American Academy of Certified Public Managers
By joining the DC Society of Certified Public Managers individuals also automatically become members of the national organization of CPMs, the American Academy of Certified Public Managers (AACPM). In fact, individual membership in the AACPM is typically available only by joining one of the local Societies, such as the DC Society of Certified Public Managers, although occasional exceptions are made to accommodate special situations. Thus, all members of the DC Society of CPMs are members of the AACPM, with all attendant rights, benefits, and responsibilities (Code of Ethics).The AACPM membership privilege is inherent in the design of the local and national CPM Society structure, in which the AACPM is essentially composed of the almost 25 active local CPM Societies throughout the country. For information about the other local CPM Societies, see the links to those Societies and the individual state CPM programs, available through our Information Resources for Public Managers page. Beyond the DC Metropolitan Area, the other Societies comprising the AACPM are state-based, as are the CPM education programs from which each Society's members obtained their certifications. A CPM's local membership conveys membership in the AACPM and, in fact, a portion of the member dues for all local Society members goes to fund the AACPM. By joining the DC Society and, therefore, the AACPM, CPMs join an organization of several thousand CPMs that was begun in the late 1980s by seven charter-member local societies, specifically, those from: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
Membership in the AACPM conveys some additional benefits beyond those already acquired by membership in the DC Society (see DC Society membership benefits). The discount on membership fees for the American Society for Pubic Administration, for example, originated through the efforts of the AACPM. Among the AACPM benefits are the annual CPM professional development conference, usually held in September, with the next one in Louisville, Kentucky, from 10 September through 12 September 2006. Information on past and future national conferences can be found on the Academy's activities page.
Beyond the individual benefits CPMs
gain from membership at both the local and national levels, the formation
of the AACPM also served to bring all CPMs together under the umbrella
of an important individual and collective responsibility: adherence
to a common Code of Ethics. Thus, beyond their common interests
and goals, and both the tangible and intangible benefits of association
through the local and national professional organizations, all CPMs
are bound by a common oath of public service. All Society members
and visitors are encouraged to review the Society's national Code
of Ethics for Certified Public Managers.
AACPM National Benefits
While overlapping in part with the commonly defined benefits of the local
Society, the American Academy of Certified Public Managers summarizes
the benefits of membership in the national organization as:
-
National recognition of commitment to professional standards
-
Professional
Code
of Ethics
-
Quarterly web-based newsletter - The
CPM Connection (or, see the past
issues of the newsletters
in PDF format.)
-
Network with other professional
managers around the country
-
Sharing awareness of new developments
in theory and management projects
-
Recognition of contributions to
professional pubic management projects
-
Career development through
Annual Professional Development Conference
- Reduced membership rate for the American Society of Public Administration
More detailed information concerning the American Academy of Certified Public Managers is available in the organization's current brochure, and on the Academy's web site.