The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. has a new education director. Francis ("Frank") X. Bergmeister officially began his new job yesterday where he'll oversee the education components of the certified financial planner certification, including the development and support of the financial planning education programs in the U.S. that have registered with the CFP Board to prepare financial planners for CFP certification. Bergmeister will also oversee continuing education programs that offer CFP professionals courses designed to maintain ongoing competency.

Previously, Bergmeister was in charge of assessing the effectiveness of professional education programs at the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Va. During his career, Bergmeister has also worked in the private sector as a financial planner for Legg Mason and Alex. Brown & Sons. He is a graduate of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and the American College. Mr. Bergmeister is a CFP professional as well as a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU).

Bergmeister's hiring is part of a wave of change at the CFP Board, which is currently moving operations from Denver to Washington, D.C. in order to raise its national profile and play a greater role in public policy debates about the financial services industry

Earlier this month, Carol Lee Roberts assumed duties as the organization's managing director of examinations and education. Both Roberts and Bergmeister will be responsible for maintaining and advancing the CFP Board's examination and education standards at a time when the proliferation of the "alphabet soup" of financial advisory designations is drawing Congressional scrutiny. In September, after a Senate panel grilled the financial services industry on the various credentials and designations used by less-than-credible "advisors" to defraud seniors, the CFP Board announced it formed a task force to determine if its own continuing education requirements encourage high-level financial planning.

The CFP Board currently authorizes more than 56,000 individuals to be CFP certified in the U.S.