The History of CAMA

In 1987 four accreditation managers and Hardy Rauch met in New Orleans at an ACA winter conference to discuss what would become CAMA. Hardy Rauch, as Director of Standards and Accreditation, had been interested for some years in bringing together managers to support each other in the accreditation process. Dan McGehee, South Carolina, Parkes Casselbury, Tennessee, Matt Novak, Ohio and Bill Pardue, Ga. agreed that an organization would be helpful and Hardy stated he would provide the seed money to establish an ACA affiliate. We began discussing accreditation and its inherent difficulties. At this time there were no resources available for those of us managing the accreditation process and no specific training. Individual accreditation managers often felt like a lone ship in the ocean, not really sure if the ship was being guided correctly and certainly unsure of its final destination.

CAMA was born and the core group elected Dan McGehee president, he agreed to hold a training conference at the Training Academy in Columbia, South Carolina in April 1988. With the total commitment of SC DOC and Dan McGehee, statewide accreditation manager, they developed a training curriculum and offered forums for discussions on many aspects of the accreditation process. This event was the first CAMA meeting and conference. Tennessee stuffed nine people in a van and sent them to the event that forged a strong relationship between the two state’s mangers. For those of us without seasoned accreditation experts to guide us CAMA was a perfect solution for networking. No longer alone to manage accreditation, we had allies; someone to call and share an idea or a form or to ask how to do a task.

The 2^nd Annual CAMA Training Conference held in Nashville, TN. was attended by 176 individuals from around the USA. The TN. DOC hosted this event with locals Chuck Reusing, J.R Miller and Parkes Casselbury coordinating the program.  We had tours of accredited facilities at the conference and many networking opportunities. Plaintiff’s attorneys for adult and juvenile class action lawsuits and attorney Betty Adams Green participated in a forum regarding the significant benefits of accreditation in litigation. We also had our first statewide accreditation manager’s workshop that included central office managers from SC, TN, IN, OH, GA, AK and OK. The staff at ACA could not have been more helpful getting us started. Hardy Rauch, Director and Jeff Washington Assistant Director of Standards and Accreditation, and Wayne Huggins, Chair of the Commission on Accreditation, assisted us in every way including hosting an awards breakfast. They saw the group as an excellent resource to train future auditors and provide the standards committee and ACA with knowledge about improving the process. At this time CAMA had many good leaders many of whom became CAMA officers such as Dan McGehee (SC), Parkes Casselbury (TN), Barbara LaGrave (NY DYS), Jeff Rogers (KY), Matt Novak, (OH), Jeannette Kinker Vigil (NM), Dick Stewart (Colorado) Mary McHatton (IN), Justin Taylor (NY DOC) and Andrea Goldberg (NH). These folks were very visible at each of the accreditation hearings and ACA conferences. CAMA officers were always in someone’s ear about something related to making accreditation and CAMA better.

The 1991 ACA Winter Conference began a new milestone for CAMA. We had our first representative at that ACA Conference in attendance at the Standards Committee Meeting. From that point on CAMA has had a representative at ACA Standard Committee meetings.

The focus of this association has been on making its conference affordable for all members. Each of the early annual CAMA training conferences were held in smaller venues but none-the-less were well attended, Tulsa, Louisville, Niagara Falls to name a few, with the biggest conferences occurring in New Orleans on three separate occasions.  Richard Stalder (LA), one of the staunchest promoters of accreditation in the USA came to CAMA at the conference in Louisville in 1992 and has been active since. His staff has been very active in hosting conferences as well as holding officer positions.  DOC commissioner, Reginald Wilkinson (OH) and DYS Director Geno Natalucci-Persichetti (OH) have also hosted conferences and supported an affiliate of CAMA for the state of Ohio.

Over the years there have been many who have been actively involved in CAMA and have given much of their personal time so that CAMA could grow and become the effective organization it is today.

Special thanks go out to Past Presidents Parkes Casselbury, Jeff Rogers, and Dan McGehee for their time and effort that went into researching and putting this article together.