By Matthew Green, CAMICB Credentialing Director

The Community Association Managers International Certification Board’s (CAMICB) CMCA credentialing program has been awarded international accreditation by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) as complying with standard ISO/IEC 17024, a conformity assessment for personnel certification bodies. ANAB establishes the specialized system for worldwide standardization, setting the requirements and the framework, at a global level, for the operation of certification bodies. ANAB accreditation to the ISO/IEC 17024 Standard supports the increasing technological and global specialization of skills and personnel. 

Said Chair of the CAMICB Board of Commissioners, Drew Mulhare, CMCA, LSM, PCAM, “Earning this ISO/IEC accreditation is critical because it shows the CMCA credential meets the global benchmark for certification programs and assures the CMCA credential is serving the field of community association management in a consistent, comparable, and reliable manner worldwide.” 

Added Thomas M. Skiba, CAE, Community Associations Institute’s (CAI) Chief Executive Officer, “As the demand for education in community association management has grown considerably outside of the United States, so too has the need for an internationally accredited credentialing program. Earning this prestigious accreditation means the CMCA credential has achieved the highest standard in professional certification and stands alone in the community association housing profession.”

The CMCA credentialing program ISO/IEC accreditation came as a result of a rigorous evaluation conducted by ANAB, that included a thorough analysis of test data, and detailed audits of CAMICB’s management systems, test development and psychometric procedures. 

Setting The Stage

Over the past 25 years, the CMCA credential has been a catalyst in establishing community association management as a discrete profession. The common interest community housing model exists around the world and there has been consistent interest in the CMCA credential, the educational pathways to achieve the credential and the continuing education requirement to maintain the credential. As the credential grew within the United States it became an important tool to building professionalism in the field outside of the Untied States.

CAMICB has strong support from a number of community association managers outside of the United States including Pepe Gutierrez and Michael Hurley. Pepe serves CAMICB as an active International Subject Matter Expert. He’s an internationally recognized proponent of the CMCA credential and advocate for professionalism in the field of community association management. Pepe, a professor at Burgos University in Spain and the founder of Megafincas Alicante management company, is a frequent speaker at international gatherings of community association managers and has written extensively on the issues common to community association management around the world. 

“Earning ISO accreditation puts the CMCA credentialing program in a league of its own,” said Pepe Gutierrez, CMCA. “It’s the only accredited certification for community association management professionals around the world and it represents a baseline of professionalism, no matter where a manager is working.” 

Michael Hurley has been a consistent force in helping CAMICB ensure all international partners are working for the betterment of our profession and industry. He continues to serve CAMICB as an International Subject Matter Expert. His perspective on the profession of community association management as it is practiced in Australia and elsewhere in the world has been invaluable in guiding our efforts to expand international delivery of the CMCA exam in a way that is responsive to all candidates, no matter where they are practicing. 

Added Michael Hurley, Director of the Australian-based Strata Title Management Pty Ltd., “Gaining ISO/IEC accreditation is particularly important as recognition of the value of the CMCA credential has grown around the world. CAMICB already delivers the CMCA exam in Dubai, UAE, Australia, Canada, Panama and elsewhere outside of the United States; it’s particularly exciting to see the next phase of this expansion.”

A Major Milestone: Dual Accreditation

The CMCA credentialing program was first accredited in 2010 through the US-based National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), representing third-party validation of compliance with the highest domestic standards in professional credentialing. It has since been reaccredited twice by NCCA, most recently in 2020. 

Achieving both NCCA and ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation places the CMCA credential in an elite cohort of professional certification programs and speaks to the importance the CAMICB Board of Commissioners places on conducting the CMCA program in full accordance with best practices in professional credentialing. “We take this responsibility to the profession seriously and are extremely proud of this achievement as we continue to establish the credential as a baseline for building the profession worldwide,” added Mulhare.

Always Maintaining High Standards

Community managers from around the world report that the responsibilities of a professional manager for condominiums, homeowners associations, housing cooperatives and master-planned communities are comprised of the core competencies identified by the CAMICB Job Task Analysis, including governance, legal, budgeting and reserves, contracting, financial controls, risk management, facilities maintenance, meetings and human resources. Dawn M. Bauman, CAE, former Executive Director of CAMICB and CAI’s Senior Vice President for Government and Public Affairs said, “The ISO/IEC accreditation of the CMCA program provides assurances to homeowners, developers, regulators, and legislators that professional managers who have earned and maintained the CMCA credential have the comprehensive competency and ethical standards to serve their communities.”

Both NCCA and ISO accreditation require continued compliance with their respective standards. To maintain NCCA accreditation, the CMCA credentialing program must undergo a rigorous reaccreditation process every five years. Following the initial ISO/IEC accreditation, the CMCA credentialing program will be reexamined on an annual basis through an in-depth document review and on-site assessment of the program. 

To read more, go to: https://www.camicb.org/Pages/CMCA-Achieves-Dual-Accreditation.aspx

To learn more about the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), visit www.ansi.org.