More than 150 volunteers and guests attended celebration of 25th anniversary of when CCO certifications first became available.
November 23, 2021—CCO held its first in-person meetings in nearly two years during the week of November 8-12 in Arlington, VA. Last year marked the 25th Anniversary of the founding of CCO; however, 2021 marked the 25th Anniversary of when CCO certification first became available.
The black-tie 25th Anniversary Gala took place the evening of Thursday, November 11, after several days of exam management committee meetings and the Sixth Annual Industry Forum on Personnel Qualifications presented by the NCCCO Foundation. Everyone in attendance enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces after the past year of relative isolation.
The evening’s festivities started with a reception with hors d’oeuvres and refreshments, providing networking opportunities and a great way to meet other professionals in the industry. The reception was then be followed by a formal plated dinner accompanied by the Gala celebration. View photo gallery.
Engaging Speakers
Guests were treated to presentations by CCO CEO Thom Sicklesteel and NCCCO Foundation CEO Graham Brent, reflecting on the history of CCO and honoring CCO’s “Difference Makers,” as well as stakeholders in the construction and certification arenas. Sicklesteel also updated attendees with highlights from the past year such as two record-breaking months of testing volume in March and April of 2021, as well as future initiatives including new certification programs currently under development and new technology coming to the test administration team.
Additional speakers included Dr. Vijay Krishna, Vice President, ANSI National Accreditation Board, who spoke about the importance of professional third-party accreditation which documents that a certification is fair, valid, and reliable. Dr. Krishna also spoke to what an excellent example CCO has done in creating personnel certification programs, especially practical exams, for many other industries to model theirs on.
Peter Juhren, President and Chief Operating Officer, Morrow Equipment Company, LLC, also spoke at length about the value and impact of CCO’s esteemed volunteers, many of whom were honored for their decades of contributions to developing and managing CCO’s broad portfolio of certifications. Mr. Juhren shared his own experiences as a volunteer and how much it meant to him, and Morrow, to participate in CCO programs from their development.
During the course of the evening, 132 awards were presented to volunteers who represented more than 1,500 years of volunteer service to CCO.
Thanks to Our Sponsors
The entire evening was largely made possible by the generous contributions of the following industry sponsors:
