Authority The Certification Council was created by an act of NIRI’s Board of Directors on September 16, 2015. NIRI’s Board of Directors have has given it sole authority in certification decisions. Committees and working groups are composed of volunteers to serve as Subject Matter Experts and Examiners. They are competent to conduct and score assessments where the examination requires professional judgement. They will also operate under established policies and procedures. Certification Council The NIRI Certification Council consists of six to ten individuals. Council and committee members are representative of the diversity of the profession with respect to gender, ethnicity, education, professional background, work setting, and geographic region, and represent the field fairly with no external interest predominating. The Council shall govern all certification program activities, and shall oversee the Examination Development Committee, Job Analysis Task Force, and any or all ad hoc committees. Examination Development Committee Eight to fifteen trained volunteers and subject matter experts (SMEs) will serve on the Examination Development Committee. Volunteers should have extensive knowledge and experience in the IR profession in order to create examination content. Members of this committee will author items for particular exams. Job Analysis Task Force Task Force members must possess superior knowledge of the investor relations field with a broad perspective of the profession. They are recruited to perform a logical job analysis, create a testing blueprint and content outline, and develop scope of practice.