The STC Certification Commission (STCCC) announced today that Kathryn Burton who served as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has departed the organization to pursue new opportunities effective November 30. 

“It has been my pleasure and privilege to work with Kathryn. Her experience and guidance, and her work on the infrastructure needed to establish a new organization, have been instrumental in getting the certification program off the ground,” Steve Jong, Chair of the STC Certification Commission, said.  “In future years she can take pride in looking at our roster of certified practitioners and saying, ‘I built that!’"

Burton was instrumental in the development of the Certified Professional Technical Communicator™ certification program while serving as the Executive Director and CEO of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), a role she held from 2006 – 2012. 

“Working with the commissioners who launched the CPTC program has been one of the biggest honors of my career,” Burton said.  “This was a focused, serious group of people who wanted to see the technical communication profession become more established. It was a professional group of people who also could be light hearted while getting the task done.”

Burton is currently serving on the Certified Association Executive (CAE) Certification Committee with the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and will continue work on certification in her own profession of association management.  She is also a Certified Governance Trainer through Board Source who works with non-profit boards and staff on various governance issues.  Burton is also intensifying her study of Kashmir Shavism, Tibetan Buddhism and Western Phenomenology. 

Based on evaluations of charter applicants' submission packets, we have updated the candidate instructions to clarify and in some cases adjust what we require, and to set page limits for some additional items. The current version, available on the stccert.org website, is V1.1.

What if you're already nearly done with your packet? Don't worry, you won't have to start over! You can still submit it based on the old instructions and the evaluators will not mark you down in any way for it.

As you know, we're offering $50 off the price of evaluation if you submit your packet by December 28. This discount applies to both STC members and non members. Candidates tell us that preparing a packet doesn't take months, so even if you've put it off until now, you still have time to finish your packet. But don't wait any longer or you'll miss out on the savings!