10/01/2017

New Board and New Fiscal Year

By Paul Timmins, NCDA President and Deneen Pennington, Executive Director

NCDA is happy to announce the new and returning members of the Board of Directors.  Starting in October, Paul Timmins will assume the NCDA Presidency, supported by Spencer Niles as President-Elect.  NCDA’s Kathy Evans will transfer from Trustee of Counselor Educators and Researcher to President-Elect-Elect.  Fulfilling the one-year vacancy for Kathy’s Trustee position is Seth Hayden, former chair of the Research Committee.  Melissa Venable is the new Secretary and Lisa Severy will become the ACA Governing Representative.  Brian Hutchison continues in his second year as the Treasurer.

Hyung Joon Yoon, Trustee-at-Large, Sharon Givens, Trustee for Agencies, Business/Industry, and Private Practice, and Wendy LaBenne, Trustee for State Divisions continue in their roles.  New trustees include Celeste Hall, Trustee for School Counselors and Specialists) and LaKeisha Mathews, Trustee for Higher Education Career Counselors and Specialists.  

Envisioning Our Future

The NCDA Board utilizes a Long-Term Plan which guides its work. The current version, titled “Vision 2020,” reflects where the current board hopes that NCDA can be in three years. The 2016-2017 board of directors discussed and revised the plan, and as the 2017-2018 board members assume their offices on October 1, they will convene for an annual planning retreat where they will discuss the plan, fine-tune it, and discuss strategies for implementing it.

The Long-Term plan is divided into six categories, reflecting a desire to provide value to members, to remain a vibrant organization, and to advance the four categories of NCDA’s mission statement -- professional development, publications, standards, and advocacy.

The current Long-Term plan is outlined below. Keep in mind that the plan is constantly in flux, and it’s not a perfectly-written document! It will evolve as Board members re-evaluate its ideas, starting during the planning retreat in October.

The 2017-2018 board will fine-tune the plan and will set one-year goals that align with the Vision 2020. As the plan is revised, and as one-year goals are developed, they will be shared on the NCDA website.

NCDA Vision 2020

Draft as of August, 2017

Goal 1: Increased Value of Membership

​1. Increase membership by 10% each year.

​2. Highlight and increase outreach to undergraduate and graduate counseling and psychology programs highlighting career counseling as a mental health profession.

​3. Sharpen our constituency model so the conference, the website, and other programming and media (i.e., publications) focus on “my needs” as a counselor educator, private practitioner, school career counselor, etc.

​a. Work on reconnecting regions so that counselor educators in the south have opportunities to connect in their region and private practitioners in the west have opportunities to connect, etc.

​b. Explore constituent groups by credentials – having CCSPs and CMCSs, etc. connected to each other by region, by constituent groups, and by their credentials.

​c. Group programs at the conference so that smaller groups can connect with each other.

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4. Focus on more specific collaborations with other professional associations around our credentials.

​5. Strengthen vendor relationships.

a. Design an “associate” membership status specifically for organizations/vendors.

b. Spend more time highlighting conference vendors DURING the conference.

c. Send out email blasts to members before and after the conference highlighting vendors and their websites to inform members of those vendors who are supporting NCDA and who are connected to the needs/interests of members.

Goal 2: Maintain and Strengthen a Vibrant Organization

​1. Effectively empower committees, task forces, Counselor Educator Academy, Leadership Academy, headquarters, board, and constituency groups.

​2. Develop organizational competencies (including technology).

​3. Develop a values statement.

​4. Align NCDA vision and goals.

​5. Leaders are visible, known to members, accessible -- leadership is personalized.

​6. Establish NCDA’s presence internationally.

​7. Strengthen reporting requirements for all groups to promote awareness of their work.

Goal 3: Professional Development

​1. Increase participation in NCDA credentialing initiative and training programs by offering CEU’s (or credential) for attendees.

​2. Increase the number of participants for CPI’s and the Annual Conference.

​3. Provide more just-in-time professional development for continuing education opportunities for maintenance of credentials.

Goal 4: Research/Publications

​1. Continue strengthening Career Development Quarterly

​2. Help members secure external funding for research.

3. Be intentional about recruiting authors -- for all our publications.

4. Strategically and intentionally collect information on what practitioners need so that NCDA can be more responsive in its publications.

​5. Provide seed money for researchers, but provide direction on what research would be useful,​ milestones to assure accountability, and promote use of the research.​

Goal 5: Standards

1. Continue to develop and build the credentialing initiative and Commission

2. Provide credentials recognized by practitioners, employers, educators, and the general public.

3. Provide multiple avenues for credentialed individuals to attain continuing professional development; Recognize professional development providers who meet NCDA standards for CEU provision.

4. Establish mechanisms for individuals to express concerns related to credentialed individuals and a process for investigating and resolving any potential issues.

Goal 6: Advocacy

1. Establish and maintain purposeful and consistent collaborations both with organizations that help support NCDA initiatives/members, and with organizations that support issues that relate to NCDA’s mission.

2. Provide a timely voice on Capitol Hill to advocate for policies that relate to NCDA’s work.

3. Provide education for NCDA members and external parties.

4. Purposeful and consistent marketing to support NCDA’s self-advocacy and to provide external advocacy for things like public communications and voter efforts.

Visit the NCDA Board of Directors webpage for more detailed biographical and contact information, or to ask questions about the Long Term plan. Members are encouraged to view documents posted on the website and meet Board members at the annual conference and up-coming Career Practitioner Institute.

Paul Timmins is president of the National Career Development Association (2017-18). He is the director of career services in the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts, where he works with a team that helps students develop their “Three Es:” exploring, gaining experience, and excelling as they implement plans for life after graduation. Timmins received his Masters Degree in Student Affairs Administration from Indiana University and a Bachelors Degree in Speech Communication and Marketing from the University of St. Thomas (MN). He can be reached at president@ncda.org

Deneen Pennington is the Executive Director of the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and owner of Creative Management Alliance, an association management firm located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As Executive Director, Pennington supervises the management services, federal grants, and publications development for NCDA. She received her Masters in Adult Education from Oklahoma State University and Bachelors in Business Administration from Northeastern Oklahoma State University. Before coming to NCDA, Pennington was Coordinator for the NOICC Training Support Center through a federal grant at the Oklahoma Department of Career Tech.
Email: dpennington@ncda.org