Member Spotlight: Chart Your Course

Building a career takes more than just the right mindset. It takes work and the means to advance in your position. Credit professionals are at an advantage to excel in their profession when they earn their designations through NACM’s six-level Professional Certification Program. Stephanie Poertner, CBF, credit manager at Ferguson Enterprises LLC (Edmond, OK), just earned her Certified Business Fellow (CBF) as a challenge and professional growth opportunity. “I was fully prepared, fueled by momentum and in the right mindset for both the exam and studying to dive straight into the CBF.” 

Despite having a four-year gap between her CBA and CBF designations, Poertner was able to learn that much faster. “It worked out for the best because I was able to get more professional experience with real life examples that I could then use and apply when studying,” she said. “I read about bankruptcy case studies, which reminded me of certain situations I encountered at work that I could use for comparison and see how the law applies.” 

Most of all, Poertner learned about the beauty of imperfection. “It’s okay to take some extra time and that the journey is not going to be perfect,” she said. “I’m glad that it worked out differently than I expected or anticipated. You don’t have to rush it.” 

💡Study Tips: “Find people who are willing to help and support you so that you’re not in that journey alone,” Poertner said. 

Use flash cards. “With this particular designation, you’ll need to memorize a lot of definitions,” said Poertner. “I sorted out my different stacks including the one I had to pay more attention to.” 

Block out time to study. Poertner reduced her study time to an hour or so each day with breaks rather than studying hours on end. “It helped me avoid information overload that way.” 

For more information about each designation within NACM’s Professional Certification Program, visit our website.