Growing Our Numbers, Influence and Generosity: Letter From the Executive Director
I.C.E. is known for its generous community, with members sharing knowledge, lessons learned, insights and best practices. I believe this desire to share knowledge generously is why I.C.E. membership is growing and expanding. Strategically, growth in numbers is important to our sustainability, as is growth in thought leadership — in essence, providing expertise that helps move the profession forward. To increase our reach and value, the I.C.E. Board of Directors has been focusing on both types of growth. In this article, I provide an overview of our recent accomplishments and future goals in both realms.
Growth in Numbers
I.C.E. has aimed to increase the number of member organizations and individuals over the past few years. The pandemic certainly taxed every organization’s ability to focus on growth, but it seems the credentialing community is hungry for the information and knowledge sharing found at I.C.E., and we have welcomed many new members — see here for members we welcomed in Q1 2024. I want to specifically call out the sustaining members who have most recently joined I.C.E.:
- Benchprep
- Comms Multilingual Ltd
- risr/
- Strasz Assessment Systems
- Surpass Assessment
To see a list of all of our Sustaining members, visit our I.C.E. membership directory.
To continue increasing our expansion, the Growth Ambassador Task Force has been assisting I.C.E. with our marketing plan and digital strategy. Their valuable insights and suggestions will impact our association’s future. Join me in thanking the following I.C.E. members who have assisted with this effort:
- Susan Cooley, Alpine Testing
- Jessica Dangles, Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology
- Jason Fine, Meazure Learning
- Liz Grater, Institute for Functional Medicine
- Chip Hollis, National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies
- Marianne Horahan, American Nurses Credentialing Center
- Rory McCorkle, Strasz Assessments
- Rali Petrova, American Society for Nondestructive Testing
- Jasmine Rockett, Inteleos
- Holly Saraullo, Data Recognition Corporation
Growth in Thought Leadership
I.C.E. has a long history of providing thought leadership both inside and outside the credentialing community, creating resources dedicated to best practices and forward-looking practices — like the Future of Credentialing project. If you haven’t yet downloaded the paper and related resources or participated in the Future of Credentialing prioritization survey, you can contact Doug Weinbaum for more information.
Now, the Board of Directors is creating another mechanism for member input into the thought leadership of the association: Strategic Insight Panels. Launching in June, these panels will engage 12-18 members for conversation on various topics, such as the impact of AI and the direction of diversity, equity and inclusion in credentialing. These sessions are meant to be input sessions as opposed to educational opportunities — to assist the I.C.E. Board of Directors in their strategic thinking. So, encourage your best and brightest thinkers on these topics to join. You can find out more information and send us your suggested individuals on the I.C.E. website.
In addition to thought leadership, research has been a staple in I.C.E.’s program features. In 2023, the association launched an initiative to rethink how we view research. This effort resulted in a newly formed Research Think Tank, a new volunteer body evaluating research priorities, tactics for using the research for greater impact and new distribution methods for wider reach of the information. You’ll hear more about this effort throughout 2024. You may also be asked to participate in surveys related to this research agenda in the coming months. Thank you to the following I.C.E. thought leaders for their insights and creativity in this new initiative:
- Jim Carr, Behavior Analysts Certification Board
- Stephanie Dille, Meazure Learning
- Tim Muckle, National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists
- Patricia Muenzen, ACT
- Mike Niederpruem, American Osteopathic Association
- Linda Waters, Prometric
- Jared Zurn, National Council of Architectural Registration Board
This level of engagement from our members demonstrates the strength and agility of the organization. Our association’s richness in thought leadership is the reason we’re able to attract so many new participants to the community. We are growing because of the dedication of these and so many other I.C.E. members.