The International Marina Institute (IMI) was founded in 1986 by Neil Ross, Paul Dodson, and Dennis Nixon out of a deeply rooted concern over the lack of professional training opportunities in the marina industry. IMI was created because of the recognition of the need to promote professional education, training, and certification in the marina industry. In its 25 year history, IMI has successfully created and delivered many professional marina management schools, including the Advanced Marina Management (AMM), Intermediate Marina Management (IMM) and Marina Operator's Courses (MOC). Through its timely educational seminars and classes, the training association relentlessly prepared the industry to meet the complex technical and topical challenges of the day. The curricula of these courses have been tweaked over the years to stay current with the changing times, but they continue to be the training standard by which marina management courses are delivered globally.
The natural progression for any professional training organization is the creation of a professional certification to recognize those who meet a set of professional standards. In 1992, a group of marina managers, who had completed IMI's rigorous training courses, met to develop a marina management professsional recognition, the Certification Marina Manager (CMM) certificate. Today almost 300 marina managers have been awarded this highly coveted certificate and the numbers keep growing, as does the training and certification programs themselves.
As the industry has evolved over the last 25 years, so has IMI. In the past 5 years, IMI has created a new training track for Marina Operators and an accompanying certification program, the Certified Marina Operator (CMO) certificate. This is an exciting time for IMI as it heads into the next 25 years, with a renewed vision and strategic direction for growing its reach to the industry, with a concerted focus on delivering its training and certification programs to the US, Latin American, Canadian and Caribbean regions. The ever-changing world of technology has provided IMI the opportunity to deliver training in a whole new way. The next generation IMI will deliver webinars, online training programs, and partner with regional Marine trade associations to grow the reach of its valuable training offerings, with the ultimate goal of providing professional marina training to all who seek it.
IMI has recently created an advisory committee to assist AMI staff with successfully completing its strategic mission. This committee oversees such areas as the certification programs, new training opportunities, marketing, and most importantly seeing that IMI continues to be relevant and serve the training and professional needs of marina industry.
IMI Advisory Committee Members
- Kevin Lussier, CMM Committee Chair Boston Yacht Haven Marina, MA
- Gary Groenwold, CMM Westrec Marinas, FL
- Marsh Nowlin, CMM Marlin Solutions, MI
- Keith Knowton, CMM Riverside Yacht Club, CT
- Don King, Texas Marine trades Association, TX
- Mitch Jones, Choto Marine Sales & Marina, TN
- Brad Gross, CMM, Dana Point Harbor, CA
- Steve Linton, CMM, Pikes Bay Marina, WI
- Jason Johnson, Marine Travelift, WI
- Jim Ruscoe, CMM, Anchorage Marina, MD
- Billy Adkins, CMM, MWR NAS Navy, Key West, FL
- Kathy Haley, CMM, Miami Dade, FL
- Ronaldo Souza, Westrec, Brazil