Annual NARI Certification Board Meeting Success

The Certification Board met for its annual meeting at NARI Headquarters November 14 through 16.  Chris Keilty, CR called the meeting to order at 8:15 Monday morning.  According to Chris: “These meetings are critical to maintain our exam’s relevance to the remodeling industry”.

At the table from left to right Rose Grabowski, CRA, Jake Schloegel, CR, Patrick Bentivegna, CR, CRPM,(Vice Chair) Jesse Morado, CR, Chris Keilty, CR (Chair), Anthony Tripp, CR, CKBR, CLC, UDCP, Gary Grabowski, CR, UDCP, David Pekel, MCR, UDCP (Officer Liaison Standing Left to right Fred Ulreich, NARI CEO, Cindy Foley, Dan Taddei

Following the introductions meeting overview Dan Taddei and NARI’s Director of Education and Certification and staff liaison to the Certification Board administered the CLC exam to the board.  Dan maintained the same conditions that certification candidates would experience while taking their exam.   Anthony Trip, CR, CKBR, CLC, CRPM said “Taking the exam like this put us in our candidates shoes and really reinforced the need for continuing education”.

The Board went on to conduct a full review of CLC exam.  The exam was approved for use in the December test cycle.

During lunch the Board was provided an update on the Accredited Remodeling Company program.  This program had its genesis several years ago in a Certification Board meeting much like this one.  They learned that the program development is nearing completion and may start a pilot program effort after the 1^st of the year.

“The Accredited Remodeling Company program is a natural progression toward the professionalization of the Remodeling Industry” said Patrick Bentivegna, CR, CRPM and Vice Chair of the Certification Board.

The Board went on to do a deep dive of the CLC exam content area statements.  The statements are the standards to which the certification board must write questions too.  “If it is not addressed in a topic statement then the question cannot be used in the exam” maintained Taddei. The revised topic statements will be published on the NARI Website and will be available for public review and comment by Mid-December. As part review and comment process the Board will be asking for input regarding the use of technology by Lead Carpenters; what are they using and how are they using it.

Day two started with the Certification Board members taking the Universal Design Certified Professional (UDCP) exam.  This exam had been revised and expanded by experts headed by Bryce Jacob, CR, UDCP.  The Board applied the same process as it did to the CLC exam and in the end approved it for deployment.

The Board met with Elizabeth McKenna of NARI’s PMO (Marketing) to discuss what our new certificates will look like, the look and feel of our new marketing materials and the plan for our outreach efforts.  The PMO will be providing options regarding the new certificates base on the inputs provided.  They also discussed developing Certification branded materials such as NARI Certified Professional Clings, Pins, etc.  More work is required in this regard.

Next month you will hear about the outreach discussion and the final day’s discussion.  More to follow.

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