The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. today announced it hired two new executives charged with developing and maintaining the certified financial planner designation as an industry standard.

Steven Barkley, the new director of examinations, will be responsible for developing the CFP certification exam. He will report to Carol Lee Roberts, the CFP Board's managing director of examination and education. Prior to joining the CFP Board, Barkley was director of medical college admission test technology and program development at the Association of American Medical Colleges. Before that, he was the director of academic information systems and of evaluation at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Office of Medical Education.

Patrick Cuddy, the new director of professional alliances, will work on promoting the acceptance and benefits of the CFP designation to advisory firms, various organizations and the general public. More than 58,000 people currently hold the CFP designation. Cuddy reports to communications and marketing chief Asha P. Williams.

Previously, Cuddy was a partner at Applied Communications Group, an organization that developed interactive case study programs serving the financial services industry. Before that, he worked for The American College and oversaw sales efforts for multi-media education for prospective CFP certificants.