in Agriculture (Entomology) from the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore. He received his Ph.D. in Entomology from Rutgers University and also completed the Management Development Program at Harvard University.
Marcela has over 20 years of experience as a research scientist and is currently the Director of Research and Center of Excellence at Cabrillo Community College. Previously, she was a Research and Planning Analyst at Irvine Valley College. Her research focuses on K-12 and community college educational policies that affect learning and success opportunities among low-income, first-generation, and minoritized students.
Prior to her current role, she performed postdoctoral research as the Director of Research Practice Partnerships at the University of California-Irvine, connecting faculty with school district administrators to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged students.
Marcela has been a board member of The QA Commons since 2024.
Marcela holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Mount Saint Mary’s University and a Master’s in Social Research Methodology from UCLA. At UC-Irvine, she completed both a Master’s and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Social Context.
Kendra has over 25 years of experience in consumer electronics and financial services and is currently Director, Head of Payments for General Motors. Previously, she was Director, Head of Payments and Risk Operations for Rocket Lawyer and has held leadership roles at such Fortune 500 companies as Walmart, Apple and Visa.
Kendra has been a board member of The QA Commons since 2024.
Kendra holds a Bachelor’s in Economics and a Master’s in Sociology, Organization Behavior, both from Stanford University. She also earned an MBA from London School of Economics.
Board Secretary
Board Secretary
Jeff has more than 30 years of experience in business development and is currently VP, Fintech Research for Fidelity Investments. Prior to Fidelity, he was Head of Partnerships for the venture-backed financial care platform Brightside. For eight years he was at Evestnet Yodlee, where he ascended to Vice President of Strategic Partnerships.
In addition to being a member of the board of the QA Commons, Jeff was also a board member of Compass Family Services in San Francisco. Jeff has been a board member of The QA Commons since 2024.
Jeff holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Stanford University and a Master’s in Religious Studies from Harvard University.
Bob is the President of Education & Workforce Policy, LLC, a policy consulting firm whose singular focus is the advancement of education, training, and workforce policy.
He has served as the President and CEO of the National Alliance of Business, the Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Reagan and again under President Bush, senior positions in two major U.S. corporations, and as a Chief of Staff to two members of the US House of Representatives. Bob was awarded the Presidential Distinguished Executive Award by President Reagan.
In addition to being a member of the board of the QA Commons, Bob is on the board of Centerpoint Education Solutions and is a Commissioner on the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges(AACJC). Bob has been a board member of The QA Commons since 2016.
Bob is a graduate of University of the Redlands and served as an officer in the United States Air Force.
David is Director of People and Culture and leads human resources at We Are Rally, a mission-driven communications and advocacy agency. Previously, he served as Director of Talent and Human Resources at Envision Education, a Talent Manager (Recruiter) at KIPP Public Schools Northern California, and Director of Talent Acquisition at the Paulo Freire Charter School in Newark, New Jersey.
David is a people-centric professional dedicated to driving organizational change and operational excellence. He brings experience in developing and engaging employees, leadership teams, and community partners to support a broad range of business goals. He has catalyzed increasing diversity within leadership teams by 60% through strategic initiatives and inclusive practices.
David has been a board member of The QA Commons since 2025.
David holds a BA in American Studies from Williams College, where he was co-President of the class of 2009.
QA Commons is led by one full-time Executive Director and a team of part-time consultants with domain expertise.
Executive Director
Michelle has led all Employability programs at QA Commons since 2019, working with colleges, universities, workforce development boards, K-12 schools, and carceral institutions around the country.
Before joining QA Commons, Michelle served as Director of Organizational Strategy at the RP Group, a research-based organization focused on student success and equity in the California Community Colleges. As a consultant, she has authored a Labor Market and Career Pathways report for a community college in Oregon and served as a qualitative researcher on a Talent Pathways Initiative report for a Workforce Development Board in Virginia. Prior to her work in the field of higher education, Michelle held corporate roles at Atlas Capital Advisors, Merrill Lynch, and Oracle Corporation. She has served on the boards of numerous education-focused non-profit organizations.
Michelle holds a BS in Rural Sociology from Cornell University and an MA in Demography from UC Berkeley. She also earned a Higher Education Teaching certificate from the Harvard BOK Center for Teaching and Learning and completed Design Futures Training at the Institute for the Future. In 2025, she is serving on Lumina Foundation’s BA Credentials of Value Advisory Committee.
Contact: michelle@theqacommons.org
Executive Advisor
Donna Hay brings more than 20 years of experience across higher education, workforce development, and national talent strategy. She most recently served as President and CEO of the National Job Corps Association (NJCA), where she led national strategy, federal engagement, and cross-sector partnerships supporting one of the country’s largest workforce training systems. Prior to NJCA, Donna held senior leadership roles in postsecondary education and research organizations focused on student success, employability, and employer alignment. Her work has included advising institutions and companies on hiring practices and talent pipelines, leading teaching and learning strategy across community college networks, and advancing early-career access initiatives for historically underserved learners. At QA Commons, Donna focuses on institutional strategy, revenue alignment, and operational clarity to support the scaling and sustainability of the EEQ Framework and EEQ CERT. She works with leadership to strengthen portfolio discipline, earned revenue pathways, and cross-sector positioning.
Donna holds a J.D. from Georgetown University, an M.A. in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and undergraduate degrees in Spanish and Nursing from Oakwood University.
Contact: donna@theqacommons.org
Workforce Innovation and Skills Strategy Specialist
Miriam brings more than two decades of experience across higher education, workforce systems, and public-sector transformation. Her work focuses on studying how workplace expectations operate and translating demonstrated capability into structured tools, rubrics, and documentation that make employability explicit and actionable.
She has held senior leadership roles at Portland Community College, including Dean of Students, Grants Office Director, Workforce Development Manager, and Sylvania ROOTS (Federally Funded TRIO Program) Director, where she led cross-sector initiatives connecting education, workforce development, and regional economic priorities.
Through her consulting work, Miriam has led statewide initiatives and partnered with colleges, workforce systems, and employers to design employability frameworks, validation models, and implementation strategies. She is known for converting qualitative and quantitative insight into practical artifacts—frameworks, assessments, guides, and decision tools—that help institutions embed employability intentionally and strengthen pathways to long-term mobility.
Her work supports QA Commons’ mission to make workplace expectations visible, strengthen alignment between education and industry, and expand opportunity through coherent, equity-conscious employability systems.
M.S., Education Policy, Foundations & Administration focused on Postsecondary,
Adult, and Continuing Education, Portland State University
B.A., Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Workforce Development Strategist and Project Lead
Mason brings 25 years of experience in employment policy, workforce development initiatives, postsecondary education and training, and entrepreneurship, and has the rare experience of having worked at both the federal and state/local levels in both workforce development and postsecondary education. He understands the strengths of, and challenges faced by, workforce agencies, community colleges and universities, federal agencies, and community organizations. He particularly enjoys implementing new initiatives and program reforms, as well as improving service delivery and opportunities for people to be upwardly mobile. Mason has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the US Department of Labor, Legislative and Marketing Director for the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, Public Affairs Director for the Utah Department of Workforce Service, and Vice President at Salt Lake Community College.
Mason earned an MPA (Public Administration) and a BA in Political Science from Brigham Young University.
Future of Work and Higher Education Specialist
Chris Mayer, Ph.D., is Head of the Department of English & Philosophy at the United States Military Academy (West Point). He previously served as West Point’s Associate Dean for Strategy and Initiatives where his responsibilities included strategic planning, curriculum development, assessment, and accreditation. He focuses his work on delivering and continually improving a top-ranked undergraduate experience that prepares West Point graduates to be Army officers and develops them into leaders of character.
Chris has served as a Teagle Assessment Scholar at the Center of Inquiry at Wabash College and as an Association of Professional Futurists Emerging Fellow. He is an evaluator and committee member for a regional accreditor and a board member for a school of professional studies and an education-focused non-profit organization.
Chris holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in philosophy from Virginia Tech, an M.P.A. in public administration from Murray State University, and a B.S. in American Politics from West Point. Chris’ work as a consultant reflect his views and not the views of the United States Military Academy, the United States Army, or the Department of Defense.
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Specialist
Abby is an analytical, results-oriented strategic thinker with multifaceted experience designing and conducting evaluations assessing program effectiveness and scalability. She possesses content knowledge and expertise in workforce development policy and programming, higher education innovation, and various health policy and public health practice aspects. Abby has successfully guided organizations of different sizes and capacities to capture data necessary to understand impact and demonstrate progress more effectively and has developed creative utilization-focused program evaluation methodologies with a laser focus on providing useful results to clients for real-time program improvement. Her catalog of clients includes the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Centerstone Research Institute, the Appalachian Ohio Manufacturers Coalition, the Indiana University School of Nursing, and numerous community and technical colleges and Workforce Development Boards across the nation.
Abby earned an MPA in Health Policy Analysis from Indiana University and a BA from DePauw University.
Assessment and Accreditation Specialist
Jennifer Wies, Ph.D., is Associate Provost and Professor of Anthropology at Eastern Kentucky University. Previously, she served as Director of Assessment and Accreditation at Ball State University, where she was Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology.
Jennifer is dedicated to facilitating continuous improvement of learning environment activities across the University and is passionate about teaching anthropology along the way. She has successfully supported campus communities in developing and maintaining student-centered, equity-focused, and transformative practices to assure learning at the course, program, and organizational levels.
A trained peer reviewer for multiple federal agencies and the Higher Learning Commission, Jennifer is the 2019 recipient of the American Anthropological Association Gender Equity Award.
Jennifer earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Kentucky.
Senior Researcher
Diane Rodriguez-Kiino, Ph.D., is the department chair of educational leadership at California Lutheran University, where she has taught in the Graduate School of Education since 2010. To date, she has assumed the role of lead evaluator or senior researcher for a dozen complex multi-year grants – privately and federally funded – that center on supporting underrepresented P-20 students.
In 2014–15, she taught at the University of Tokyo and Tsuda College as a Fulbright Scholar in Japan. Upon return to the United States, she served on the Fulbright East Asia Peer Review committee, by invitation of the United States Department of State and the Institute for International Education. Diane has numerous peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and technical reports in higher education.
Diane holds an M.Ed. and a Ph.D. from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Psychology from San Diego State University. She was a Leadership Fellow with the National Community College Hispanic Council (2012-13).
Contact: diane@theqacommons.org
Project Manager and Career Education Specialist
Alex is the Associate Dean of Career Education at San Diego Mesa College and brings strong experience across education, workforce development, and economic development.
Alex has served as Program Activity Manager at San Diego Continuing Education, Coordinator of Career Pathways Grant Programming at the Virginia Community College System, Community Development Program Administrator at the Department of Housing and Community Development in Virginia, and Project Manager at the Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment Board. He began his career as an Economic Development Specialist at the Elkton Economic and Community Development Office in Virginia.
Alex holds a BS in Economics and an MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management from James Madison University.
Writing and Research Associate
Chloe is a writer and early-career associate working with QA Commons. She brings a strong writing voice and a reflective perspective shaped by her own experience navigating post-graduation job searches, early-career roles, and the transition from graduate school into professional work.
She is the author of the “Young in Napa” column for the Napa Valley Register and contributes essays and commentary to other publications, focusing on place, work, health, and the lived experiences of young adults. Her writing emphasizes observation, narrative clarity, and making sense of complex personal and social transitions.
Alongside her consulting and writing work, she is active in disability advocacy. She serves as President of the Silicon Valley Ostomy Support Group and has been involved with the United Ostomy Association of America (UOAA) for more than a decade, including work focused on education and young adult outreach.
Chloe earned a BA in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in English Language and Literature from San Francisco State University.
Contact: chloe@theqacommons.org
Read about the programs that have been through the EEQ Certification process.
QA Commons is supported by both fee-for-service partnerships and philanthropic investment. While earned revenue sustains our core work, grants allow us to innovate, reach underserved populations, and generate insights that strengthen employability practice across the field.
Selected Funders:
Lumina Foundation
Ascendium Education Group
USA Funds (now Strada Education Foundation)
Roger Trinchero Family Foundation
Selected published articles and media coverage featuring
or referencing QA Commons and its work.
The Future is Creative
Inside Higher Education
May 6, 2026
Project Tests New Approaches to Employability for Justice-Impacted Learners
Yahoo! Finance
March 26, 2026
History Degrees Prepare Students for Careers – New National Project Makes That Visible
Associated Press
February 4, 2026
Culinary Arts Program Earns National Certification
The Journal (Martinsburg, WV)
May 15, 2025
SU Art, English, and Philosophy Programs Earn Essential Employability Qualities Certification
Salisbury University
September 17, 2024
Success Coaching Program to Support Formerly Incarcerated Individuals
Yahoo! Finance
July 23, 2024
Health and Physical Education program receives highest score for Essential Employment Qualities certification
Murray State University
May 22, 2024
Teach Your Children/Students Well
Inside Higher Education
March 12, 2024
Moving Beyond the Dependence on College Degrees
Forbes
November 11, 2022
Judging Institutions Based on Employment Outcomes
Inside Higher Ed
March 2, 2022
Measuring Job Market Success
Open Campus
January 27, 2022
A troubling lack of skills in literacy and numeracy
Open Campus
June 10, 2021
How Colleges Can Increase Equity Through Employability Standards
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
February 1, 2021
New benchmarking tool for higher ed seeks to address workplace soft skills gap
Chief Learning Officer
October 15, 2020
Student’s own experience helped launch KCTCS training program
ABC 36 WTVQ Lexington
October 1, 2020
UK Equine Undergrad Program Earns Employability Certification
US Ag Net
June 22, 2020
Grant-Funded Study Helps Prepare Connecticut’s 12 Community College for Consolidation
Connecticut Examiner
June 17, 2020
Kentucky Campuses Lead the Charge on Employability
Northern Kentucky Tribune
June 3, 2020
Schools Offer Certification for Employability Skills
US News & World Report
November 5, 2019
Do Your Academic Programs Actually Develop ‘Employability’? There’s an Assessment for That
Chronicle of Higher Education
April 16, 2019
CPE Launches Employability Initiative to Prepare Graduates for Workplace Success
Kentucky Business & Economic News
November 16, 2018
Group Attempts New Twist on Accreditation
Inside Higher Education
October 9, 2017
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