How They Won: 2025 Certified Impact Award Winners

Behind every credential issued on Accredible is a team pushing boundaries — designing smarter programs, serving learners more holistically, and shaping the future of work one badge or certificate at a time. These leaders don’t just adopt new technology; they use it to drive real progress across education, training, and workforce development.

That’s why we launched the Certified Impact Awards this year: to recognize the individuals and organizations doing exceptional work across the credentialing ecosystem. Our 10 award categories recognize impact across the spectrum: from learner outcomes to program growth to cross-functional collaboration.

We received more than 175 nominations, each a testament to what’s possible when credentialing is done right. And many of this year’s winners helped define the trends and achievements spotlighted in our 2025 Year in Review — including record-breaking learner engagement, faster pathway growth, and the rise of credentials as real career currency.

Keep reading to learn more about each award, what made the winners stand out, and why their work inspires us to keep pushing the field forward — starting with Credentialing Program of the Year.

Credentialing Program of the Year: Asana

This award celebrates organizations setting the benchmark for what’s possible with digital credentials.

What Asana Set Out to Build

Asana wanted to create a category-defining credentialing program for Collaborative Work Management that would help learners drive business impact in their existing teams and take those skills with them wherever they go.

At the same time, this program would help Asana strengthen adoption, retention, and ultimately revenue by equipping teams with the expertise and experience they needed to run higher‑value workflows.

“We set out to build a credentialing program that recognizes achievement with portable badges and connects concepts to measurable outcomes, giving learners verifiable skills and employers confidence in their capabilities.”

— JJ Janikis, Head of Customer Education, Asana

How Asana Did It

In true SaaS fashion, Asana drank their own champagne, managing the program with a cross-functional RACI built in (of course) Asana. The team rooted its strategy in data gathered from real learner focus groups and partner conversations, and piloted the new cert with a set of friendly ambassadors to ensure the content, assessments, and credentials delivered real value.

The rollout was just as intentional as the planning, design, and testing. A global launch across .com and Academy (EN, DE, JA) let learners discover, register, and complete credentials in their preferred languages, and an in-product integration surfaced badges directly in the tool to boost visibility and participation.

What Asana Achieved

• Strong learner satisfaction from the jump. Asana’s Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) has remained in the mid-4s, with Top-2 at ~90% even as it’s scaled, highlighting the credential’s credibility and market value.
• 6x Academy-sourced lead conversion. Plus, meaningful growth in campaign reach, pipeline, and annual recurring revenue (ARR).
• 10s of thousands of new registrations from social media. One viral TikTok about Asana reached millions of viewers and drove thousands of course signups and new badges issued in just weeks.
• Named a top AI certification to add to your resume by Forbes, reflecting growing external recognition.

Learner Impact Award: Big Blue Data Academy

This award honors organizations that put learners at the center and deliver real-world impact through digital recognition.

What Big Blue Data Academy Set Out to Build

Big Blue Data Academy wanted to bridge the gap between Greece’s traditional university programs and the practical, job-ready experience learners need in today’s data-driven job market. More specifically, the organization wanted to build a program that would help graduates score analytics roles within three months of receiving their credentials — a very ambitious goal.

How Big Blue Data Academy Did It

Pulling this off required rethinking the learning experience from the ground up. Instead of a lecture-based online course, Big Blue Data Academy built its Data Analytics Bootcamp around an active learning framework that enhances knowledge retention and real-world application through hands-on projects, collaborative exercises, and data challenges.

As learners progressed through the program, they earned Accredible digital credentials for each core skill, providing verifiable, shareable recognition of their competencies in Python, SQL, Power BI, and Git. At the same time, they naturally built out their professional portfolio with two GitHub projects and a final capstone, proof of their ability to perform end-to-end analytical work.

“Our learners don’t just understand analytics — they can demonstrate it. Over 95% of our graduates are employed within three months, entering the workforce with confidence, a verified digital portfolio, and industry-recognized certification.”

— Thanos Petsakos, Academic Coordinator, Big Blue Data Academy

What Big Blue Data Academy Achieved

• 95% employment rate. Equipped with real-world projects, mentorship, and verifiable Accredible credentials, a vast majority of Data Analytics Bootcamp graduates were employed in just 3 months.
• 1,100+ digital badges issued, with nearly 300 certificates and 2,000+ LinkedIn shares, amplifying visibility and employer recognition.
• A 4.93/5 Course Report rating from over 190 verified reviews, indicating exceptional learner satisfaction and career readiness.

Program Growth Leader: Elastic

This award recognizes a credentialing program that has significantly expanded in reach or influence.

What Elastic Set Out to Build

Elastic’s partner network was gaining traction quickly, but it lacked a unified standard for technical proficiency and sales excellence. To sustain their partner program growth, they needed a scalable, data-driven credentialing system that could ensure a consistent customer experience across geographies.

How Elastic Did It

The Elastic team started by taking a holistic look at partner enablement: what partners needed to know to sell and implement Elastic. From there, they built out specific learning paths and credentials tied to each of Elastic’s solution pillars: Search, Security, and Observability. Partners who complete these pathways would have the same level of understanding and ability, regardless of region or partner tier.

To cut down on manual tracking, the team integrated Seismic, Salesforce, and the Elastic Partner Portal. Seismic became the hub for learning, automatically issuing digital credentials upon course completion. Salesforce tagged accredited partner contacts to deals and pipeline records. And the Partner Portal gave partners real-time visibility into their teams’ training progress.

“By operationalizing learning data, Elastic turned credentialing into a growth flywheel — training that fuels opportunity, visibility that drives alignment, and automation that scales globally.”

— Paul Moldovean, Channel Manager, Elastic

What Elastic Achieved

• 2,000+ new partner accreditations since August 2024 (47% increase), driven by structured learning paths and targeted campaigns across high-potential regions.
• $36M in Q1 FY26 pipeline from credentialed partners, with 2.3x higher average deal size, proving credentialed partners have faster time-to-value. 
• 60% reduction in manual validation and reporting, freeing enablement and operations teams to focus on strategic initiatives.

Digital Transformation Award: Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET)

Honors a program that has successfully transformed outdated, manual, or fragmented credentialing processes into streamlined, scalable, digital workflows.

What WSET Set Out to Build

For years, the Wine & Spirit Education Trust had a paper-based certificate system. But as their program expanded, that approach became increasingly unsustainable, pushing them to replace their legacy certificate system with a modern, environmentally conscious solution that could scale with their program.

How WSET Did It

With the help of Accredible’s Implementation Team, WSET translated existing coursework into a set of online learning paths in Microsoft Dynamics, with credentials to signify learners’ knowledge and experience.

To make the credential issuing process as seamless as possible, the team used Accredible’s API to connect directly to Microsoft Dynamics and automatically issue certificates based on learner completion data. The team also built in safeguards to make sure their digital process was just as successful (and memorable) as their paper one:

• Learner email verification upfront to improve delivery and reduce support queries.
• Provider-controlled timing to notify candidates of their results and issue credentials with secure QR codes or claim links.
• Auto-issuance after 5 days, so learners don’t miss their credentials.
• Branded congratulatory emails, laying the groundwork for multi-language support.

What WSET Achieved

• Eliminated hundreds of thousands of dollars in legacy costs for the organization and its partners by replacing manual, courier-based workflows with automated digital issuance through Accredible and Microsoft Dynamics integration.
• Hit 85% credential sharing rates by reducing certificate delivery time from one month to instant access. So far, they’ve issued 32,000+ credentials globally.
• Eliminated paper, packaging, and shipping waste through QR-enabled, multilingual credential delivery.

“By automating certificate issuance and removing reliance on international shipping, we’ve reduced costs and environmental impact while giving learners instant, verifiable access to their achievements.”

— David Llewellyn, Digital Assessment Manager, WSET

Social Impact Champion: City & Guilds

This award recognizes a program that drives access, equity, or career opportunity.

What City & Guilds Set Out to Build

For nearly 150 years, City & Guilds has been partnering with people and organizations in the UK to provide life-changing learning and growth. One area they’ve been focused on recently is reducing reoffending by providing incarcerated individuals with access to meaningful education and ongoing support. So they wanted to create a certification that would both equip ex-offenders with job-ready skills and train the professionals who support their reintegration.

How City & Guilds Did It

City & Guilds partnered with Offploy, an organization that helps people with criminal convictions find and sustain meaningful employment, to launch the R3 (Reintegration & Reducing Reoffending) Certificate. Upon completion, learners receive an Accredible digital credential that they can show and share on their mobile devices — a critical feature for ex-offenders, who often lack fixed addresses, and for professionals working in the field.

Several large companies in the UK have already tapped into the motivated, skilled talent pool created by the R3 Certificate. Facing a nationwide shortage of kitchen staff, Greene King, a British pub and brewing company, began working with ex-offenders and people nearing the end of their sentences to secure a pipeline of certified talent. Timpson, a British and Irish retailer, reported 74% employee retention among R3-certified hires, well above industry norms.

“Thanks to the digital credential provided by City & Guilds, Offploy’s R3 Certificate has achieved a record milestone: 192 learners have completed the program and have been issued with their digital credentials. It’s a powerful testament to the ripple effect of education and advocacy.” — Darren T (a City & Guilds partner)

“Thanks to the digital credential provided by City & Guilds, Offploy’s R3 Certificate has achieved a record milestone: 192 learners have completed the program and have been issued with their digital credentials. It’s a powerful testament to the ripple effect of education and advocacy.”

— Darren T (a City & Guilds partner)

What City & Guilds Achieved

• 192 learners completed the program and earned a mobile-friendly credential, improving access to employment and reducing barriers for those without fixed addresses.
• 899 course completions in 3 months by ~300 frontline mentors and advisers, equipping professionals to better support individuals with prior convictions.
• £12M+ in societal savings, with each job placement generating roughly £24,527 in social value.

Learner Experience Innovation Award: Maven Analytics

This award recognizes creative, branded, and learner-centric credentialing experiences.

What Maven Analytics Set Out to Build

Maven Analytics has been empowering individuals and teams with data literacy and AI skills for years. Until recently, that was a distinct moat. But as AI, in particular, has risen in popularity, more and more learning companies have cropped up, and Maven needed a way to differentiate. So they completely reimagined their learning experience with personalized, motivating learning pathways built around tangible progress.

How Maven Analytics Did It

Maven built a fully integrated credentialing experience using Accredible Pathways, with badges to celebrate every milestone, from course completions to 7-, 14-, 30-, and even 365-day learning streaks.

Every learning path integrates a mix of self-paced courses, guided projects, and graded assessments that verify a learner’s knowledge. Once learners earn a badge, they can add it to their LinkedIn profile in one click and upload their work to Maven’s free portfolio hosting tool, turning their achievements into professional assets employers can see. Maven gives learners other opportunities to showcase their skills publicly, too:

• Monthly “data drills,” challenges drawn from real-world analytics examples
• Data competitions with live voting and prizes
• Community showcases like “Analysts You Can Hire,” which highlights top students seeking new roles

This dedication to learners has really made Maven’s approach shine. As one learner put it:

“I’ve tried every learning platform available, but Maven Analytics was the easiest to set up and get started. The instructors are the most responsive and encouraging group, and they treat you like they actually care about your success.” — Maven Analytics learner

“I’ve tried every learning platform available, but Maven Analytics was the easiest to set up and get started. The instructors are the most responsive and encouraging group, and they treat you like they actually care about your success.”

— Maven Analytics learner

What Maven Analytics Achieved

• 72% badge share rate, reinforcing how proud learners are of their achievements and how connected they feel to the Maven community.
• A bigger online presence, with 237,000 followers on LinkedIn and 137,000 YouTube subscribers, thanks to the more than 2 million students Maven has across partner platforms.
• Record learner engagement. Over 100 learners reached 90‑day streaks, 17 hit 365 days, and one surpassed 500 consecutive days of learning.
• 97 CSAT and 83 NPS, backed by 100,000+ five‑star reviews.

Industry Collaboration Award: Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)

This award celebrates partnerships between organizations that co-created or co-delivered credentials to advance shared goals.

What ASTHO Set Out to Build

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) was already using Accredible to recognize accomplishments and memberships. But they wanted to take their credentialing program a step further, enabling several industry partners to better promote their people, programs, and pathways.

For example:

• The Morehouse School of Medicine wanted to use digital badging to validate the accomplishments of individuals who completed DELPH, a 10-month leadership development fellowship program.
• Public Health (PH) AmeriCorps wanted to recognize and elevate professionals who completed their 1,700 hours of AmeriCorps service.
• The National Association of State Offices of Minority Health and the CDC wanted to issue one-year digital badges to members of the Power of Partnerships Health Equity Alliance, who assist communities during emergency situations.

How ASTHO Did It

ASTHO established a structured approach to nominating, reviewing, and publishing new badges for industry collaborators. Internally, they created a simple one-pager for staff working with public health organizations to show the benefits of creating a badge and the learner experience.

Once a partner expressed interest in a badge, ASTHO conducted a thorough review to determine (1) whether the new badge met credentialing standards and (2) whether the new badge was distinct enough from ASTHO’s existing certificates.

If approved, the industry partner and ASTHO met to agree on badge requirements, design priorities, and program description, and ASTHO managed the technical details: spreadsheet formatting, badge issuing, and follow-up.

What ASTHO Achieved

• 4 strategic collaborations to advance national health priorities through digital badges.
• 92% badge share rate, underscoring how proud recipients are to share their achievements.
• Enabled portability, empowering ambassadors to share and renew credentials seamlessly while giving CDC visibility into national participation.

“For PH Americorps, many appreciated having a professional, verifiable way to represent their service. Badging also impacted the program by strengthening alumni engagement and providing an additional tool for storytelling about the value of AmeriCorps service.”

— Melinda Eagle, Director of Credentialing, ASTHO

Cross-Functional Team of the Year: Trimble

This award recognizes the power of collaboration in building sustainable, learner-first credentialing strategies.

What Trimble Set Out to Build

One forward-thinking division of Trimble was already using Accredible to solve its certification needs — and other departments were taking notice. Instead of implementing separate, expensive, and inconsistent solutions for each business unit, Trimble decided to house all their learning and certification needs under one roof in Accredible.

How Trimble Did It

Coordinating a rollout to over 50 different divisions is no easy feat. But Trimble managed to get everyone aligned and invested in the project with one mantra: We can do things better together.

“This core belief that a centralized, standardized solution delivers exponentially greater value than individual efforts was the strategy behind every decision we made. It informed how we managed complexity, from technical integrations to framework development.”

— Leila Ishtayeh Colburn, Learning Platform Enablement Lead, Trimble

To kick things off, the team worked with Accredible Professional Services to host workshops with training leaders across the business, giving divisions confidence that their needs would be heard and digging into their unique requirements (think different attributes, certification types, regional considerations) to ensure adoption down the line.

Meanwhile, the implementation team worked closely with technical SMEs and Accredible’s Professional Services team to improve the integration between Docebo (Trimble’s LMS) and Accredible. By diagnosing the root cause of data sync issues, they eliminated duplicative administrative work and paved the way to a much smoother launch. They also collaborated with the marketing team to create a small set of standardized templates to keep the brand consistent while still giving each division room to make their programs stand out.

What Trimble Achieved

• Saved 2,000+ admin hours annually by resolving critical LMS integration challenges and eliminating duplicative manual processes.
• 128% year‑over‑year growth in global credential issuance and aligned 15+ business areas under a unified credentialing and branding standard.
• 25% reduction in design review time with standardized badge and certificate designs  (which also strengthened Trimble’s global market presence).

Credentialing Leader of the Year: Eiman Elmasry at The International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO)

This award recognizes a leader who has driven meaningful credentialing innovation and impact within their organization.

What Eiman Set Out to Build

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, hundreds of ITCILO participants were forced to leave Turin before receiving their certificates. And in that moment, Eiman Elmasry, Quality Assurance, Data and Analytics Officer at ITCILO, realized the organization’s paper-based certification system was no longer viable, and saw it as an opportunity to rethink how learning recognition could work in a digital, borderless, and human-centered way.

“My leadership vision has been to use technology not for its own sake, but as a vehicle for inclusion, credibility, and transformation — ensuring that every learning journey at ITCILO ends with recognition that is meaningful, verifiable, and future-ready.”

— Eiman Elmasry, Quality Assurance, Data and Analytics Officer, ITCILO

How Eiman Did It

Digitizing ITCILO’s credentials meant modernizing a legacy system across hundreds of training programs, unifying internal processes, all while ensuring security and verification. Eiman knew it was possible if internal teams, management, and partners rallied around the same vision. So she started building a strong case for change with data and user stories to gain executive support.

Then, she worked closely with IT, training units, communication teams, and program officers to:

• Design an integrated workflow that links Accredible to Moodle.
• Develop templates that respect ITCILO’s multilingual, multi-thematic structure.
• Provide capacity-building sessions for internal teams to ensure adoption and ownership.
• Set up dashboards to track credentialing performance and learner engagement.

She also championed ITCILO’s voice externally, presenting the digital credential model at high-profile global events such as eLearning Africa (2023, 2024), ETUI EduDays (2021), and ICoBC (2021) to open doors to new partnerships and to reinforce ITCILO’s credibility as a thought leader in the digital learning space.

She used her influence to continue evolving the program, implementing automated credentials, digital learning pathways, and transforming Accredible’s Spotlight Directory into a blockchain-based global Alumni Network.

What Eiman Achieved

• UN-recognized innovation. ITCILO’s digital credentials were one of the top 5 UN Blockchain Impact Stories.
• Championed learner-centric design, with multilingual equity, blockchain verification, and cross-functional adoption. The global alumni network attracted 3,700 registrations in days and more than 1,000 live participants at its launch event.
• Built global influence through conference speaking, stakeholder advocacy, and community creation.

Customer Champion of the Year: Art Thomas at Syracuse University

This award honors an individual who has gone above and beyond to champion Accredible through public advocacy, peer support, platform feedback, or community participation. The awardee was nominated and selected by Accredible employees.

Why Art Stands Out

When Art Thomas, Executive Director, Office of Microcredentials, arrived at Syracuse University in 2021, schools and colleges across campus were considering issuing digital credentials, but they didn’t have a unified standard to use as a reference. His team was already coordinating continuing education units (CEUs) and non-credit paper certificates, so he decided to build out the University’s digital badging program from the ground up — using Accredible.

“I've spent 45 years in information technology, so I mean it when I say Accredible is highly sophisticated. It’s such high-quality software. That's really what made the difference for us. You can’t miss with it.” — Art Thomas, Executive Director, Office of Microcredentials, Syracuse University

“I've spent 45 years in information technology, so I mean it when I say Accredible is highly sophisticated. It’s such high-quality software. That's really what made the difference for us. You can’t miss with it.”

— Art Thomas, Executive Director, Office of Microcredentials, Syracuse University

Under Art’s leadership, Syracuse has issued more than 14,000 digital credentials since 2023, growing issuance by 515% and becoming a trailblazer in offering credit-bearing badges at a major university. Now, Syracuse issues badges across multiple schools, including the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the Whitman School of Management, and the Newhouse School of Public Communications.

But what makes Art a true Customer Champion goes far beyond his institutional success. He’s become a trusted voice in the broader credentialing ecosystem — regularly sharing what works (and what doesn’t) so others can build stronger programs, faster.

• Featured in case studies and webinars to share best practices with peers. 
• Collaborated on research with the 1EdTech Consortium to elevate practical insights from real microcredential programs. 
• Serving as a speaker at the upcoming UPCEA 2026 Annual Conference to swap best practices with other leaders in the field.
• Acts as a generous peer reference for prospective Accredible customers, offering candid guidance to help institutions make more informed decisions about their credentialing programs.

“Art exemplifies what this award is truly about: a leader who doesn’t just champion a platform, but helps others elevate their own programs with clarity and integrity,” said Dan Theckston, Chief Customer Officer at Accredible. “His generosity and commitment have shaped the broader credentialing community in meaningful ways.”

Your Turn to Lead

These ten award winners show what exceptional credentialing programs can do: open doors for learners, signal skills with confidence, and shape a more inclusive, future-ready workforce. 

Congratulations again to all of our 2025 Certified Impact Award honorees. Your work raises the bar for the entire industry.

For deeper insights into this year’s trends, explore our 2025 Year in Review. While you’re at it, subscribe to our Certified Insights newsletter to learn from these leaders and programs every month.

And if you’re ready to build an award-winning program, schedule time with our team to see how Accredible can help you get there.