FOR RELEASE
April 25, 2008

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Gary Diffendaffer Joins Investment Management Consultants Association
New Director of Certification will Manage Growth and Advancement of IMCA Designations

DENVER—April 25, 2008—Gary L. Diffendaffer, CFP^®, has joined the staff of Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) as director of certification. In this role, Diffendaffer will assume responsibility for the expansion and development of IMCA’s Certified Investment Management Analyst^SM, or CIMA^®, and Certified Private Wealth Advisor^SM, or CPWA^®, designation programs.

Diffendaffer previously served as executive vice president of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board). From July 2003 to November of 2004 he assumed CEO responsibilities on an interim basis and retired in 2005 after ten years at CFP Board. Since retiring, Diffendaffer has consulted for Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) conducting assessments of global CFP^® certification programs and has served as one of American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) accredited assessors. In the ANSI role, he evaluates certification boards against international standards for personnel certification bodies. While still at CFP Board, Diffendaffer served as the ANSI Technical Advisory Group (TAG) administrator for U.S. TAG 222, which develops U.S. positions on international financial planning standards.

“IMCA delivers the premier investment consulting and wealth management credentials, and is a leader in providing certification to the financial services arena,” said Dede Pahl, IMCA’s executive director. “There is a new regulatory environment on the horizon, with potential far-reaching changes in store for certification processes in this country and across the globe, and Gary’s vast experience and knowledge will be invaluable to IMCA as we move forward.”

Prior to working for CFP Board, Diffendaffer was a financial planning practitioner and earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^TM designation in 1986. He volunteers for a variety of causes, including the National Brain Tumor Foundation and 9Health Fairs in the Denver-metro area. He holds B.S. and M.A. degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

For more information on IMCA and its designations, click here.

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