RALEIGH – Without strong leadership, few organizations are successful.   This rule certainly holds true for NC state and local government organizations.

For the past 16 months, select managers from across North Carolina state and local government organizations have worked to improve their skills and become better leaders through participation in the Certified Public Manager® Program (CPM).

Lydia Cannon McKeel, County Maintenance Engineer with

NCDOT at their Ahoskie office on Modlin Road, graduated as a Certified Public Manager® on Oct. 3 at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. 

The Certified Public Manager® Program is intended to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and productivity of NC state and local government organizations by improving the leadership abilities of employees in management positions.   Improving the skills of managers will carry through to all employees and help government organizations better serve our clients and citizens across North Carolina.

To complete this program, McKeel completed 300 hours of course work and a service delivery improvement project within her own organization. 

This is the thirty-ninth class to complete the program since it began in 1981.  The Certified Public Manager® designation is granted by authority of the 41-state National Certified Public Manager® Consortium, which has reviewed and accredited the NC Certified Public Manager® Program.

Twenty-one of the graduates are NCDOT employees.

“This program, accredited by the National Certified Public Manager® Consortium, trains and develop managers for meeting the challenges of today’s public organizations,” said Paula Woodhouse, Interim Director of the Office of State Human Resources (OSHR). “The management and leadership skills they acquired will help them better serve the people of North Carolina.”

The graduates come from across North Carolina state and local government organizations, in agencies such as the Departments of Transportation, Department of Labor, the City of Durham and many others.

“The benefits of the program are far reaching,” said Kathi Parker, CPM Program Director. “Managers have the opportunity to learn current best practices and they gain an enhanced set of skills for career advancement.”