Kimberlee Belcher-Badal, Ph.D.

Kimberlee Belcher-Badal has led the National Workforce Registry Alliance (NWRA) since 2019. For two decades, she has focused on tracking early childhood professional registry landscape developments and contributions, illustrating their value to professional development systems. More recently, she has concentrated on their critical contributions to establishing robust career pathways that support workforce members in advancing their professional standing.  

Previously, Belcher-Badal spent 12 years in the early learning workforce, teaching in a PreK classroom and serving as a school assistant director and director. While working in the classroom, she obtained her undergraduate degree in early childhood, master’s degree in elementary education, and Ph.D. focusing on educational policy and leadership studies. Additionally, her past professional experiences include serving as a state program coordinator for the child care apprenticeship program and director for the TEACH scholarship program in Nevada.

The NWRA supports 46 states’ early childhood professional registries with 2.8 million workforce members. Under a new partnership that began in 2025, the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska houses the NWRA. Belcher-Badal works to help registries and workforce members become more visible for their system contributions and highlights their capability to equip and empower all people caring for children.

Today, she and her family live in Northern Virginia. Her spouse is a retired military service member; together, they have lived in 16 states.