Kathryn C. Danella, CMCA, LSM, PCAM, general manager of Boca Pointe Community Association, Inc., near Boca Raton, Fla., will begin her one-year term January 1 as president of Community Associations Institute (CAI).

Danella’s term is her sixth year on the CAI Board of Trustees. She is a past president of CAI’s Gold Coast chapter and earned CAI’s prestigious National Volunteer of the Year Award in 2009.  She has also served as chair of the Association of Professional Community Managers Board, a CAI member representation group that works on behalf of community association management professionals.

Headquartered in Falls Church, Va., CAI is a 31,000-member, international organization dedicated to helping homeowners, community association managers and other professionals build better communities.

“It’s an honor and privilege to serve as CAI president so I can continue to work with so many talented industry leaders on so many important issues,” says Danella. “There are unlimited opportunities for CAI to enhance industry professionalism, create better communities and advocate on behalf of these communities and the people who call them home.”

More than 60 million Americans live in an estimated 315,000 common-interest communities.

A native of Florida, Danella began her community management career with Fairfield Communities in 1982 and became the director of community development for Markborough, the master developer of Boca Pointe, four years later. When the community transitioned to homeowner control 1989, the resident board of directors urged her to continue managing the association. As general manager, she oversees all personnel and operations.

Situated on more than 1,000 acres just outside of Boca Raton, the community consists of more than 4,000 residences in 28 villages, a country club, an athletic center, a commercial area known as Wharfside Shopping Village and two houses of worship. Two of the villages are assisted-life care facilities.

Danella has earned the highest credential in the industry, the Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM) designation, and she was the first PCAM in Florida to earn CAI’s Large-Scale Manager (LSM) designation.  She also holds the Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA), which is awarded by the National Board of Certification for Community Association Managers. She is licensed in Florida as a Community Association Manager (CAM).

Locally, Danella was a charter member of the West Boca Sunset Rotary Club, and was named Rotarian of the Year in 2000.  For more than a dozen years, she was a trustee for the Palm Beach Area Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, serving as president for three years.  She also served as a National Trustee of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America from 1996 to 2000.

She has one daughter, Ashley Dean Danella.

CAI’s mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. Visit www.caionline.org or call (888) 224-4321.