It all began 30 years ago this year with just 17 trail blazers—the first community managers to earn the Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM) designation, the world’s most respected credential in association management.
More than 2,200 professionals have earned the PCAM since that first class, including 157 between April 2011 and April 2012. As the number of common-interest communities has grown, so too has the number of professionals in the field, now estimated at close to 60,000.
“Two thousand is a huge number because it’s not an easy achievement—and it shouldn’t be,” says Kathryn C. Danella, president of Community Associations Institute (CAI), who was awarded her PCAM in 1993. “It’s a whole lot more than just walking on stage at the CAI Annual Conference, shaking hands and smiling for the camera. That’s wonderful recognition, but earning the PCAM is a serious personal commitment that requires time, hard work, diligence and determination. That’s why the PCAM is so special and valuable—both to the individuals who earn it and the management profession at large.”
The following professionals were part of the first PCAM class in 1982: Robert B. Aglar, Stephen R. Bupp, Jean-Pierre Daem, Robert N. Figeira, Arthur W. Hiban, James L. Laughlin, Daniel A. Lejeune, Jeffrey B. Olsen, Michael F. Packard, Marjorie A. Peterson, Ray Resler, William Rhoten, H. Carl Roessler, Robert Rosen, William O. West, Thomas J. Wilhite and David B. Wolfe.
Bupp, Laughlin, Packard and Peterson also served as national presidents of CAI.
“I feel like it’s the master’s degree for community association managers,” says Bupp, president of Condominium Venture, Inc., in Columbia, Md.
“The PCAM means I have crossed a most important threshold in my career in terms of experience and education,” adds Packard, a senior vice president of Associa in Carlsbad, Calif. Packard is one of many PCAMs who teach CAI professional development courses. For him, that has included leading courses around the world, including most recently in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
One of Packard’s students, Jeevan J D'Mello, senior director with Emaar Community Management in the UAE, was one of the first international members to earn the PCAM and the first to earn the LSM. “Attaining the PCAM and LSM is a dream come true for me,” D’Mello says. “It wasn’t easy attending all those courses, especially coming all the way from Dubai, but it was worth the time and money many times over. The education has helped me become a smarter professional and better person.”
“We applaud all of those who have earned the PCAM, especially those who led the way in the early 1980s,” says CAI Chief Executive Officer Thomas Skiba, CAE. “They blazed a trail that others have followed for 30 years, and that thousands more will follow in the years ahead. They set standards of expertise and professionalism that PCAMs continue to set—and exceed—today.”
The PCAM is the highest and most prestigious credential for community association managers. The Association Management Specialist (AMS) is the second tier of professionalism for community association managers. The first tier is the Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) credential, administered by the National Board of Certification for Community Association Managers (NBC-CAM). CAI’s Large-Scale Manager (LSM) designation is a highly specialized credential that can be earned only after the manager has received his or her PCAM designation.
More than 6,200 managers have earned the AMS, while 67 have earned the LSM.
CAI's designation programs were established to elevate the level of professionalism in the community association marketplace, a dynamic segment of the U.S. housing market that now encompasses more than 62 million Americans in almost 315,000 association-governed communities.
Skiba notes that the PCAM engenders professional and personal respect and spawns more successful and rewarding careers. “It also elevates professionalism and the level of service provided to tens of thousands of associations and millions of homeowners,” he says. “That may be the most important legacy of all for CAI designations.”
Learn more about the PCAM and other CAI designations www.caionline.org/designations. Visit www.nbccam.org to learn more about the CMCA.
With more than 32,000 members dedicated to building better communities, CAI works in partnership with 59 domestic chapters, a chapter in South Africa and housing leaders in a number of other countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. CAI provides information, education and resources to community associations and the professionals who support them. 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.