Continuing Education Sponsors

Read CFP Board's recent communications to CE sponsors:

• Carol Lee Roberts, CFP® Named as Managing Director of Examinations and Education
• Updated Terms and Conditions
• Important News Regarding Not-for-Profit CE Sponsors (10/14/2005)
• Online Program Registration Now Available (9/30/2005)
• CFP Board to Require Electronic Reporting of CE Attendee Lists (3/2005)

October 10, 2007 - CFP Board has announced that it has named Carol Lee Roberts, CFP® to the position of Managing Director of Examinations and Education, effective November 5.

Ms. Roberts brings to CFP Board a professional background that encompasses both the practice of financial planning and the administration of financial planning education programs. After working at Merrill Lynch for more than 16 years in a variety of capacities, Ms. Roberts has served the past six years at DePaul University, where she has acted as Program Manger of its Financial Planning Certificate Program and a Director of DePaul’s Office of Continuing and Professional Education. At DePaul, she helped develop the Financial Planning Certificate program into one of the most successful programs offered through the university’s Office of Continuing and Professional Education, for which she also supervised marketing, new program development, corporate sales and web services for all continuing and professional education programs.

In her new role with CFP Board, Ms. Roberts will direct the examination and education components of CFP® certification, which is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies. She will provide oversight to CFP Board's development of the rigorous CFP® Certification Examination and to the development and support of the more than 300 financial planning education programs in the U.S. that have registered with CFP Board to prepare financial planners for CFP® certification.

“We are very pleased to have someone with Carol Lee’s accomplishments and unique set of credentials joining CFP Board’s leadership team,” said Kevin R. Keller, CAE, Chief Executive Officer of CFP Board. “Financial planning is becoming increasingly central to the lives of American consumers, and it is important that the education standards and other requirements for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification remain both rigorous and relevant. Carol Lee’s expertise in financial planning education, along with her background as a CFP® professional, will be a tremendous asset to CFP Board as it pursues its mission to help the public benefit from competent and ethical financial planning.”

CFP Board is currently shifting its operations to the nation’s capital from its current location in Denver, Colorado. As CFP Board continues its work as a vigorous advocate for the public’s interest, the move will facilitate a more influential voice in public policy debates at a time when the public is in need of ethical and reliable financial planning advice amid increasing risks to their financial security.

“I am honored to be joining CFP Board’s leadership team at such an auspicious time in its history,” said Ms. Roberts. “As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, I come to this position with a full appreciation of the special responsibility CFP® mark holders have to the public. Now more than ever, consumers must possess high confidence in the competence of their financial advisors and the standards by which they are governed.”

Ms. Roberts is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional who has been an active member of the professional financial planning community, including involvement with the Financial Planning Association of Illinois, where she currently serves as its Director of Programming, and with CFP Board, for whom she has provided frequent support, including serving on the Education Task Force CFP Board assembled in 2006. She is also a Certified Financial Divorce Practitioner and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois and a Master of Arts in Applied Professional Studies with a focus in Financial Planning from DePaul.

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CFP Board has updated the terms and conditions for continuing education sponsors, including the following changes:

CFP Board-registered CE sponsors are required to electronically report lists of attendees within 30 days after a program has been completed. (Effective 1/1/2006)

CE program registration will expire two years after the program’s initial presentation date and will need to be re-registered upon expiration if the program is still active. (All programs registered as active in our database on or before 12/31/2005 will be assigned an expiration date of 12/31/2007.)

CFP Board will grant credit for self-study programs based on the total recommended completion time rather than half of the recommended completion time.

CE sponsors may choose to have their Web site linked from CFP Board’s Web site. The fee for this linking is $50 annually and must be paid online by credit card. (Effective 1/1/2006)

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October 14, 2005 - CFP Board will offer not-for-profit entities that provide CE programs to their members a reduced program registration fee schedule. As with the other announced changes in CFP Board's CE sponsor and CE program registration policies, this fee reduction will go into effect January 1, 2006. The fee schedule is as follows:

Not-for-profit CE sponsors pay a one-time $100 CE sponsor registration fee.

If the not-for-profit CE sponsor charges its members a fee to attend its CE programs, the sponsor may register programs online at a discounted program registration fee of $25.*

If the not-for-profit CE sponsor does not charge its members to attend its CE programs, the sponsor may register programs online without charge.*

* Please note that the reduced not-for-profit fee schedule is available only for programs that are registered online and will not apply to conferences or to programs provided by for-profit entities.

CFP Board will require as verification of not-for-profit status a copy of the organization's Articles of Incorporation or other documentation confirming the organization's state of incorporation reflecting its 501(c) status with the IRS.

If your organization is a not-for-profit entity and would like to take advantage of the reduced fee schedule on January 1, 2006, CFP Board will need to receive documentation verifying your organization's not-for-profit status prior to December 24, 2005.

If CFP Board does not receive the required documentation verifying your organization's not-for-profit status by December 24, 2005, your organization will subject to the standard $50 per program registration fee until the documentation verifying the not-for-profit status has been received and processed. Programs submitted after receipt and processing of the required documentation will be eligible for the discounted prices listed above; programs submitted before that time will not be retroactively eligible for the discounted prices.

CFP Board anticipates many requests for the reduced fee schedule from not-for-profit CE sponsors before January 1, 2006. Processing those requests will take some time, so we encourage you to submit your organization's request early. Please be assured that all CE sponsors requesting the reduced not-for-profit fee schedule before December 24, 2005, will receive a response to their request before January 1, 2006. Requests received after this date, are not guaranteed to be processed by January 1, 2006.

If your organization is interested in applying for the reduced not-for-profit fee schedule, please fax a copy of your organization's Articles of Incorporation or other documentation verifying your organization's 501(c) status with the IRS to CFP Board at 303-860-7388. Make sure your organization name and e-mail address clearly appear on the materials.

If you have questions regarding the reduced fee schedule for not-for-profit CE sponsors, please feel free to contact CFP Board at 888-830-0042 or cesponsor@CFPBoard.org.

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September 30, 2005 - GREAT NEWS! YOU CAN NOW REGISTER PROGRAMS ONLINE!

Online program registration is now available for continuing education (CE) sponsors currently registered with CFP Board. When registering online, you will get immediate feedback on the program(s) submitted.

Please Note: Online registration is NOT currently available for conferences longer than one day, conferences with breakout sessions, or programs related to CFP Board's Code of Ethics and/or Practice Standards. Please follow existing procedures when submitting these programs. To request forms to register conferences and programs related to CFP Board's Code of Ethics and/or Practice Standards please call 888-830-0042 or e-mail cesponsor@CFPBoard.org.

Log in to your organization's online CE sponsor account at www.CFP.net/cesponsors.asp and follow the step-by-step instructions for registering CE programs. If you have not logged in before, your organization's password will be set to your organization's CFP Board CE sponsor ID number.

Other Changes Taking Effect January 1, 2006

CFP Board-registered CE sponsors will be required to electronically report lists of attendees within 30 days after a program has been completed. This announcement was originally made in March 2005. For more information on the electronic reporting process, please visit CFP Board's Web site at www.CFP.net/teamup/cetools.asp.

CE program registration will expire two years after the program's initial presentation date and will need to be re-registered upon expiration if the program is still active. All programs that are currently active in our database for your organization will automatically expire on 12/31/2007.

Not-for-profit entities that provide CE programs to their members will be offered a reduced registration fee schedule. These entities will be required to pay a one-time $100 sponsor registration fee and submit documentation verifying their not-for-profit status. If a not-for-profit CE sponsor does not charge its members to attend its CE programs, CFP Board will waive the program registration fee and allow the sponsor to register programs online without charge. If the not-for-profit CE sponsor does charge its members a fee to attend its CE programs, CFP Board will discount the program registration fee to $25. These discounts are only available for programs that are registered online and will not apply to conferences or to for-profit entities.

Effective immediately, CFP Board will grant credit for self-study programs based on the recommended completion time rather than half of the recommended completion time.

If you need assistance with the online program registration process, or if you have questions regarding the upcoming changes regarding CE sponsor and program registration, please contact us at 888-830-0042 or cesponsor@CFPBoard.org.

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Dear CFP Board CE Sponsor:

Effective January 1, 2006, CFP Board will require all CE Sponsors to report attendee lists electronically.  All of the information showing you how to get started can now be obtained online at www.CFP.net/teamup/cetools.asp. The sooner you get started, the easier it will be once the requirement has taken effect.  Please contact CFP Board at 888-830-0042 with any questions you may have about the process. 

If your organization is no longer offering CE, please send an e-mail to cesponsor@CFPBoard.organd indicate that you would like to be deleted as a CE Sponsor with CFP Board. Please specify your organization name in the subject field.

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