National Certification Board Seeks
New Executive Director

Just 15 months after assuming the position of executive director of the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB), John Page is out of a job—and the board is out of a director.

The NCBTMB is a nonprofit organization, established in 1992, that certifies practitioners of massage and bodywork through the National Certification Exam for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Currently, more than 80,000 practitioners are certified.

According to board chairperson Elizabeth McIntyre, Page's termination by the NCBTMB had been "planned over several months" and was part of the board's overall transition plan, which involved moving the organization's staff from MacLean, Virginia, to Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.

"We went ahead and set up a transition plan and then the transition plan was moved in several different steps, and effective Friday that was the last day that John was executive director," McIntyre told MASSAGE Magazine.

Page, who was not given advance notice of his termination, says there is still work needed to be done in order for the NCBTMB, which prior to his hiring had been plagued by complaints that it was unresponsive to stakeholders, to run smoothly.

"I came into the organization thinking the transition would take three years," Page said. "Transitioning it to a new vision, a new level of service and a new level of commitment to stakeholders, in my mind that was about more than moving boxes from Virginia to Illinois. I don’t feel that the transition is complete. Others may disagree with that.”

The board has launched a search for a new executive director, and in July hired a management-consulting firm to assist in filling three additional senior-management positions: a director of education; a manager of the school-outreach advisory panel; and a deputy director who will "work with internal operations, work with staff, work with initiatives, be an executive within the organization," MacIntyre said.

— Karen Menehan