A Historic First: UPPCC Offers Certification Exams at CAPPO Conference

February 6, 2007 -The California Association of Public Purchasing Officers (CAPPO) held their 90th annual educational conference in Napa, California January 22-26. This years' conference marked the first conference that the association invited the Universal Public Purchasing Certification Council (UPPCC) to administer its Certified Public Purchasing Officer (CPPO) and Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) public procurement certification exams to conference attendees. Testing offerings at a conference event has historically been an option reserved only for those attending the Annual Forum hosted by the National Institute for Governmental Purchasing, Inc. (NIGP). As one of two founding members of the UPPCC, conference exams have been a long held tradition for NIGP conference attendees. The National Association of State Purchasing Official (NASPO) is the other founding organization of the UPPCC.

As of May 2006, the leadership of UPPCC now extends beyond the organizations two founding members to include representation from four other collegial associations; the Florida Association of Public Purchasing Officers (FAPPO), National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP), National Procurement Institute (NPI) as well as CAPPO. The expansion to other, well-respected procurement associations lend a much broader review of the content of the certification exams and therefore greater applicability of the UPPCC certifications to the entire public procurement profession.

Several individuals attending the CAPPO Conference took advantage of the limited opportunity to apply their previously earned C.P.M. (Certified Purchasing Manager) certification to bridge to one of the two UPPCC credentials. The bridging opportunity was developed by UPPCC in 2006 to allow those that hold the C.P.M. certification and work in the public sector to earn certifications more closely aligned with public sector practice. UPPCC will be offering the bridging examinations through 2008.

Seven professionals took the C.P.M. to CPPO oral bridge assessment and all seven were successful in their endeavors.

Congratulations to the newest CPPOs:

Jon W. Bischetsrieder, C.P.M., CPPO, Purchasing Agent, City of Santa Clarita
John P. Coggins, C.P.M., CPPO, Purchasing & Materials Manager, Orange County Fire Authority
Boyd W. Donavon, C.P.M., CPPO, Assistant Purchasing Agent, County of Ventura
Michael R. Gersch, C.P.M., CPPO, Purchasing and Contracts Manager, City of Pico Rivera
Dawn K, Haddon, C.P.M., CPPO, Purchasing Manager, City of Rancho Cucamonga
Paul W. Herman, C.P.M., CPPO, Purchasing Manager, City of Burbank
Daniel S. Marran, C.P.M., CPPO, Purchasing Manager, City of Sparks

Vice Chairman of the UPPCC, Jim O'Neill, CPPO, presented certificates to the new CPPOs at the Thursday conference luncheon and remarked that "it was an honor to share the excitement, enthusiasm and tears of joy from the CAPPO members who successfully completed the oral examination for CPPO. I witnessed a truly ground breaking event for our organization."

Six other professionals sat for the C.P.M. to CPPB bridge examination and one other sat for the full CPPB written examination. Those examination results were not announced on-site, but some days later after scoring at the UPPCC Headquarters office.

Congratulations to the newest CPPBs:

William Broderick, C.P.M., CPPB, Contracts Specialist, County of San Diego
Linda Brown, C.P.M., CPPB, Purchasing Agent, South Tahoe Public Utility District
Rosa Ceniceros, C.P.M., CPPB, Procurement Services Manager, County of Ventura
Nancy Jones, C.P.M., CPPB, Purchasing Manager, City of South Lake Tahoe
Lynn Khaw, C.P.M., CPPB, Principal Administrative Analyst, City and County of San Francisco
Natalie Walter, C.P.M., CPPB, Administrative Analyst, City of Yuba City
Colin Dawson, CPPB, Purchasing Agent, City of el Cajon