City of Fayetteville Assistant City Manager (ACM) Jeffrey Yates is celebrating a new accreditation after recently receiving the Credentialed Manager (CM) designation from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). 

Yates has over 20 years in public service experience and has held a variety of local government roles in six different states from Texas to Virginia.

He joined the City of Fayetteville in October of 2022 and since then, has had a hand in the establishment of the Office of Community Safety, the City’s budget and has been involved with the strategic planning and analytics teams. 

Now this new accreditation ads to his skillset as he continues to expand his skills and tools, and begins looking into project management. 

“I think what the credentialing does for you, from that perspective, is it recognizes the effort and the work you've put in, and it's a standard and a way for everybody to to be able to see and acknowledge what your experiences are, and validates the work,” shared Yates. 

More than 1,610 members have earned the ICMA-CM (ICMA Credentialed Manager) or the ICMA Credentialed Manager Candidate designation as part of the ICMA Voluntary Credentialing Program.

To be eligible to receive the credential, an individual must be a local government chief administrative officer or assistant chief administrative officer, adhering to the ICMA Code of Ethics and its rules of enforcement as a requirement of membership. A member must also be in service to local government or have clearly demonstrated a commitment and connection to the profession within the last five years.

The designation indicates that a member is qualified by a combination of education and experience, adherence to high standards of integrity and an assessed commitment to continuous learning and professional development. To maintain the credential, members must submit an annual report describing 40 hours of professional development during the previous year.

“ I like to be involved in professional organizations, I like to continually learn, and ICMA is the standard for city management, city and county management. So it was a natural progression. One of the things that I had been interested in for a long time was getting my credentials as a manager. So with Doug (Hewitt)'s encouragement and the city's encouragement, I went through the process, did all the necessary training,” shared Yates. “  I think that the ethics is really important, at least from my perspective. [And] that the public and the residents can know that's a commitment for credential managers. And I think all of the management team, not just those that are credentialed, are committed to those standards.

Yates is the latest within the City of Fayetteville staff to receive this accreditation, joining City Manager Douglas J. Hewett and ACM Adam Lindsay who both have ICMA-CM credentials.