As Assistant Director for WestEd's E3 Institute—Advancing Excellence in Early Education, Ilene Hertz leads all aspects of the Institute's workforce development initiatives. This includes advocacy, strategic planning, program administration, contracts development, and technology development.

The E3 Institute supports and strengthens early childhood professional development through education, recruitment, and financial incentives. Hertz's work with the use of technology has enabled the Institute to shape, plan, and implement its policies, programs, and initiatives based on the data it collects. As a result, the E3 Institute has been recognized statewide for its innovative and successful approaches to workforce development, due largely to its data-driven approach.

Hertz also provides leadership in regional, state, and national forums to shape policies based on research linking quality in early education programs to the educational levels of early childhood professionals. Her involvement with the development, implementation, and ongoing evaluation of Santa Clara County's Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational Standards (CARES) program resulted in a dramatic increase in the educational levels of the early education workforce in Santa Clara County. Hertz oversees a cohort of CARES participants obtaining their bachelor's degree in early education through a partnership with San Jose State University, and supports a multi-county longitudinal research study with the University of California, Berkeley on the effects of a bachelor's degree cohort.

She is also one of the WestEd team members contributing to the development of the California Department of Education's Early Childhood Educator Competencies, a statewide evidence-based set of competencies that will address the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that early childhood professionals need in order to support the development and learning of young children.

Hertz serves on California's Early Childhood Professional Development and Education Collaborative, a coalition of early childhood educators and other stakeholders focused on systems change to promote higher education and professional development of the early childhood workforce. She is also a member of the statewide Early Education Advancement Project where she contributes to recommendations aimed at improving early education for children from birth to five years of age.

A longtime advocate for the child development field, Hertz has worked in early education policy development for over 25 years. She began her career in the Executive Office of Human Services in Boston and went on to serve as Manager of Child Care and Family Services for the City of Palo Alto, California, where she used corporate funds to develop an accreditation project, resulting in an unprecedented 50% of the early education center-based programs in Palo Alto becoming accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). She also managed a child care subsidy program, developed a web-based resource and referral system of early education sites using GIS technology, and developed emergency preparedness protocols between the city and school district, before joining WestEd in 2002.

Hertz serves on the WestEd Equity Council, which offers guidance to the agency's Chief Executive Officer on ensuring a work environment in which all employees feel valued, included, and supported.

She received a BA in social policy from Hampshire College and an MA in human services administration from Lesley College.