Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications that use post-nominal letters are an acknowledgement of educational achievement, or an agency appointed to safeguard the public interest.
The SANS Institute is a private U.S. for-profit company founded in 1989 that specializes in information security, cybersecurity training, and selling certificates. Topics available for training include cyber and network defenses, penetration testing, incident response, digital forensics, and auditing. The information security courses are developed through a consensus process involving administrators, security managers, and information security professionals. The courses cover security fundamentals and technical aspects of information security. The institute has been recognized for its training programs and certification programs. Per 2021, SANS is the world’s largest cybersecurity research and training organization. SANS is an acronym for SysAdmin, Audit, Network, and Security.
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) is a recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson. PADI courses range from entry level to relatively advanced recreational diver certification, several specialized diving skills courses, usually connected with specific equipment or conditions, some diving related informational courses and a range of recreational diving instructor certifications. They also offer various technical diving courses. As of 2022, PADI is reported to have issued 29 million scuba certifications.
A stockbroker is an individual or company that buys and sells stocks and other investments for a financial market participant in return for a commission, markup, or fee. In most countries they are regulated as a broker or broker-dealer and may need to hold a relevant license and may be a member of a stock exchange. They generally act as a financial advisor and investment manager. In this case they may also be licensed as a financial adviser such as a registered investment adviser.
The Canadian Securities Institute is a Canadian organization that offers licensing courses, advanced certifications, continuing education and custom training for financial services professionals in Canada and internationally.
Henry Perrin Beatty is a Canadian corporate executive and former politician, who served as a Progressive Conservative of the House of Commons from 1972 to 1993, and as a cabinet minister from 1979 to 1980 and again from 1984 to 1993.
Kaplan, Inc. is an international educational services company that provides education and training services to colleges, universities, businesses and individuals around the world. Founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan, the company offers a variety of test preparation, professional training, career development, language training, university and student support services. The company is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company.
The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the America based CFA Institute to investment and financial professionals. The program teaches a wide range of subjects relating to advanced investment analysis—including security analysis, statistics, probability theory, fixed income, derivatives, economics, financial analysis, corporate finance, alternative investments, portfolio management—and provides a generalist knowledge of other areas of finance.
The Electronics Technicians Association, International, Inc. is a US-based not-for-profit 501(c)(6) trade association founded in 1978. The association provides certifications in industries such as basic electronics, fiber optics and data cabling, renewable energy, information technology, photonics and precision optics, customer service, biomedical, avionics, wireless communications, radar, and smart home. ETA is also one of the 12 COLEMs for U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) testing. ETA works with technicians, educators, and military personnel. ETA also partners with companies such as Motorola Solutions to provide certification to their employees.
Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) is a professional certification for professionals in the field of Information Technology. The CITP credential recognizes technical expertise across a wide range of business-technology practice areas.
Following is a partial list of professional certifications in financial services, with an overview of the educational and continuing requirements for each; see Professional certification § Accountancy, auditing and finance and Category:Professional certification in finance for all articles. As the field of finance has increased in complexity in recent years, the number of available designations has grown, and, correspondingly, some will have more recognition than others. Note that in the US, many state securities and insurance regulators do not allow financial professionals to use a designation — in particular a "senior" designation — unless it has been accredited by either the American National Standards Institute or the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.
Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association International (AFCEA), established in 1946, is a nonprofit membership association serving the military, government, industry, and academia as a forum for advancing professional knowledge and relationships in the fields of communications, information technology, intelligence and global security. AFCEA provides a forum for military, government, academic and industry communities with altogether more than 30,000 members. AFCEA supports local chapters, sponsors events, publishes a magazine, promotes STEM education and provides member benefits.
ECO Canada is an online resource for environmental jobs, certification and training established in 1992 as part of Canada's sector council initiative. Sector councils are organizations that address human resource challenges facing the Canadian economy. With the support of private sector investors and the Government of Canada’s Department of Human Resources and Social Development, ECO Canada works to determine the skills and human resource needs of Canada’s environment industry.
The Canadian Professional Sales Association, commonly known as CPSA, is a Canadian association for sales professionals. CPSA is a not-for-profit association with over 15,000 members. CPSA offers professional sales designations, sales training and a membership cost-savings program.
The Professional Picture Framers Association / PPFA is an international trade organization serving the art and framing community worldwide since 1971. Members include independent frame shop owners and staff, distributors and manufacturers of picture frame mouldings, supplies and equipment, art galleries, artists, and other businesses in the custom picture framing industry.
edX is an American for-profit online education platform owned by 2U since 2021. The platform's main focus is to manage a variety of offerings, including elite brand bootcamps.
Stephen S. Poloz is a Canadian banker and was the ninth governor of the Bank of Canada. He is also a member of the board of directors for the Bank for International Settlements.
Brighton College Canadian career college with two campus locations in Burnaby, British Columbia, Crystal Mall Campus and Metropointe Campus. Accredited by PTIB and BC EQA, the college specializes in career training in business, AutoCAD, engineering, construction, information technology, international trade, accounting, office administration and hospitality.
Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada is the national organization representing the Canadian accounting profession through the unification of the three largest accounting organizations: the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA), the Society of Management Accountants of Canada and Certified General Accountants of Canada (CGA-Canada), as well as the 40 national and provincial accounting bodies. It is one of the largest organizations of its type in the world, with over 217,000 Chartered Professional Accountants in Canada and around the world.
American Marriage Ministries is a non-denominational Internet church based in Seattle. The church was founded by Glen Yoshioka in 2009 and ordains and trains people to officiate at weddings. The church is a secular non-denominational organization that does not promote any specific religious ideologies, instead allowing its ministers to define their own practice and faith. This allows ceremonies to be tailored to the beliefs of the couple. The church ordained Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen in 2017. The church had operated entirely online until June 2019, when its ministers began performing in-person ordinations in response to Tennessee passing a law disallowing ministers ordained online from solemnizing weddings in the state. According to Executive Director Lewis King, by June 2017 the church has ordained more than 715,000 people in the United States, including over 13,400 active ministers in Tennessee. The church performed mass ordinations in a number of cities in Tennessee, with the majority of attendees being those who had already been ordained online but need to update their status to comply with the new law.
