The Value of CAI Education
Candice Scanlon, Lakeglen Maintenance Association
MY ASSOCIATION, located in Southern California, has 132 attached condominium units that were built in 1977. I moved there in 1989. At fi rst, I had little interest in the board’s decisions since everything seemed to be working smoothly.
However, when the board considered dropping our earthquake insurance, I ran for the board with the goal of keeping it. I was elected and have now served for 11 years. Like many new board members, I read my board packet, listened to the board’s discussion, and used my common sense to direct my vote.
In retrospect, I overestimated my ability to make good decisions. At the time, my thinking followed the Dunning-Kruger effect. Developed in 1999 by Cornell University psychologists, the effect describes a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability.
Three years ago, I started investing in CAI training, which led to an epiphany: There should be a requirement for all board members to get training from CAI to use their best judgment to meet their fi duciary duties.
What I’ve gained from CAI training has benefi ted my community. I cannot overstate how much more value I bring to my service. I’ll give you a couple of examples:
• Insurance training spurred me to get a competitive bid that lowered our premiums, saving us $86,700 over the fi rst four years.
• A lecture about uninsurable electrical panels led me to inform the board in time to replace our dangerous panels before the next insurance renewal. This saved us from a doubling or tripling of our premiums.
6 January | Febuary 2026
I was so thrilled to be a recipient of a scholarship to attend the CAI Annual Conference and Exposition: Community NOW earlier this year in Orlando, Fla. I wish I could have attended every lecture. There were so many sessions that interested me.
My fi rst goal was to learn how to prepare for a natural disaster. How could we ensure the association would continue to survive after a major earthquake? The session about demystifying disasters gave me many ideas to form a plan.
My second goal was to learn how artifi cial intelligence could reduce the time I spend monitoring our fi nancial reports of nearly 70 pages each month. One session was especially valuable. I still have a lot to learn on the subject, but this was a great beginning.
Community association board members face many decisions that are outside their training and experience. Every director could raise the value of their service to the community if they invested in training. It is so easy and available online or in person. My advice to board members: Join CAI and take some education courses. You won’t regret it.
—Candice Scanlon serves on the board of the Lakeglen Maintenance Association in Irvine, CA.
clslakeglen@gmail.com
Editor’s Note: Information on applying for a 2026 CAI Board Member Education Scholarship will be available on the CAI National website.
©2025 Community Associations Institute. This article is reprinted with permission by CAI.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
