Michael Northam Becomes Latest To Pass All Eight CAFM Exams In One Shot
Among the 28 fleet professionals to earn their Certified Automotive Fleet Manager (CAFM) designation in 2012 was Michael Northam, CAFM, Senior Manager – Real Estate & Fleet for Masco Administrative Services, Inc. What made Northam stand out wasn’t merely the fact that he had only been involved with fleet for less than three years; it was the way he passed all exams covering all eight CAFM disciplines in the first shot.
Many people have questioned whether or not a fleet professional could pass all eight exams in one sitting. Northam isn’t the first to do it, but it remains very rare. His secret? Studying and lots of it.
"I think the reason I passed them was because I spent about three months ahead of time studying a lot, reading all of the material, taking notes, and becoming familiar with it," said Northam. "Attending the CAFM Boot Camp (in October) certainly helped as well, but you can’t just go to the Boot Camp and expect to walk out at the end of the week passing them all. I do believe there’s a level of preparation you have to make ahead of time. It took much every weekend for three months, but I wanted to see if I could get them done in one shot."
Northam was the real estate manager at Masco when the fleet manager position became available. He eventually would take on the additional duties to become the manager of both fleet and facility properties. He’s been involved with real estate for most of his career, serving previously as Vice President of National Retail Properties, Inc.; President/Broker for Resource Realty, Inc.; and Vice President of Trammell Crow Company.
Studying hard is nothing new for Northam, who also holds a BS, Mathematics and Business from the State University of New York at Albany and an MCR – Master Corporate Real Estate. He says he believes that continuing education is important because it allows you to embrace new ideas and concepts that are current for your field, while reminding you about the areas you already know.
"(The CAFM program) is a refresher course for what you know and a way to stay on top of what is current in the market," explained Northam. "There are a lot of really good topics in the program that most people wouldn’t have expected. You’ve got business law and financial accounting information, personnel management and motivational type information, in addition to the other four or five disciplines that are more strictly fleet-related. It’s just a really good, broad background of not just fleet-related things that you need to know, but business in general. By going through it, it’s almost like taking a few business courses as well. It’s an all-around helpful means to better prepare you for what we do on a daily basis."
Many of the CAFM graduates for the past year will receive their certification during a special ceremony at the 2013 Institute & Expo. For more information on the CAFM program, visit http://www.nafa.org/certification.