The Director of Certification is an integral member of the AOA’s Certifying Board Services (CBS) team. This position requires the ability to interact seamlessly with professionals on all levels within the association and the certification process; the ability to handle confidential material with the utmost discretion; and the ability to handle highly sensitive situations; and scrupulous attention to detail.

The ideal candidate will work within a complex system of inter-related activities; and demonstrate critical thinking skills that will allow the candidate to draw independent conclusions based on information provided by candidates, diplomates, and board members; the candidate will also be prepared to interact meaningfully with the Vice President and Associate Vice President for CBS and the physician leadership. This person will partner with appropriate internal and external resources to advance the scope of osteopathic certification and pursue opportunities to strengthen the AOA brand with new and existing partners. Overall, this role requires a highly collaborative approach to leadership.

The Director applies principles of knowledge management that maximize technology to deliver exams, provides data/trends, designs new exams and markets various certifications; manages the coordination of materials associated with the examination process including development and distribution of examination schedules and coordination of examiner scheduling; works closely with other Directors and Certification Managers to craft best practices related to marketing, metrics, budgets, revenue projections and forecasting processes; oversees assigned staff Specialists and/or Coordinators – verifying and approving projects—making necessary updates and changes as needed and evaluating performance; exhibits attributes of leadership; and develops the agenda and coordinates the preparation of minutes and appropriate materials for board/bureau meetings in cooperation with the appropriate board/bureau officers. Tasks include preparing and distributing notices, setting and managing timeframes for submission and compilation of agenda books, obtaining committee reports from the officers, drafting and distributing minutes, and coordinating the travel and lodging arrangements for board/bureau members.

Regarding meeting planning, this role works with AOA meeting planning staff for hotel contracts, space planning, refreshments, lunch, etc. for meetings and test administrations; fulfills all administrative needs of the assigned boards; collaborates with CBS staff to prepare necessary reports; coordinates the services of the psychometrician involved with assigned boards; supports members of sub-committees associated with the boards including development of minutes, reports, and letters; and conducts outreach to special populations, e.g., osteopathic/allopathic residency programs and the FREIDA entities.                           

The Director works with the Associate Vice President and the assigned psychometrician on the development of new exams launched by the boards; coordinates board examinations (primary certification and OCC’s continuous osteopathic learning assessments); prepares data for the board/bureau officers regarding credentialing for certification and recertification of candidates; coordinates the writing of new exam questions; works closely with the examination committee and ensures examiners’ participation; supports the item bank team in the maintenance of the item bank of examination questions for assigned board exams; and submits appropriate CME hours to the AOA for those participating in exam-related CME activities. This position creates communication and promotional materials as needed in consultation with the board/bureau members; works with web designer to ensure that the website is updated in a timely fashion; assists the board/bureau officers in writing articles for osteopathic newsletters regarding the certification process; maintains board/bureau documents, i.e., Bylaws, Minutes, Policy and Procedures and Examination Applications; assists in the review and updating of documents in conjunction with board/bureau members; develops budgets; reports financial information for respective board leadership; keeps the Associate Vice President apprised of developing issues and matters that need to be addressed; and performs other duties as deemed necessary for the department.