Ph.D., Senior Consultant

Dr. Liberty Munson, PhD, is the Principal Psychometrician and Product Quality Lead for Microsoft Learning’s technical certification program. She is responsible for ensuring that psychometric standards are rigorously applied during all phases of the certification exam lifecycle and that the design and implementation of Microsoft’s Certification program results in valid and reliable assessments of candidate skills. She works closely with her team to design, develop, and evaluate innovative item types, design new delivery and development methodologies, implement strategic processes to proactively address piracy issues, and ensure the quality of the exam content from a psychometric and candidate perspective. Prior to joining Microsoft, she worked at Boeing where she developed a wide variety of selection tests, including multiple-choice exams, team-based exercises, problem solving activities, and structured interviews; she also assisted with the development and analysis of Boeing’s internal certification exams and acted as a co-project manager overseeing development, administration, and analysis of Boeing’s Employee Survey. She received her BS in Psychology from Iowa State University and her MA and PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology with minors in Quantitative Psychology and Human Resource Management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Chief Learning Officer

Michelle brings more than 20 years of experience in instructional design, biomedical writing, and curriculum development, with a particular interest in instructional technology and learning strategy, including conducting needs analyses, assessing training requirements, evaluating existing content, end user testing, and designing outcomes-driven training solutions that meet organizational, business, and public health needs.

Michelle has written and designed education and training programs for corporate professionals, physicians, allied health professionals, and consumers in a variety of media, including digital (e/m Learning, web sites, learning portals), print, video, audio, and workshops/classroom. Clients who have benefited from programs designed by Michelle include multiple pharmaceutical and medical device companies, Orbis International, the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Army, Emblem Health, the National Alliance for Caregiving, Channing Bete, and Duke University. She has served on the Institute for Credentialing Excellence’s Assessment-Based Certificate Accreditation Council since 2010, and is actively engaged in learning strategy and developing assessment-based certificate programs for multiple professional associations.

Michelle is a passionate evangelizer of high impact, technology-driven adult learning and instructional design, and has presented and taught workshops on instructional technology and design at numerous national conferences and webinars, including the American Medical Writers Association, Drug Information Association, Life Science Trainers and Educators Network, Institute for Credentialing Excellence, the World Drug Safety Congress, and the Lectora User Conference.

Michelle’s work as an instructional designer and writer has been recognized three times by the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) New England Chapter, which awarded her The Will Solimene Award of Excellence in Medical Communication for Clinical Papers: Selling with Confidence™ and Clinical Pharmacology: Selling with Science™ handbooks and for an eLearning course on drug/medical device development, safety, and regulation. She also architected an award-winning APP and spaced retrieval training program on healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act. She is an ASTD-Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP).

Chief Technology Officer

Trushant has more than 17 years of experience assuring the successful execution of the many client's business mission through development and deployment of the their web presence. Identifying opportunities and risks for delivering the client's services as a web-based business, including identification of competitive services, opportunities for innovation, and assessment of marketplace obstacles and technical hurdles to the business success are few of the key responsibilities Trushant have served.

A Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and a Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications with Masters degree in Computer Applications, Trushant have corss-domain expertise working with Federal Government like U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, State Government agencies like D. C. Department of Employment Services, Non-profit membership organizations like U. S. Green Building Council, International organizations like United Nations at their European HQ in Switzerland, profitable organizations like Ryan Homes and many more under his belt. He is also proud co-founder of a startup company - OpenEyes Technologies Inc. focusing on data integrity and custom software solutions.

n his spare time, Trushant is serving as a volunteer board member for his Homeowner Associations since 2007 and follows TED (& TEDx) talks crazily.

Assistant Vice President

Vesna brings over seven years of experience in assessment development, evaluation, and analytics.

Vesna’s experience in developing licensure and certification exams span a variety of industries, some past clients include: the American Board of Optometry (ABO), the HR Certification Institute (HRCI), the Association for Vascular Access (AVA), the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), and the American Heart Association (AHA). Vesna’s expertise extends to all phases of exam development from job-task analysis to item analysis. Additionally, Vesna has expanded upon her assessment development skills by applying them to the corporate setting with the development of pre/post training assessments, competency based assessments, and employee engagement surveys.

Vesna’s professional background comprises of roles in Test Development, HR Analytics, Talent Management, and most recently as an HR Business Partner. In her current role as an HR Business Partner, Vesna is keenly interested in assessing job-person fit, employee engagement as a driver to key performance outcomes, and understanding biases of pre-employment selection assessments on minority/female candidates.

Vesna holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Minnesota State University and a Masters in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from St. Cloud State University.

Manager of Business Development and Research Services

Sherryl is responsible for expanding AERE's assessment, licensure, certification and research offerings. Sherryl works closely with our partners to establish their credentialing needs and determine how AERE can help them reach their goals. With over eight years of distinguished sales experience with an emphasis on customer retention and corporate account acquisition, Sherryl has a passion for genuine and personable client service.

Before joining AERE, Sherryl held a role as Research Associate for the International Credentialing Associates, supporting and independently performing technical research, review, training, product development, branding, and marketing functions as well as facilitating client workshops for various credential programs. She has hosted gatherings and prepared presentations for industry conferences, including The Association of Test Publishers (ATP) in 2014 and 2015. Sherryl also works as a Clinical Research Coordinator for Towson University’s Department of Psychology. She is currently coordinating the Family Training for Hoarding Study to provide treatment and family training for hoarders.

Sherryl holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a minor in Judaic Studies.

Senior Soft Skills Assessment Research Consultant

Rita's career in psychology began as an undergraduate at the Pennsylvania State University where she earned a B.A. in psychology. Upon graduation, she accepted a position as a research technician at the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder at the V.A. Boston Healthcare System. Rita worked on a number of research projects, including the development, testing, and validation of a collection of measures designed to assess deployment-related experiences in military personnel and veterans. Following her employment at the NC-PTSD, Rita earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Purdue University where she took courses on test development and validation and advanced research statistics. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center/G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center Consortium, completing several neuropsychology rotations while on internship. In both of these settings, Rita gained significant experience and expertise with neuropsychological assessments. After graduation, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she served as the project manager and data analyst for a multi-site, multi-year study examining experiences of sexual re-victimization among young adult women.

Currently, Rita works in private practice using a variety of assessment tools to provide psychological evaluations for state and local agencies such as the Iowa Social Security Administration, Iowa Department of Human Services, Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services, and University of Iowa Child Health Specialty Clinics. She has also taught abnormal psychology and introduction to counseling courses at the local college: Luther College. Rita is passionate about using psychological assessment to inform best practices.