IAAP® Mission & Vision
Our mission is to be the acknowledged, recognized leader of administrative professionals and to enhance their individual and collective value, image, competence, and influence.
Our vision is to inspire and equip all administrative professionals to attain excellence.
NSA/PSI/IAAP®
1942: First chapter of what soon becomes the National Secretaries Association (NSA) is founded in Topeka, Kansas, followed quickly by chapters in Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota.
1946: Two hundred members attend the first nationwide convention in Kansas City, Missouri. Delegates, drawn from 115 chapters, approve the development of the Certified Professional Secretary® program.
1950: Merger with Secretaries International brings NSA 467 new members and a new project-building a home for retired secretaries.
1951: Of 281 candidates, 62 pass a six-part examination and become the first recipients of the CPS® rating.
1952: U.S. Department of Commerce joins NSA in sponsoring the first National Secretaries Week (now Administrative Professionals Week) to recognize "the secretary, upon whose skills, loyalty, and efficiency the function of business and government depend."
1954: NSA goes international, with the first chapter formed outside the continental United States in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
1958: Creation of the Retirement Centers Trust.
1960: NSA established Future Secretaries Association, a network of chapters in high schools.
1964: Association de Secretarias Ejectivas de Panama becomes first foreign secretarial association to affiliate with NSA.
1966: With $100 seed money, the Research and Educational Foundation is created to fund projects that will "benefit the secretarial profession as well as the fields of business and education."
1967: Convention delegates voted to open membership to men; first man joins six weeks later.
1971: Language barriers fall as NSA offers the CPS examination in French in Canada and in Spanish in Puerto Rico.
1972: Twenty-year dream culminates with dedication of Vista Grande, an 11-acre retirement complex in Rio Rancho, near Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1981: Name changed to Professional Secretaries International.
1987: CPS program is restructured, requiring recipients to recertify their credentials every five years.
1989: PSI purchases land in Kansas City for potential headquarters. Bylaws and Standing Rules amended to provide full membership status to members outside North America and U.S. territories, with voting rights to International Associations.
1992: PSI celebrates 50th Anniversary. First International Secretarial Summit held in New York City.
1995: PSI purchases the building and site of our present world headquarters offices in Kansas City, Missouri. Building dedication ceremony held April 8, 1995. Convention delegates vote to approve a bylaws amendment that added "The Association for Office Professionals " as a tag line to the name of the association.
1998: PSI changes its name to the International Association of Administrative Professionals® (IAAP®).
2000: IAAP changes name of Professional Secretaries Week to Administrative Professionals Week.
2001: IAAP® introduces the Certified Administrative Professional® (CAP®) program.
2006 and beyond: IAAP® continues to advance the secretarial/administrative support profession and promote professional excellence, with more than 40,000 members and affiliates worldwide.