Chartered Institute of Professional Management

I have my MBA, which sure comes in handy for all of my housewifely investment banking duties. If I didn't, though, especially if I had attended a liberal arts school instead of what Rex calls "votech," I might consider some form of online self-study to supplement my undergraduate degree. Rex and I disagree on the value to an investment banking analyst of a History or Political Science degree from an Ivy League school. My suggestion to these recent grads is "Go back and get yourself some business smarts," or at least learn your way around an income statement by taking some business management courses. And it seems these distance learning programs have come a long way since they used to advertise on matchbook covers when I was a kid. One of my friends from high school teaches accounting online from her home in the DC area.

For example, the Chartered Institute of Professional Management (CIPMUSA) is a non-profit professsional membership organization to empower skills in business management, leadership, business management training, business education and operating a business as a Chief Executive Officer. The twelve (12) certificates offered by CIPMUSA actually sound intriguing: Project Management, Marketing Management, Economics, Managing Human Resources, Ethics and Leadership, Law and Corporate Manager, Entrepreneurial Finance, Negotiations, Electronic Market Strategy, and Integrated Marketing Communications.

I don't know what to say about the spelling error in their logo (below). Maybe prefessional is what you are before you become professional, a chrysalis before the butterfly emerges.