CMA strikes a chord at IWF
The Cabinet Makers Association says nearly 400 custom woodworking shop owners and managers, industry professionals and suppliers attended its inaugural expanded educational sessions last week at IWF 2012 in Atlanta.
The sessions were part of the CMA’s new professional certification program.
“We’ve obviously struck a chord within the woodworking industry,” CMA executive director Dave Grulke said in a statement. “With most of the attendees at our IWF live sessions coming from outside the CMA’s membership, it seems the executive level management training we are offering is very much needed and desired by shop owners and managers. Considering this program didn’t exist a year ago, we’re absolutely elated with the response on this brand new education and credentialing program.”
“The CMA began this process with its own membership in mind,” new CMA president Tracy Yarborough added. “After we began gathering the curriculum we saw the value in the information and wanted to provide this program to all professional cabinetmaking and woodworking shops. While a good portion comes from our own members and their experiences from the world of hard knocks, we’ve also tapped into experts from inside and beyond the woodworking world to provide this education.”
The CMA’s professional certification program is designed to provide in depth education on management perspectives of running the entire custom woodworking business.
“This program is a cohesive set of educational sessions with a goal of attaining a valuable acknowledgement of one’s accomplishments in the form of a professional designation,” Grulke continued. “It provides an independent credential for successful enrollees that will become an industry benchmark in the very near future. We invite industry participation in using educational materials they may have already developed for CMA accreditation. ”
