2024 has been an important year for ABGC. I have been honored to work alongside your Board of Directors and the ABGC staff to implement innovations improving our ability to serve Diplomates and candidates. I would like to share a few recent accomplishments with you here.
First, I hope you have received an email outlining how to utilize your new digital badges. These badges launched at the end of Sept. as a way for CGCs to continue to promote their excellence, professionalism and competence to external parties they interact with. These badges can be shared in email signatures, on LinkedIn and more.
This new initiative is another way our Board is providing Diplomates with continued tools to promote themselves and the profession. If you cannot find your email with digital badge instructions, please reach out to our team for support.
An additional exciting offering is our Needs Based Certification Scholarship for candidates taking the ABGC Certification Examination. This scholarship will increase access to the exam for those with a financial need, allowing ABGC to break barriers to the profession. The Board appreciates promotion of this scholarship by educational professionals or recently credentialed professionals who have contacts prepping for the exam.
Along those lines, at the NSGC Annual Conference, ABGC’s booth interacted with many prospective CGCs who asked great questions about the exam. We were able to provide tips and feedback for them, and we are always happy to speak to those of you at the conference. In addition, we heard many compliments about ABGC’s recent changes from Diplomates, feedback we appreciate.
My hope, on behalf of the ABGC Board, is the investment in technology and innovation, and the adoption of the scholarship program and strategic initiatives to lower exam cost, can increase access for as many CGC candidates as possible.
Future initiatives I’m excited about include the ABGC-NSGC bridge, which will launch on Jan. 1, 2025. This innovation to the current ABGC portal will begin electronically transferring CEUs earned from that date and later. Keep on the lookout for more communications about what this means for you this fall. Also, the Continuing Competence Committee continues to develop our new learning scenario approach to CEUs. This approach will be voluntary in 2025, with completion of the scenarios automatically counting toward 2026 CEUs. Read further updates on the continuing competency webpage.
Looking ahead, the Board’s strategic planning process began this month, and we are hoping to have these finalized by Dec. or Jan. of 2025. This plan will outline our goals through 2027.
So much innovation and change has happened this year. I am looking forward to serving you all in 2025 and beyond using the tools we have and are developing.