Roy A. Swift, Ph.D. COL, Retired

Executive Director, Workcred

Dr. Roy Swift is currently the executive director of Workcred and served as the chief workforce development officer at the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). His previous position at ANSI was the senior director of personnel credentialing accreditation programs. Prior to ANSI, he was a consultant to educational, certification, licensure and health care organizations. From 1993-1998, he was executive director of the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). This appointment followed a 28-year career in the United States Army Medical Department. In his last position, he was chief of the Army Medical Specialist Corps in the Army Surgeon General’s Office with policy responsibility for Army occupational therapists, physical therapists, dietitians, and physician assistants throughout the world.

He has served on many national committees, non-profit Boards of Directors, and federal and state government advisory committees. He has served as chair of the Assembly of Review Committee Chairs of the former Council on Allied Health Education and Accreditation of the American Medical Association; chair of the American Occupational Therapy Association Accreditation Committee (Academic Accreditation); and on the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee for Certification. Dr. Swift recently served on an Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Panel dealing with Provision of Mental Health Counseling Services under TRICARE, and a planning committee for the future of Allied Health Practice.

In addition, Dr. Swift recently chaired an international working group within the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) to recognize personnel certifications among member countries through the development of multilateral recognition arrangements. He is also active on working groups related to personnel credentialing in the International Organizational for Standardization (ISO) in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a guest lecturer at the University of Geneva on credentialing.

Dr. Swift holds a B.S. in occupational therapy from the University of Kansas, an M.S. Ed. from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in continuing and vocational education with an emphasis in continuing competency in the professions from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has also successfully completed the University of Chicago’s three-week management development course.

Karen Elzey

Associate Executive Director

As associate executive director, Karen Elzey advances Workcred’s mission to strengthen workforce quality by improving the credentialing system, ensuring its ongoing relevance, and preparing employers, workers, educators, and governments to use it effectively.

Ms. Elzey has over 20 years of experience in areas of workforce development. Most recently, she was the vice president of the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF), where she was involved with incorporating 21st-century competencies—critical thinking, problem solving, analytical reasoning, communication, and working in multi-cultural teams—into the undergraduate experience to prepare students with the knowledge and experience to succeed in high-performing workplaces. She also led several of BHEF’s projects, including the integration of data analytics into specific academic disciplines, the development of cybersecurity undergraduate programs, and the creation of new media engineering programs.

Ms. Elzey previously served as vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce, where she worked on K-12 education reform and job training policies. She was the founding director of Skills for America’s Future, an employer-led policy initiative that was initially part of the Economic Opportunities Program at the Aspen Institute. The initiative helped identify solutions that allow education and training providers to work together for employers and prepare individuals for employment to help ensure American businesses are more productive, innovative, and competitive. Her previous experience also includes coordinating public-private partnerships between K-12 school districts and employers for a local economic development agency in Indiana, and teaching English as a second language in Poland.

Ms. Elzey earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and completed Georgetown University's executive leadership program at the McDonough School of Business.

Jana Zabinski

Associate Director, Operations

As associate director of operations, Jana Zabinski oversees the day-to-day management of Workcred, its Board and advisory councils, consulting contracts, research, and educational activities. Ms. Zabinski joined Workcred as a founding staff member in 2014. Previously, as senior program manager at the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), she led ANSI's Energy Efficiency Standardization Coordination Collaborative to develop a national standardization roadmap (published 2014) and progress report (published 2016) advancing energy efficiency in the United States. Prior to that, she promoted the mission and role of ANSI and standardization community as ANSI's journalist and communications specialist. Earlier in her career, as the recipient of a French government fellowship, she taught English as a second language in Southwest France. She graduated with honors from Vassar College and completed Wharton’s high-potential leaders program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Aresty Institute of Executive Education.

Janet Felts Forte

Senior Program Administrator

Janet Forte supports the day-to-day management of Workcred and its activities in support of the organization’s mission, vision, and goals. Previously, Ms. Forte served as the program administrator of standards facilitation at the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), where she gained broad experience working with the Homeland Defense and Security Standardization Collaborative, the ANSI Network on Smart and Sustainable Cities, the America Makes & ANSI Additive Manufacturing Standardization Collaborative, and the Energy Efficiency Standardization Coordination Collaborative. She holds a B.A. in Spanish, with a minor in Criminal Justice from Campbell University, and a Master of International Studies, with a concentration in sustainability, from North Carolina State University. She has also earned a certificate in Spanish Language from the Costa Rican Culture and Language Institute.