History

What is now known as the Certification Network Group (CNG) was started by Judy Rosenbloom in the early 1980’s. She was the executive director for a certifying agency who occasionally called together her colleagues for informal discussions on testing and advice for problems on issues she and others were facing. Over the years, the group grew to include invited speakers. When Judy moved out of the area, the group of attendees kept the networking tradition alive. The growth led to a need for volunteers to help plan and organization future meetings.

In the 1990’s, as the CNG became more organized, the volunteer group became knows as the Steering Committee, with someone agreeing to informally chair the committee. The Steering Committee met at the beginning of a calendar year to plan four or five meetings.

A significant step toward structure and sophistication occurred in 2001 when the Certification Network Group went digital. A steering committee member had web site capabilities to post the group’s information and send meeting announcements by email. CNG experienced a tremendous growth as a result, in both Washington, DC, and Chicago.

Today, the CNG is led by a board of directors. Meetings are planned by the Washington, DC, and Chicago Steering Committees. In 2013, CNG was incorporated as a non-profit entity, with the mission of providing opportunities, relationship building, education, and resources for certification professionals to support their initiatives in certification, accreditation, and customer service.