District of Columbia
Society of Certified Public Managers
Improving Public Service by Improving Public Managers

Certified Public Manager Classes and Graduations

1997 - Present

The Society is open to all Certified Pubic Managers, but its membership is composed principally of graduates of the Washington, DC metropolitan area CPM programs: the Program for Excellence in Municipal Management (PEMM) created by the District of Columbia Government and George Washington University; and the Institute for Regional Excellence (IRE), created by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the George Washington University.

The PEMM began in the summer of 1997, graduating its first class of CPMs in July, 1998, while the IRE began in 2001, graduating its first class of CPMs in September, 2002.  Since the Certified Public Manager Program began in the Washington metropolitan area, almost 700 public managers from the area's local governments have obtained their certifications. The PEMM program has averaged about two classes of graduates per year while the IRE program produces one class of graduates per year.  Additionally, the US Department of Agriculture Graduate School conducts CPM classes on a less regular schedule than the other two programs, and its graduates are often from governments and agencies outside of the Washington area.