We go back, Linda and me. In fact, we used to work together when I lived in Los Angeles some years ago. As sometimes happens when you are fortunate enough to make a life-long friend (I consider her my kid sister) at work, living across the country doesn’t change that friendship.
So, by keeping in touch with her during the last seven years since I moved to Atlanta, I learned Linda had finished her Associates Degree and now has a job in accounting - in Accounts Payable no less! Small world, huh? Thus, the story of Linda’s success and AP Certification is the topic of my next blog entry, on this sunny spring day.
There are more than 3,000 VPs, CPAs, Controllers, MBAs, Accounting Managers, AP Managers, AP Supervisors, AP Leads & AP Specialists around the globe who have earned their APM or APS Certifications. Yep, across the globe! Most recently, a group of 347 across five business units at GENPACT in India became certified, as well as organizations in South Africa, Prague, Bermuda, Barbados, Canada, Romania, Hungary and so many here at home in the great US of A!
From Coca-Cola and Southcentral Foundation in Alaska to ConAgra Foods and Linda Zusmer Morgan at Peak Performance in SoCal, the organizations span all shapes and sizes, be it non-profits and very small departments of 1 or 2 people to the Fortune 100. So, why did Linda and so many others like her do it?
The common thread that links all AP Certified professionals together is this: a desire to learn and be the best at what they do, whether there is a crowd cheering for them at the finish line or not. In Linda’s case, she works for a small company with no training-reimbursement opportunities. So she paid the $345 for the program herself; out-of-her-own pocket.
 Linda Zusmer Morgan |
Linda, like so many we’ve met or spoken with over the years, is a seeker of self-improvement and does her personal best at whatever she is involved with. I don’t know Linda to be an underachiever in anything she does. Furthermore, the word “apathy” and “Linda Morgan” would never appear in the same sentence. She is a leader by example and cares about what she does in her personal life and at work.
Linda called me one day at work, simply wanting to find out how she could learn more about AP and better position herself to someday move up the AP ladder. Well, after that call, Linda ordered the AP Certification study material and test package. She read the study manual over the holidays and took the APM test online Saturday, January 31, 2009 from her California home and passed on the first attempt. Needless to say, we were both celebrating together over our Blackberries when the results were in!
As Billy Mays says in all those crazy, loud infomercials for Mighty Putty and anything else he’s hocking, “But wait, there’s more…” We are not yet at the end of Linda’s story - or any of the others we have heard during the last seven years. Linda’s new certification plaque has been hanging in her office since February 2009, and in March, she got a surprise raise and promotion from her employer! The unexpected and much deserved happened to someone who simply wanted to improve her skill set and become AP Certified. Congratulations to you Linda, and the thousands who have earned their AP Certifications through TAPN! We applaud all of you!
If you want to learn more about AP Certification, please feel free to contact me directly at 770-984-1184 x230 or via email at SBova@TAPN.com.
