Carla Caro, MA, is program director for credentialing services at ACT. In this capacity, Caro has provided strategic consulting in support of new and existing credentialing programs; conducted job/practice analysis, role delineation and competency development studies; led feasibility and marketing studies; managed item writing and exam construction; conducted standard setting for examination programs; developed learning objective for both higher education and certificate-based credentials; and audited programs for adherence to standards and best practices. She has worked with a range of nationally and internationally recognized credentialing programs across a range of professions. Caro is a frequent presenter at the I.C.E Exchange and other industry conferences, and is an active I.C.E. volunteer.

Paul Gaston, PhD, is a higher education consultant with accrediting organizations, higher education institutions and the Lumina Foundation. He is also an author (his new book is Credentials, with coauthor Michelle Van Noy). Since 2019, he has served as a distinguished fellow at the Association of American Colleges and Universities. He is trustees professor emeritus at Kent State University, where he served for several years as provost. Earlier, he served as provost and executive vice president at Northern Kentucky University, and dean of the college of arts and sciences at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Michelle Van Noy, PhD, is the director of the Education and Employment Research Center (EERC) at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey. She has over 20 years of experience conducting research on education and the workforce focused on credentials, community colleges, and connections between higher education and the labor market. She is currently leading studies on technician education and economic development, quality in community college noncredit education non-degree credentials, student decision making about programs and careers, higher education labor market alignment, and effective practices in workforce education. Before joining EERC, Dr. Van Noy conducted research at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University and Mathematica Policy Research. She holds a doctorate in sociology and education from Columbia University, a master’s in public policy from Rutgers and a bachelor’s in psychology and Spanish from Rutgers.