Michael Yelton, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, of Community Management Corp., Chantilly, Va., is the 1,000th community association manager to earn the highest level of professional recognition in the industry from the Community Associations Institute. Yelton joined the elite group of managers who have earned Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM®) designation at CAI's 45th National Conference in Arlington, Va., Oct. 29-31.

A resident of Haymarket, Va., Yelton has twenty years of experience in high-rise, mid-rise and garden style condominium management. Active in CAI chapter activities, Yelton won the CAI Washington Metro Chapter 1997 Rising Star award. He serves as chairman of the chapter's Special Events Committee and co-chairman of its Hearts and Hammers program, which restores homes for the needy. Yelton was one of the first managers in the country to be named a Certified Community Association Manager (CMCA®) by the National Board of Certification for Community Association Managers.

Launched in 1982, the PCAM® designation recognizes managers who have demonstrated has the highest degree of knowledge, experience and integrity in community association management. To be eligible for the PCAM® designation, managers must have at least three years of experience providing community management and be a CAI member in good standing. PCAM® candidates must successfully complete the 20-hour Essentials of Community Association Management course; the Professional Management Development Program, which includes more than 80 hours of coursework and six examinations; and a two-day case study culminating in a complete community profile presentation. PCAM® designees must fulfill continuing education and service requirements and adhere to the CAI Professional Manager Code of Ethics. CAI the Professional Community Association Manager designation program to encourage professionalism and ethical practice in community association management.

Community association management is a growing profession dedicated to fostering responsive, competent, effective community associations. A community association manager helps associations run smoothly by:

• providing administrative, operational and managerial counsel to association boards and residents;
• developing association budgets and financial reports,
• directing the enforcement of community association covenants and restrictions,
• assisting board members in the selection of contractors and insurance providers,
• overseeing and authorizing payment for community association services,
• directing association personnel, and
• performing site inspections.

The Community Associations Institute is a nonprofit association created in 1973 to educate and represent the nation's 205,000 community associations—condominium associations, homeowner associations and cooperatives. CAI members include homeowners, associations and related professionals and service providers.