This week, several members of the Eclipse team attended a CMCA study course led by Tom Engblom, Ph.D., CMCA, AMS, PCAM, CPM. For anyone who has been in community association management for a while, Tom needs little introduction. His course is well known among managers preparing for the Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) exam, and our team came away with practical takeaways and a renewed appreciation for the profession we have chosen.
A pillar of our industry
Tom has devoted more than 40 years to real estate brokerage, property management and community association financial management. Along the way he earned a Ph.D. and nearly every professional designation our field offers, including the CMCA, the AMS and PCAM from the Community Associations Institute (CAI), and the CPM from the Institute of Real Estate Management.
Today he serves as a Vice President and Regional Sales Officer with First Citizens Bank, where he works with management companies on the banking, lending and deposit solutions that associations depend on. He is also a longtime CAI member and a sought-after speaker on topics that matter to every manager: productivity, job satisfaction, avoiding burnout and finding your niche in the business.
What sets Tom apart in the classroom is his ability to take a dense body of knowledge, from governance and budgeting to risk management and communications, and make it practical. He teaches the material the way managers actually use it, and he does it with a sense of humor that keeps exam prep moving.
Connect with Tom on LinkedIn: Tom Engblom, Ph.D., CMCA, AMS, PCAM, CPM
Tom’s book: Working From Home
Tom is also the author of Working From Home: Making It Work For You. The book looks at both sides of remote work, from the freedom and flexibility it offers to the distractions, communication gaps and isolation it can bring, and it offers practical guidance for employees and employers trying to make it work. For a profession like ours, where managers split their time between site visits, board meetings and the home office, it is a timely and useful read.
The topic hits close to home for us. Eclipse is a fully remote company, which lets our managers care for communities close to where they live and keep a real, regular presence in the associations they serve. Like many companies, we first moved to working from home during the pandemic, but we quickly found that it fits the community association management model perfectly. Our managers spend their time in their communities and with their boards, not commuting to a central office.
Learning goes both ways, and remote work is a subject we have taught as well as lived. At the 2025 CAI Annual Conference, our president, Chris Vecchi, and our Director of Operations, Windy McNall, CMCA, AMS, presented “Building Community from Home,” sharing how a remote team can stay connected to each other and to the communities it serves.
Why credentials matter to Eclipse
The CMCA is the only international certification designed specifically for community association managers. Earning it requires completing prerequisite training, passing a comprehensive exam and keeping up with continuing education every year. It tells a board that its manager understands the fundamentals of the job and is committed to an ethical, professional standard of practice.
At Eclipse, professional development is not an afterthought. We encourage and support our Association Managers as they pursue credentials like the CMCA, AMS and PCAM, and we invest in education that helps them grow throughout their careers. That commitment is part of what it means to be an Accredited Association Management Company (AAMC), and it shows up every day in the quality of service our communities receive.
Days like this one are a reminder that the best managers never stop learning. Thank you, Tom, for sharing your time, your knowledge and your enthusiasm with our team and everyone in the room.
Interested in working with a team that invests in its people? Contact us to learn more about Eclipse Community Management.
