LAUNCH of Professional Association Focused on Change Management Professionals

LOVELAND, Colo., Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- A new association for change leaders and change management professionals forms with the help of industry leaders from the private and public sector; the 2011 inaugural conference includes keynotes by Harvard Professor John P. Kotter, bestselling author of Leading Change and Admiral Thad Allen, retired Commandant of the United States Coast Guard.

"Realizing the benefits of organizational change is a high bar to reach," states Mark Hilldrup of CapTech Consulting. "Studies continue to document the realities of change failure -- and over and over again the key reason is lack of attention to the people side of change."

"And by the way, strong leadership does not equal strong change leadership," according to Maria Darby of Booz Allen Hamilton. "Change is hard business and leading change successfully -- as many successful leaders recognize -- requires the engagement of real change management practitioners."

Businesses around the globe are becoming increasingly aware of the need for change management professionals to partner with them to increase the probability of successful change -- and achieve better results. These change management professionals have grown and organized over the last several years through well organized community-of-interest networks, and now are standing up their own professional organization, the Association of Change Management Professionals -- the ACMP.

"The ACMP offers change management practitioners the opportunity to network and advance the intent and discipline of change management across the globe," states Donna Brighton of Brighton Leadership.  "As a non-profit organization, the ACMP will serve as the focal point for certification and professionalization of the discipline of change management."

The ACMP certification will enable employers to identify qualified change management practitioners and will set the ethical standards for the practice. "This discipline is an incredibly energized and fast developing field, and the ACMP will provide change management professionals with both professional accreditation and a structured environment to facilitate the rapid growth of change management as a recognized professional discipline," according to Stephen Wehrenberg of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The ACMP will host its first global conference on Change Management in May 2011, featuring headliners John Kotter -- recognized change management guru, and Admiral Thad Allen, Principal Federal Official for the response to Katrina and for the recent Deepwater Horizon spill, and retired Commandant of the United States Coast Guard.

"We expect over 1,000 change management professionals will be in attendance," states Jim Schnaible of the City of Albuquerque, "and this is not an event to be missed." The inaugural conference is set for May 1 - 4, 2011 in Orlando, Florida. "Such a unique opportunity rarely occurs in our professional careers -- to be part of the creation and formation of a professional discipline," adds Jeff Hiatt of Prosci. "There is no more worthy discipline than the leadership of change."

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please go to http://www.acmp.info/conference/

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SOURCE Prosci, Inc.