Editor’s note: In 2000 Mr. Whitaker was asked to write a history of the ICRM for its 25th anniversary. His article has been updated to reflect the last 22 years.

The Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM) is an international certifying organization of and for professional records and information managers. The ICRM was incorporated in 1975 to meet the requirement to have a standard by which people involved in records and information management could be measured, accredited, and recognized according to criteria of experience and capability established by their peers.

The ICRM is an independent non-profit organization administered by a Board of Regents (the Board) in accordance with the Constitution and By-laws of the Institute. The primary objective of the ICRM is to develop and administer the program for the professional certification of records managers, including the certification examinations and a certification maintenance program.

To understand why the Institute of Certified Records Managers was established, we must first look at the early records management associations.

The Warren Filing Association was founded in Chicago in 1917 during World War I. Chicago Filing Association (CFA) was established in 1932. Several of the chapters consisted primarily of file personnel. The Records Management Association of Chicago was incorporated in 1952. In 1957, the Records Management Association of Chicago was reincorporated as the Chicago Chapter of the American Records Management Association.

The Filing Association of New York was founded in 1920 in New York City. In the early 1950s the organization renamed itself as the Records Management Association of New York along with incorporating itself in 1955.

In 1955 twelve records managers in New York formed the Association of Records Executives and Administrators (AREA). At that time, some believed that the other records-related organizations were centered too much on filing and retrievals, and not enough on the management aspects of records. AREA membership increased steadily, and other chapters were chartered in the mid-1960s.

Jack Britt, records manager for the Ford Motor Company established The American Records Management Association. Mr. Britt organized ARMA by bringing together a number of chapters from the Records Management Association of Chicago, and from the Records Management Association of New York.

In 1972 ARMA produced and distributed a brochure announcing that a certification program by examination would be established. The principal motivation for certification was to establish a strong professional standing, raise the professional level, and to recognize that a person certified as a records manager had broad professional experience in the field.

ARMA established a committee to develop the certification process. Olive Surgen was the chair, and Charles Garrison, David Goodman, and Mary Robek were some of the original members. The first examination was given in the Fall of 1974, with disastrous results. None of the candidates taking the examination passed.

Some AREA members felt that the certification would be limited to members of ARMA. As a result, the decision was made to develop a separate and completely independent certification organization to represent both ARMA and AREA. ARMA and AREA each appointed five members to the yet named certification organization. ARMA appointed Thornton Mitchell, Stanley Gordon, Bill Benedon, Mary Robek, and Bill Rofes as their representatives. AREA appointed Joe Pomrenze, Ruth Thomas, Kay Mutchler, Dudley Judd, and Mark Koenig as their representatives on the committee.

The committee assigned Bill Benedon and Thornton Mitchell the task of drafting by-laws for consideration by the committee. Thornton reported that Bill developed the draft. The committee members, plus Ben Oliver, Charles Garrison, and David Goodman met for the first time in New York on January 6 and 7, 1975. AREA President Ben Oliver presided at the meeting. ARMA President Gerry Brown was unable to attend the meeting. The group examined the Benedon draft by-laws almost word for word. As secretary pro-tem Ruth Thomas and Bill Benedon took notes. Thornton Mitchell also took notes. Ruth and Bill met until late in the evening (about 2 AM) to develop a version of the by-laws upon which the Board could take final action on the next day. Several times during the evening Bill and Ruth asked Mitchell to meet with them. Out of this session Ruth developed a “final” draft version of the by-laws.

On January 7, the Board met again, reviewed, and approved the by-laws with some modifications, and established fees and annual dues. Officers were elected. Bill Benedon was nominated for President but declined because he had been asked to serve as Program Chair for the next annual ARMA meeting. Bill Rofes was then elected President, Joe Pomrenze was elected Vice President, Ruth Thomas was elected Secretary, and Thornton Mitchell was elected Treasurer. The original by-laws called for the leader’s title to be Chairman, but Mary Robek objected that the title was sexist. Thornton Mitchell objected to using the term Chairperson to designate the leader of the ICRM, so the title on his motion was changed to President.

Joe Pomrenze suggested naming the organization the Institute of Certified Records Managers. It is believed that the Board referred to themselves as “Regents” because both ARMA and AREA had Boards of “Directors.”

An early agreement was that there would be two initial means of certification–by examination and ‘by review’, which was the term applied to certification based on review of the candidate’s education and specific professional experience. The draft by-laws proposed that candidates would be required to have a college degree. There was some disagreement on this point. The U.S. Civil Service standards at that time both for archivists and analysts permitted the substitution of two years of work experience for one year of college, and eight years of professional experience was considered the equivalent of a degree. After considerable discussion, the Board agreed on either a degree or eight years of professional records management experience as a requirement. The Board had no difficulty in agreeing on three years of professional experience as a prerequisite to take the examinations. The board also agreed that the experience had to be gained in multiple areas of records management, and that clerical work was not qualifying experience.

The Board had no significant disagreement on certification by review. It was believed that to establish credibility the organization had to include the best in the records management profession. It was established that the certification by review would have the most stringent requirement. Certification by review required ten years of high-standard professional experience, an appropriate college degree or eight additional years of experience, and for the candidate to have published. This is a normal process for new certification organizations. The certification by review was open for two years. Over three hundred candidates applied for certification by review, and each one was individually considered. Two hundred forty-seven candidates were approved by review.

The original agreement between ARMA and AREA provided that the first ten Regents, Benedon, Rofes, Mitchell, Pomrenze, Thomas, Gordon, Koenig, Robek, Mutchler, and Judd would be automatically certified. The ten Regents agreed, to avoid criticism, that they would each qualify for certification by review.

The ICRM Board of Regents met for the second time in Washington D.C. in March of 1975. At that time the first certifications by review were approved. One early disagreement involved certifications by review for Records Management educators. The disagreements were resolved by requiring submissions of course outlines and syllabi. The first CRM examinations were administered in the fall of 1975. It is reported that when Bill Benedon became Vice-President, the ICRM Board turned their full attention to improving the contents of the examinations. The ICRM Board voted to incorporate in North Carolina. Thornton Mitchell managed the process and was helped by friends who worked in the Office of the NC Secretary of State. The total cost of incorporation was $28, including recording fees. Thornton continued as the ICRM Treasurer until the end of 1978.

In 1975 ARMA and AREA merged in 1975 becoming the Association of Records Managers and Administrators, now known as ARMA International. The need for a records management professional standard and a certification organization brought two professional associations together, as well as establishing the ICRM.

In 1992 the ICRM established a certification maintenance program since “the ICRM believes it is vital that CRMs or CRAs remain current in the dynamic field of records and information management.”

In 2000 when the Institute of Certified Records Managers celebrated its Silver Anniversary there were over seven hundred and fifty CRMs. Today there are over 1100 CRMs and CRAs, 286 retired members and over 800 candidates. The ICRM has eight Regents consisting of the Chairman, President, President-Elect/Treasurer, Exam Development, Exam Administration and Grading, Applicant and Member Relations, Legislation and Appeals and Marketing and Communications. In addition, there are the following volunteer leader positions, Mentoring Committee Chair, Strategic Alliances Committee Chair, Webmaster, and Newsletter Editor.

In 2016 the Institute created the Certified Records Analyst (CRA) designation. This is awarded to individuals who have passed Parts 2, 3 and 4 and who have not passed the other exams. As President Brice Sample CRM noted in announcing the designation “we fully expect many to use the CRA as a spring-board to achieve their CRM over a timeline that meets their individual needs.”

In addition to the CRM and CRA designations, the ICRM also has three specialty designations: the Nuclear Information and Records Specialist (NS), the Federal Specialist (FED) and the Certified Information Governance Officer (CIGO).

In 1990 the ICRM established a formal relationship with the Nuclear Information and Records Management Association (NIRMA to develop and evaluate an advanced module to the CRM certification process. NIRMA’s Professional Certification Committee develops and maintains the examination content while the ICRM administers the testing.

In 2017 the ICRM announced the establishment of the Federal Specialist designation for CRMs whose field of professional practice involves RIM programs in the Federal government. A team of CRMs with experience in the Federal government developed the designation and the examination questions. Laurence Brewer Chief Records Officer for NARA said, “the new Federal specialist credential offered by the ICRM is another that records management professionals can demonstrate their knowledge about performing records management in Federal positions.” Applicants for this designation must be a CRM/CRA in good standing and have four (4) years of professional RIM experience as an employee, contractor, or consultant for the US Federal government.

The latest specialty is a strategic alliance with the Certified Information Governance Officers Association (CIGO) established in 2020. CRMs who have successfully passed the CIGO exam are able to display the CIGO with their CRM. An additional 20 CMPs are required per five-year cycle.

The ICRM will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025. To learn more about the Institute, visit its website at http://www.icrm.org.

Written By: Steven D. Whitaker, CRM, Past Regent - Public Relations and Professional Issues

NOTE: Mr. Thornton Mitchell, CRM, provided some historic information for this article. A very special thanks and appreciation to Mr. Mitchell for his efforts.