Plain answers about what this credential is, what it is not, and who should ignore it. If something here is unclear or looks wrong, tell us and we will fix the page.
A credential for the unpaid volunteers who serve on homeowner and condominium association boards. Instead of answering multiple-choice questions about association law, you govern a simulated 180-unit association for five recorded days, then defend your decisions to a human examiner. It is issued by Meridian Certification Press, an imprint of Nimble Books LLC.
Precisely this, and nothing broader: The holder directed the human and algorithmic instrumentalities of a simulated community association for a recorded week, was scored against its ground truth, and defended their decisions before a Meridian examiner.
It does not claim that you know any particular state's statute, and it is not a license.
No. Where a state requires board education, it also specifies who may provide it, and Meridian is not an approved provider in any state.
Florida is the clearest example. Directors elected or appointed on or after July 1, 2024 must complete a board certification course from a Department-appointed or Department-approved provider within 90 days, with continuing education annually after that. Florida's DBPR offers that course free: four hours covering milestone inspections, structural integrity reserve studies, elections, recordkeeping, financial literacy and transparency, levying of fines, and notice and meeting requirements. If you are a Florida director, take the free state course — that is what satisfies the law.
CCBD is a different kind of thing: evidence of competence, not proof of compliance. Requirements vary by state and change often. Check your own governing documents and your state's statute, and ask your association's attorney.
Today, nobody is obliged to accept it. It is new, and we would rather say so than imply a recognition it has not earned. If you need a credential your state or an employer already recognizes, this is not it.
What it is evidence of: that a verified person governed an association simulation under recorded conditions, was scored against that simulation's ground truth, and defended those decisions to an examiner who had read the record. Anyone can check a given credential's signature and current status on our verification page. We publish the blueprint, the pass rule, and our own pass rates.
Those certify paid community association managers as professionals. CCBD is for the volunteer who supervises that manager. It is a different seat and a different skill: not running the association day to day, but directing the people who do, checking their work, and answering for the outcome. Meridian is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by CAI.
Three parts, about 110 minutes in total:
$149 introductory (standard $249) through October 11, 2026. The credential is valid for three years. A retake, if you need one, is $99 after a 14-day wait. The study guide Running the Board is sold separately and is not required.
No. The book is not required, and the exam's scenarios are written separately from the book's drills. Nothing on the exam is answerable only from the book.
Yes, and people will. You need 70% or better on the Realm Exercise and a pass at the Audience. A credential nobody fails is not worth holding.
No. There is no proctoring software to install, no webcam monitoring, no room scan, no keystroke analysis, and no AI scoring of your behavior. We think that approach is both intrusive and, against anyone who actually wants to cheat, ineffective.
Identity is confirmed the old way: a human examiner looks at your government ID during the live Audience call. Because the exam is a defense of decisions you made and recorded, someone who did not make them cannot defend them under follow-up questions.
A hash-chained ledger of what you did during the exercise, your two written defense answers, and the examiner's outcome and reasoning. The ledger's head hash is bound into the credential itself, so the record cannot be altered afterward without breaking verification. We do not store biometric data, and we do not record video of the Audience call.
Every credential carries an ID that resolves on our public verification page, which shows the holder, the issue and expiry dates, the exercise score, and whether the credential is active or revoked. Each one is signed with an Ed25519 key whose public half is published on our home page, so a technically inclined verifier can check the signature offline and detect any alteration.
Yes. Group purchases for a board or a management company's client boards are available — write to nimblebooks.com and say how many seats you need.
No, and that is deliberate. The four roles in the exercise may be people, AI systems, or people working through AI systems, and the exam does not tell you which. An AI bookkeeper can leave committed funds off a report; an AI research tool can cite an article of your declaration that does not exist; a drafting tool can agree with whatever you told it you wanted. The failures are the same four, the checks are the same, and the board answers for the outcome either way.
Meridian Certification Press, an imprint of Nimble Books LLC, publisher of the study guide Running the Board. The examiner at your Audience is a person, not a model. Questions: nimblebooks.com.
Meridian Certification Press · Registry of the Realms · canary service