Our History

On the morning of November 16, 1988, forty interested members of the first graduating class of the North Carolina Public Manager Program with the designation Certified Public Manager met with Mrs. Bobbie Ann Clark, CPM from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and President of the American Academy of Certified Public Managers®. The meeting was held at the Personnel Development Center (now called the Learning & Development Center), 101 W. Peace Street, Raleigh, North Carolina. Mrs. Clark presented information about the American Academy of Certified Public Managers and encouraged North Carolina CPMs to form a state society prior to the first American Academy Educational Conference and House of Delegates meeting being held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in February of 1989. Early formation of the society would enable the new state society to be considered a “Charter State” of the Academy.

Following graduation on the afternoon of November 16th, a CPM Steering Committee formed to write a constitution and the by-laws for the North Carolina Society. On January 20, 1989, thirty-three Certified Public Managers® officially organized the North Carolina Society of Certified Public Managers® in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Department of the Secretary of State issued the Articles of Incorporation on January 31, 1989. At this time, the first officers and board of directors were elected by the Membership. Margaret J. Bailey was elected the first President of the NCSCPM.  In February 1989 the Society received charter membership in the American Academy of Certified Public Managers® at the House of Delegates meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.