Organizing Industry Launches Certification!

The organizing industry, as industries go, is a fairly  young one. NAPO, our professional association has been around since 1985 and our membership has grown to nearly 4,000 worldwide. I am very pleased to announce that the organizing industry, through the long and arduous effort of many dedicated individuals, now has an official certification program!

The inaugural certification exam was administered at the 2007 NAPO Conference held in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 25th of this year. Over 250 organizers sat for the exam and 206 passed, to receive their CPO designation. (CPO is a Registered Trademark by the way... I just can't figure out how to get the little circle R into my blog post!)

Having served on the committees that created the certification exam, you can imagine how excited I was to sit for it myself. However, over a year prior, I had committed to Oklahoma State University to do a full day workshop for them and the timing was amazing. It turns out my OSU workshop was scheduled for the same dang day the CPO exam was being offered.

Don't get me wrong, I loved speaking at OSU (Go Cowboys!) but I was very bummed about not being able to sit for the inaugural CPO exam, especially since I had helped create it. Drat. But, even though I had to decline taking the exam this time around, I'll be sure to take it the next time it's offered and a big congratulations to those who passed!

Comments

[Scott Roewer]

Hey Monica,
If you can use HTML in your blog, try either the HTML Numerical Code or the HTML Name

Hopefully that will help you out to use ® in the future.

Best,
Scott Roewer, CPO® : )

[Monica Ricci]

Hey Scott thanks! And congrats on passing. I saw your name on the list. :)
~Monica

[Jon King]

This will add yet another level of credibility to the world of organizing. I think will also elevate the importance of getting organized to residential dialogue. Thanks for creating a post about it !

[Monica Ricci]

Jon, thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your thoughts. I agree with you. We are in the same position interior designers were in many years ago, and this certification program will indeed help raise the public awareness that we are indeed professionals and not simply "clean up people".
~Monica